Oregon Voters Approve Property Rights Reduction Measure

"Oregon voters overwhelmingly approved Measure 49 on Tuesday, rolling back the property development rights approved just three years earlier."

"After a hammer and tong campaign that pitted conservationists against timber interests, and in which both sides recruited usually reticent farmers to the fray, voters approved Measure 49 by 61 percent to 39 percent."

"But opponents said Oregon's land-use battles are far from over. Dave Hunnicutt, president of the property rights group Oregonians in Action, said he'll spend the next couple of months helping frustrated landowners sort through their options."

"The outcome drastically scales back development allowed under Measure 37, approved by voters in 2004. Under the new law, landowners will be allowed to build one to 10 houses under various scenarios. The measure prohibits larger subdivisions and commercial and industrial development, however."

"Measure 37 spoke to the frustration of thousands of Oregonians who had come to believe that government-imposed conditions and prohibitions violated their property rights. It passed handily in 2004, winning 61 percent of the vote. Property owners responded by filing 7,500 development claims, asking for the right to develop everything from single homes and 100-home subdivisions to shopping malls, resorts and gravel pits -- much of it on rural farmland and forestland."