Archive for November, 2007

In a rare decision that may be one of the last salvos of the Measure 37 property-rights battle, a Multnomah County judge ruled Wednesday that county and state land-use laws had restricted the use of a couple’s rural Northwest Portland property and reduced its value by $750,000.

Attorneys representing Larry and Laura Luethe, who sought to build a nine-lot subdivision off Northwest Skyline Boulevard, said the county and state must either pay the damage amount or waive the zoning that kept the Luethes from developing the property. The state and county must pay the couple’s attorney fees and court costs in either case, attorneys Stephen Crew and Kristian Roggendorf said.

Larry Luethe, 63, a retired excavator, said battling the land- use system for the past couple of years has been extremely frustrating. He and his wife, who had not spent time in a courtroom before the weeklong trial, welcomed the decision by Judge Jerry Hodson.

(more…)

Posted by The Oregonian

November 15, 2007

In a rare decision that may be one of the last salvos of the Measure 37 property rights battle, a Multnomah County judge ruled Wednesday that county and state land use laws restricted a couple’s use of their rural Northwest Portland property and reduced its value by $750,000.

Attorneys representing Larry and Laura Luethe, who wanted to build a nine-lot subdivision off Northwest Skyline Boulevard, said the county and state must pay the damage amount or waive the zoning regulation that kept the Luethes from developing the property.

The case is significant because it emerged from the murky legal ground separating Measure 37, the 2004 property rights measure, and Measure 49, the revision approved by voters in the Nov. 6 election. Measure 49 drastically rolled back development rights, prohibiting the large subdivisions and industrial and commercial development that many property owners had sought to build under Measure 37.

Under Measure 49, claimants will be limited to three homesites, or four to 10 if they can prove by appraisal that land use laws sufficiently devalued their property.
-- Eric Mortenson
ericmortenson@news.oregonian.com