Seabreeze Associates Limited v. Tillamook County

Statewide Planning Goal 10 (Housing) applies to rural unincorporated communities if residential lands in those communities were used in the county’s inventory of buildable lands required by Goal 10.

To combat erosion and flooding in Neskowin, in November 2014, the Tillamook County board of commissioners approved amendments that created the Neskowin Coastal Hazard (Nesk CH) overlay zone. This zone places additional restrictions on land divisions and limits the types of structures that may be built within the zone, in addition to a requirement for geological reporting standards. While portions of the overlay zone were on land base zoned for multi-family uses, the overlay limits allow for essentially only single-family residential construction. Seabreeze Associates (Seabreeze) appealed to LUBA, arguing that the county failed to consider whether adoption of the overlay zone would comply with Statewide Planning Goal 10 (Housing). LUBA noted that the only way that Goal 10 could apply to Neskowin, a rural unincorporated community, would be if the county relied on residential land in Neskowin to meet its need for buildable land under Goal 10. Because it was not clearly determinable from the record whether the county had done so, LUBA determined that remand was necessary to more clearly find whether these lands were used in county inventories or if they were only used to serve local housing needs. If on remand the county determines that these lands were used in its inventories for Goal 10 purposes, then it would be necessary for the county to evaluate whether the Nesk CH zone is consistent with the role that those lands play in the county’s Goal 10 obligations. REMANDED.