1000 Friends of Oregon v. Jackson County

Under Goal 3 under OAR 660-004-0022(3)(2): Resource land used for the development of industrial businesses outside of urban growth boundaries may be appropriate if there is a "significant comparative advantage due to its location (e.g., near existing industrial activity, an energy facility, or product available from other rural activities, which would benefit the county economy and cause only minimal loss of productive resource lands."

Or Solar sought review of LUB’s decision to reverse the county's acceptance of its application approval to establish an 80-acre photovoltaic solar power generation facility outside Medford, Oregon after 1000 Friends of Oregon brought an appeal of the decision. Or Solar assigned error to LUBA's decision to reverse the county's decision. On appeal, Or Solar argued that the rule's text does not limit use in proximity to rural land use, "parenthetical examples do not state the exclusive types of locational attractors, and that LUBA's concern about intensive industrial uses adjacent to UGBs are not relevant to an exception to Goal 3 to allow a conditional nonfarm use." Under Goal 3 under OAR 660-004-0022(3)(2): Resource land used for the development of industrial businesses outside of urban growth boundaries may be appropriate if there is a "significant comparative advantage due to its location (e.g., near existing industrial activity, an energy facility, or product available from other rural activities), which would benefit the county economy and cause only minimal loss of productive resource lands." The Court of Appeals held that the examples listed in the rule are only examples and not a limited or exclusive list of rationales and that LUBA erred in "concluding that the proposed commercial utility facility use was an 'industrial development' under OAR 660-004-0022(3)(c)" because of the differences in the rules establishing "energy facilities" and "industrial activity." The remainder of LUBA's decision affirmed but the portion of the order that stated the requested facility was considered rural industrial development under OAR 660-004-0022(3)(c) reversed.