Title 21, Cities

As used in ORS 227.030 to 227.300, “council” means a representative legislative body. [Amended by 1975 c.767 §1]

(1) A city may create a planning commission for the city and provide for its organization and operations. (2) This section shall be liberally construed and shall include the authority to create a joint planning commission and to utilize an intergovernmental agency for planning as…

(1) Not more than two members of a city planning commission may be city officers, who shall serve as ex officio nonvoting members. (2) A member of such a commission may be removed by the appointing authority, after hearing, for misconduct or nonperformance of duty. (3) Any vacanc…

(1) Except as otherwise provided by the city council, a city planning commission may: (a) Recommend and make suggestions to the council and to other public authorities concerning: (A) The laying out, widening, extending and locating of public thoroughfares, parking of vehicles, r…

As used in ORS 227.100 and 227.110, “subdivision” and “plat” have the meanings given those terms in ORS 92.010. [1955 c.756 §28]

All subdivision plats located within the city limits, and all plans or plats for vacating or laying out, widening, extending, parking and locating streets or plans for public buildings shall first be submitted to the commission by the city engineer or other proper municipal offic…

(1) All subdivision plats and all plats or deeds dedicating land to public use in that portion of a county within six miles outside the limits of any city shall first be submitted to the city planning commission or, if no such commission exists, to the city engineer of the city a…

Within six miles of the limits of any city, the commission, if there is one, or if no such commission legally exists, then the city engineer, shall recommend to the city council the renaming of any existing street, highway or road, other than a county road or state highway, if in…

As used in ORS 227.160 to 227.186: (1) “Hearings officer” means a planning and zoning hearings officer appointed or designated by a city council under ORS 227.165. (2) “Permit” means discretionary approval of a proposed development of land, under ORS 227.215 or city legislation o…

A city may appoint one or more planning and zoning hearings officers, to serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority. Such an officer shall conduct hearings on applications for such classes of permits and zone changes as the council designates. [1973 c.739 §7; 1975 c.767 §6…

(1) The city council shall prescribe one or more procedures for the conduct of hearings on permits and zone changes. (2) The city council shall prescribe one or more rules stating that all decisions made by the council on permits and zone changes will be based on factual informat…

(1) As used in this section: (a) “Casino” means a facility in which casino games, as defined in ORS 167.117, are played for the purpose of gambling. (b) “Tribal casino” means a facility used for: (A) Class I gaming or class II gaming regulated by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act …

(1) Approval or denial of a discretionary permit application must be based on standards and criteria that are set forth in the development ordinance and that relate approval or denial of a discretionary permit application to the development ordinance and the comprehensive plan fo…

(1) When required or authorized by a city, an owner of land may apply in writing to the hearings officer, or such other person as the city council designates, for a permit or zone change, upon such forms and in such a manner as the city council prescribes. The governing body shal…

(1) Except as provided in subsections (3), (5) and (11) of this section, the governing body of a city or its designee shall take final action on an application, including resolution of all appeals under ORS 227.180, within the shortest applicable period of the following periods, …

(1) If the governing body of a city or its designee does not take final action on an application within the period allowed under ORS 227.178, the applicant may file a petition for a writ of mandamus under ORS 34.130 in the circuit court of the county where the application was sub…

(1)(a) A party aggrieved by the action of a hearings officer may appeal the action to the planning commission or council of the city, or both, however the council prescribes. The appellate authority on its own motion may review the action. The procedure for such an appeal or revi…

(1) Pursuant to a final order of the Land Use Board of Appeals under ORS 197.830 remanding a decision to a city, the governing body of the city or its designee shall take final action on an application for a permit, limited land use decision or zone change within 120 days of the …

(1) If the governing body of a city or its designee fails to take final action on an application for a permit, limited land use decision or zone change within 120 days as provided in ORS 227.181, the applicant may file a petition for a writ of mandamus as provided in ORS 34.105 t…

(1) A person whose application is denied by the governing body of a city or its designee under ORS 227.178 may submit to the city a supplemental application for any or all other uses allowed under the city’s comprehensive plan and land use regulations in the zone that was the sub…

The governing body of a city or its designee may allow the establishment of a transmission tower over 200 feet in height in any zone subject to reasonable conditions imposed by the governing body or its designee. [1983 c.827 §27a; 2019 c.13 §35]

(1) As used in this section, “owner” means the owner of the title to real property or the contract purchaser of real property, of record as shown on the last available complete tax assessment roll. (2) All legislative acts relating to comprehensive plans, land use planning or zon…

A city shall maintain copies of its comprehensive plan and land use regulations, as defined in ORS 197.015, for sale to the public. [1991 c.363 §3]

(1) A city governing body may authorize the planning commission or hearings officer to conduct hearings and make final decisions on applications for amendments to the city comprehensive plan map. (2)(a) A final decision of the planning commission or hearings officer made under su…

(1) City councils may adopt and implement solar access ordinances. The ordinances shall provide and protect to the extent feasible solar access to the south face of buildings during solar heating hours, taking into account latitude, topography, microclimate, existing development,…

Solar access ordinances shall not be in conflict with acknowledged comprehensive plans and land use regulations. [1981 c.722 §6]

(1) As used in this section, “development” means a building or mining operation, making a material change in the use or appearance of a structure or land, dividing land into two or more parcels, including partitions and subdivisions as provided in ORS 92.010 to 92.285, and creati…

The council may provide for enforcement of any legislation established under ORS 227.215. [Amended by 1975 c.767 §14]

City land use regulations that allow the resumption of a nonconforming use after its interruption or abandonment may not consider a use interrupted or abandoned during the time that a federal, state or local emergency order limits or prohibits the use or the repair or replacement…

City ordinances regulating the location, construction, maintenance, repair, alteration, use and occupancy of land and buildings and other structures shall apply to publicly owned property, except as the ordinances prescribe to the contrary. [1969 c.460 §3 (enacted in lieu of 227.…

(1) The council or other governing body of any incorporated city, under an exercise of its police powers, may establish or alter building setback lines on private property adjacent to any alley, street, avenue, boulevard, highway or other public way in such city. It may make it u…

The council or other governing body of any incorporated city, under an exercise of the power of eminent domain, may establish or alter building setback lines on private property adjacent to any alley, street, avenue, boulevard, highway, or other public way in such city in cases w…

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a city of this state may establish by ordinance or otherwise a program for the demolition of residences or residential buildings. A program established under this subsection: (a) Must require a person performing a demolition to acqui…

(1) After the Department of State Lands has provided the city with a copy of the applicable portions of the Statewide Wetlands Inventory, the city shall provide notice to the department, the applicant and the owner of record, within five working days of the acceptance of any comp…

(1) A city council shall not establish a new truck route or revise an existing truck route within the city unless the council first provides public notice of the proposed truck route and holds a public hearing concerning its proposed action. (2) The city council shall provide not…

(1) Multiunit housing with more than 10 individual residential units should include adequate space and access for collection of containers for solid waste and recyclable materials. (2) Each commercial building and each industrial and institutional building should include adequate…

Each city in this state shall adopt standards and specifications for clustered mailboxes within the boundaries of city streets and rights-of-way that conform to the standards and specifications for such mailboxes contained in the State of Oregon Structural Specialty Code. [2011 c…

(1) If a church, synagogue, temple, mosque, chapel, meeting house or other nonresidential place of worship is allowed on real property under state law and rules and local zoning ordinances and regulations, a city shall allow the reasonable use of the real property for activities …

(1) The installation and use on a residential structure of a solar photovoltaic energy system or a solar thermal energy system is an outright permitted use in any zone in which residential structures are an allowed use. (2) The installation and use on a commercial structure of a …

(1) As used in this section: (a) “Compost” has the meaning given that term in ORS 459.005. (b) “Disposal site” has the meaning given that term in ORS 459.005. (c) “Local government” has the meaning given that term in ORS 174.116. (2) Before an applicant may submit an application …