OPOA property rights legal win

After a drawn-out legal battle, property owners that want to host events on their farms in Marion County finally have a permitting path to do so thanks to the help of the OPOA Legal Center.

In August 2022, Marion County adopted an ordinance allowing event businesses as home occupations in the farm and forest zones. 1000 Friends of Oregon and Friends of Marion County challenged Marion County’s zoning ordinance on the premise that Oregon’s home occupation statute did not allow for property owners to host events as a home occupation.

In February 2023, the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) rejected nearly all of the Friends argument and made clear that state statute allows for event-site home occupations in the farm zone, if the event-site home occupation complies with certain standards outlined in the statue. One of those standards is that the home occupation may only employ on site no more than five full-time or part-time persons.

Unfortunately, despite prevailing on all other assignments of error, LUBA sent the County’s ordinance back to the County because the County failed to explain in findings how the County’s 750-person guest maximum could be served by only five people.

On remand, the County decided to make changes to ensure that the code was consistent with state law. The County amended its code to remove the 750-person guest limit and instead require any property owner applying to the County to host events to demonstrate to the County as part of their application that the proposed events can be conducted with no more than five employees. Friends of Marion County (FOMC), now represented by 1000 Friends, appealed again.

This round, OPOA Legal Center stepped in. OPOA Legal Center attorney, Samantha Bayer, represented Kristina McNitt, a Marion County farmer who would like to apply for an event-site home occupation on her farm. LUBA agreed with Marion County and the Legal Center that the ordinance complied with state law, and that a property owner could host an event as a home occupation if the applicant is able to show that they meet the five-employee limit as required by statute.

FOMC filed another appeal of that decision to the Oregon Court of Appeals, but ultimately withdrew its appeal.

After two years of litigation, property owners may now begin submitting applications to host events on their farms in Marion County. The OPOA Legal Center congratulates Kristina and Marion County for their persistence, and stands by ready to assist rural property owners who wish to pursue these important opportunities on their properties.

The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not represent the opinions or positions of any party represented by the OPOA Legal Center on any particular matter.