1999 Legislature Land Use

Summary: Opposition from key Senate panel members might doom a bill that would boost state regulation of logging and building on slide-prone hillsides

A bill that would boost the state's ability to curtail logging and building on landslide-prone hillsides has run into near-fatal opposition in the Oregon Legislature.

After hearing complaints from a landowners' rights group and development interests, two key senators said they don't want to give the state any more power to block development on hillsides.

The opposition from Sens. Gary George, R-Newberg, and Thomas Wilde, D-Portland -- the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee -- has angered proponents of the bill, who say Oregon must act now to reduce landslide risks.

The issue gained prominence in 1996 when four people were killed in Douglas County after heavy rain unleashed mud and rocks from a steep hillside that had been clear-cut above a house. Last month, two loggers died in a massive mudslide in the Coast Range near Florence.

The Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee has held two hearings on a measure, Senate Bill 12, that was drafted by a governor's task force. It calls for new state land-use rules requiring local governments to restrict development in "high-hazard landslide areas" and for the development of new building codes aimed at reducing landslide risks.

The bill also would give state forestry officials authority to review residential construction proposed in slide-prone forest lands.

George and Wilde, who have been critical of Oregon's land-use laws, say they first want state geologic experts to find out where landslides are most likely to occur before giving government new regulatory authority.

George said he feared "a massive, intense bureaucracy" that would stifle development on hillsides. Wilde called SB12 a violation of landowner rights.

Their opposition, which could doom the bill, might result in the end of a moratorium the Legislature imposed two years ago on logging on slopes judged to have a high hazard of landslides.

Sen. Tony Corcoran, D-Cottage Grove, who represents the district where the Douglas County deaths occurred, said the state must act now in light of increased development pressure on hillsides.

"This is about people who died and doing something about it," he said.

The main lobbying pressure against the bill comes from Oregonians In Action, a landowner rights group that has sought significant changes in state land-use laws. In particular, the group has wanted to ease development restrictions on rural lands -- much of it on hillsides -- that is not prime farmland.

"This bill essentially gives a blank check to regulate whether it's truly a high landslide hazard area or not," said David Hunnicutt, the group's director of legal affairs. "It could be a tool to stop development -- anywhere."

The Oregon Building Industry Association, which represents home developers, also opposes the bill in its current form. "First they said we couldn't build on farmlands, now it's hillsides," said the group's lobbyist, Jon Chandler. "What's Plan B?"

But Gail Achterman, a Portland lawyer who led the governor's task force, said opponents are exaggerating the effect of the legislation.

"This bill doesn't say they aren't going to allow development on slopes," Achterman said. Instead, it gives the state a framework to start addressing landslide problems, she said.

The bill has drawn important support from the timber industry, which does not want to bear all of the burden for dealing with landslide hazards in rural areas. In addition to worrying about legal liability for slides after logging operations, the industry wants to limit construction at the bottom of slide-prone slopes.

Ray Wilkeson of the Oregon Forest Industries Council told George's committee, "Houses and other structures should not be placed in locations where the owners might as well paint a bull's-eye on the outside wall."

George said he plans to assemble a group to meet privately to see if consensus can be reached on landslide legislation. But he said he doubts it would contain the same regulatory teeth as SB12.

Corcoran said it might be possible to get a majority of the six- member Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in favor of the bill, but he doesn't know if it would be possible to overcome the opposition of the chairman. You can reach Jeff Mapes at 503-221-8209 or by e-mail at jeffmapes@news.oregonian.com.