Joe Ben, LLC v. Jackson County

Intervenor applied for a forest template dwelling in the Area of Special Concern (ASC) 90-1 overlay zone. Under Jackson County Land Development Ordinance (LDO) 7.1.1(C)(5)(c), dwellings in the ASC 90-1 overlay must be located within 300 feet of an existing road or driveway. Applications that do not comply with LDO 7.1.1(C)(5) may still be approved under LDO 7.1.1(C)(6). Because the proposed dwelling was not within 300 feet of an existing road or driveway, petitioner applied for approval under LDO 7.1.1(C)(6). Under LDO 7.1.1(C)(6)(a), an application that does not comply with LDO 7.1.1(C)(5) may still be approved if applying certain wildlife habitat protection measures would render the parcel unbuildable. Concluding that petitioner failed to establish that applying the wildlife habitat protection measures would render the parcel unbuildable, the county denied the application. LUBA agreed with petitioner that the county’s findings were inadequate to explain why exactly the application did not satisfy LDO 7.1.1(C)(6)(a). The county’s decision was therefore REMANDED.