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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExtend Development Time MEMORANDUM To: Board of County Commissioners From: Nick Lelack, AICP, Planning Director Date: April 13, 2011 Re: Work Session: Development Approval Extensions SUMMARY The purpose of this work session is to seek Board direction on whether the County should initiate a text amendment to the Deschutes County Code (DCC) to allow additional development approval extensions beyond the normal approval and extension periods for non-resource approvals such as site plan reviews, subdivisions, partitions and lot line adjustments. There has been interest from the development community to continue to keep planning approvals active until the market allows them the financial ability to submit their building permits, pay their SDCs and commence construction. DISCUSSION DCC Chapter 22.36 (B) and (C) establish the duration of land use permit approvals for two years, and authorize the Planning Director to grant up to three 1-year extensions for approvals where a development has not been initiated.1 Land use permit approvals subject to this time frame include site plan reviews, conditional use permits, subdivisions, partitions, lot line adjustments, etc. Deschutes County’s 5-year timeframe to initiate a development is one of the longest development approval timelines for both cities and counties in Oregon. The Exclusive Farm Use and Forest Use Zones have separate duration of approvals and extensions as established by state law.2 1 Per DCC 22.36.020 Initiation of Use, development action under a land use approval has been “initiated” if it is determined that: 1. The proposed use has lawfully occurred; 2. Substantial construction toward completion of the land use approval has taken place; or 3. Where construction is not required by the approval, the conditions of a permit or approval have been substantially exercised and any failure to fully comply with the conditions is not the fault of the applicant. 2 The approval period for the following dwellings in the EFU and Forest Use Zones is 4 years (replacement dwelling, nonfarm dwelling, lot of record dwelling, large tract dwelling, and template dwelling). Up to two 2-year extensions may be granted by the Planning Director for such dwellings. The Community Development Department has been approached about providing additional land use permit extensions due to the extended economic downturn. Similar requests have been made and approved throughout Central Oregon. For example, the cities of Bend, Redmond and Sisters, and Crook County, have all approved additional land use permit extensions, and typically for 2 additional years. The table below shows the number of development approval extension requests by year between January 1, 2000 and March 31, 2011. Table 1. Development Approval Extension Requests Year Number of Extension Requests  2000 35  2001 51  2002 65  2003 39  2004 33  2005 24  2006 51  2007 49  2008 73  2009 70  2010 85  2011 (1st Quarter) 24  TOTAL 600  The table shows a significant increase in extension requests beginning in 2008. Specifically, it shows that 252, or 42%, of the 600 development approval requests since 2000 have been submitted since the start of 2008. Moreover, 2011 is on pace for nearly 100 extension requests with 24 already submitted in the first quarter. The reason land use permits have expiration dates is to ensure development proposals comply with current standards. Approval extensions are available so applicants can request additional time to begin or continue a development or meet conditions of approval regardless of whether the applicable standards have changed. Applicants are required to submit a written request for an extension prior to the expiration of approval, state the reasons for the additional time, and submit a fee of $310. The Planning Director approves the extension request if it can be determined that the applicant was not responsible for the delay, including, but not limited to, delay by a state or federal agency in issuing a required permit. OPTIONS / DIRECTION Staff seeks Board direction on which of the following courses of action, if any, to take related to development approval extensions: 1. Determine that the current development approval time period and opportunity to apply for up to three 1-year extensions is sufficient time to initiate a development. 2. Direct staff to initiate a text amendment to allow additional extensions for land use permits unless such an extension would violate any time limitation on the permit imposed by Oregon state law. If the Board directs staff to pursue this course of action, then the following issues also need to be discussed: a. Does the extension automatically extend all applicable permits or are applicants required to apply for additional extensions? Jurisdictions with shorter approval and extension periods than Deschutes County tend to automatically extend all applicable permits because the majority of permits expire in the same general time frames. However, Deschutes County’s 5-year approval and extension period creates significant variations in the time frame for expirations of approvals and extensions. An automatic extension would be significantly more complicated to administer than extending or expanding the current system of applicant initiated 1-year extensions in Deschutes County. Staff recommends an applicant initiated 1-year or 2-year extension process be considered rather than an automatic or “blanket” extension. b. What is the time limit for additional extensions? Does it follow the current 1-year extension process or is it a different period of time, such as 2-year extensions? Many of the jurisdictions granting extensions are doing so for 2-year periods. Staff recommends one 2-year extension. c. If applicants are required to apply for extension requests, how many additional extension requests may be allowed? Some jurisdictions, including Bend and Crook County, are allowing one extension for 2-years, and then determining at that time whether additional extensions should be authorized. Similar to b. above, staff recommends granting applicants one 2-year extension. d. Is there a sunset date on the text amendment? Jurisdictions are approving additional permit extensions due to the current economic situation with sunset dates. Crook County and Bend have approved extensions for two years. Staff recommends the text amendment sunset 2-3 years following adoption. The Board will need to make a finding to support the text amendment. It will be a more defensible finding if the text amendment is for a limited duration. For example, the Board may make a determination that there is a county-wide need for such extensions because the current state of the economy is not conducive to property development and the Board desires to save land owners with land use approvals the expense of reapplying based on the continuing economic downturn for a period of a “X” years. If the Board supports initiating such a text amendment, staff will recommend the ordinance be adopted by emergency based on the findings made to support the ordinance.