HomeMy WebLinkAboutRes 022 - Wildlife Habitat Spec Assmt - ODFWDeschutes County Board of Commissioners
1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200, Bend, OR 97701-1960
(541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202 - www.deschutes.org
AGENDA REQUEST & STAFF REPORT
For Board Business Meeting of March 23, 2011
DATE: March 15, 2011
FROM: Dave Kanner County Administrator xt. 6565
TITLE OF AGENDA ITEM:
Consideration and signature of Resolution No. 2011-022, a resolution requesting the Oregon Fish and
Wildlife Commission to designate land in Deschutes County zoned for Forest Use as eligible for
wildlife habitatspecial assessment.
PUBLIC HEARING ON THIS DATE? No.
BACKGROUND AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS:
In November of last year, the Board at one of its business meetings heard from a property owner who
requested information about the Wildlife Habitat Conservation Management Program, and who asked
specifically about having his property included in the program, even though it is not zoned EFU. The
Board subsequently held a work session with County Assessor Scot Langton and with a representative
of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to learn more about the program. The Board then held a
public hearing on March 9, 2011, to take input on the question of whether to allow properties zoned for
forest use (F1 or F2) to participate in this program. Following the public hearing, the Board directed
staffto bring forward a resolution expanding the types of properties allowed in the program in
Deschutes County.
The Wildlife Habitat Conservation Program was originally created by the Legislature in the late 1990s
and revised in the 2003 session. In a nutshell, the law allows the governing body of a county to request
that ODFW designate certain land within the County as eligible for wildlife habitat special assessment.
The owners of such land can then submit a plan to ODFW under which they agree to meet certain
regulatory requirements for the preservation of wildlife habitat, in exchange for which the property
receives a special wildlife habitat property tax assessment.
In 1998, Deschutes County, via Ordinance 98-030, chose to participate in this program, but limited
eligible properties to those zoned EFU. As explained by ODFW at the Board's work session of January
24, expanding the pool of eligible properties does not by any means guarantee that any particular
property will be accepted into the program. ODFW claims to be at capacity in terms of their ability to
oversee regulatory compliance for the 125 tax accounts that are already in the program locally and that
alone would make it difficult to accept new properties. The decision as to whether to include a
particular property in the program is strictly ODFW's.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The special assessments on the properties already in the program reduced Countywide tax collections
by about $250,000 last year. This amount is divided proportionately among all taxing districts in the
County, depending on their percentage of the total tax roll, so the foregone taxes for Deschutes County
would have amounted to about $24,000. Expanding the number of properties receiving a special
assessment increases this number, but it's not possible to know by exactly how much.
RECOMMENDATION & ACTION REQUESTED:
Board approval and signature of Resolution No. 2011-022, a resolution requesting the Oregon Fish and
Wildlife Commission to designate land in Deschutes County zoned for Forest Use as eligible for
wildlife habitat special assessment.
ATTENDANCE: Dave Kanner, Laurie Craghead
DISTRIBUTION OF DOCUMENTS:
Bonnie Baker
Larry Pacenka, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
REVIEWED
LEGAL COUNSEL
For Recording Stamp Only
BEFORE THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF DESCHUTES COUNTY, OREGON
A Resolution Requesting the Oregon Fish and
Wildlife Commission to Designate Land in
Deschutes County Zoned for Forest Use as
Eligible for Wildlife Habitat Special Assessment.
RESOLUTION NO. 2011-022
WHEREAS, on April 1, 2002, pursuant to ORS 215.800 to 215.808, which have since been repealed,
the Board of County Commissioners ("Board") adopted Resolution 2002-023 to forbid the establishment of
lands other than those zoned Exclusive Farm Use as eligible for Wildlife Habitat Conservation Management
Plan special assessment; and
WHEREAS, ORS 308A.415(1) allows now counties to request ODF&W to also designate land zoned
for Forest Use ("F1 and F2") as eligible for wildlife habitat special assessment in addition to EFU zone land, and
WHEREAS, the Board desires to request ODF&W to also designate land zoned for Forest Use as
eligible wildlife habitat special assessment; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMNIISSIONERS OF DESCHUTES
COUNTY, OREGON, as follows:
Section 1. The Board requests that ODF&W designate land in Deschutes County zoned for FI and F2,
in addition to the EFU zoned land already so designated, as eligible for wildlife habitat special assessment
pursuant to ORS 308A.400 through ORS 308A.430.
Dated this of , 20 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF DESCHUTES COUNTY, OREGON
ATTEST:
TAMMY BANEY, Chair
ANTHONY DEBONE, Vice Chair
Recording Secretary ALAN UNGER, Commissioner
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