Navigating Oregon Land Use Laws
Land use laws in Oregon have become increasingly more complicated over the last 30 years. As experienced project managers, we understand the complexities of land use projects in Oregon. Whether your project involves conditional use permits, partitioning, annexation, Measure 49, farm and non-farm dwellings, special tax assessment programs, land donations, smart earth-friendly development or long term investment management; we provide the knowledge and the skills to assist you with all of your land use goals.

Property Rights Advocate
When working with us, you are working with a team whose primary focus is to accomplish YOUR goals. It is no secret that the purpose of government planning offices is to restrict and regulate land-use projects according to county ordinance and state wide planning goals. Since county planners are responsible for administering these policies; it is neither in their best interest, nor do they have time to work directly with property owners to develop solutions. Our role is to understand the laws surrounding land use, work with each client individually to understand their needs, provide specific recommendations to accomplish their needs and help each property owner implement these solutions.

Estimating
Just like building a house, it is critical to know all of your costs up front to avoid cost overruns at the end of the project. We take great pride in providing an accurate estimate for each project. We track our estimates throughout the life of your project to ensure that expenditures are limited to what is absolutely necessary. Our relationships with engineers, surveyors, state and local agencies, attorneys and other professionals enable us to get preferred client rates and service, allowing us to complete each project on-time and within budget.

Expert Advice
In addition to our experience working with state and local agencies, we work with respected attorneys, engineers and specialists in the region to provide the best advice for clients considering a land use project. Most people would agree that before investing thousands of dollars in a solution, it is a good idea to discuss your project with an attorney, planner, engineer, water expert, soils expert and surveyor. But as you probably know, getting access to these resources is time consuming and often the information received from any of these experts is only as good as their understanding of the project. However by working with us you get the benefit of these resources without the expense.

Filing Your Application
We will complete the land-use application and develop the necessary burden-of-proof according to your needs. This, along with irrigation maps, proof of ownership, subdivision guarantee, engineering drawings, soils maps, and any other required information will be assembled and submitted to the county for processing. County processing can take anywhere from weeks to several months to be completed. During this time we will maintain communication with the county to insure the review is moving ahead. If a hearing is required, we will present your case at the hearing and respond to any questions.

We Provide:

• Explanation of Oregon land use laws
• Expert Advice
• Site evaluation with scaled concept drawings and site plans
• Estimating and budgeting
• Preparation of all state and local applications including burdens-of-proof
• Meeting with local officials
• Access to experts in specialty areas to complete required studies and impact analysis
• Representation at hearings
• Coordination of all conditions of approval and final engineering work
• Affordable project management

Full Service
Many of our clients appreciate the type of full service we provide. Unlike an engineer who is primarily interested in the technical aspects of the project, we provide complete project management and oversight taking into consideration the property itself and all of your goals and aspirations; while also factoring in your lifestyle, timing and budgetary concerns.

Land use projects generally involve a variety of resources including engineers, surveyors, attorneys, land planners, environmental experts, wildlife biologists, soils experts, excavators and construction crews. We will create a complete budget itemizing all costs prior to starting any work. After the budget is approved, we can oversee the entire project, providing updates to you on a regular basis. For each of our clients, we handle all communications with state and local agencies, coordinate all applications, respond to requests for supplementary information. In addition, we react to changes in your situation as well as changes with state and local legislation. Your project becomes our top priority.

Consultant vs. Attorney
Land use consultants and land use attorneys provide many of the same services. As consultants we understand the need for land use attorneys and we engage the help of attorneys whenever necessary. But unless your project involves litigation at circuit court or higher, in most cases land entitlement projects can be performed by a land use consultant with less overall expense and often better results than when relying solely on a land use attorney. For cost and availability reasons, consultants generally have more time to spend developing solutions for each individual project, which in many cases yields a better result. Many of our clients were recommended to us by local attorneys because we have proven we can provide many services more efficiently and cost effectively.

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