Title 20, Counties and County officers

(1) A registered professional land surveyor making a survey of lands within this state wherein the surveyor establishes or reestablishes a boundary monument shall, within 45 days thereafter, submit for filing a permanent map of the survey to the county surveyor for review. When f…

(1) Any survey map or narrative filed and recorded under the provisions of this chapter may be amended by an affidavit of correction: (a) To show any courses or distances omitted from the map or narrative; (b) To correct an error in any courses or distances shown on the map or na…

The county governing body, by resolution or order, may establish the fee to be collected by the county surveyor for filing and indexing a map or report of a survey. [1981 c.429 §2; 1985 c.582 §9; 1991 c.339 §4; 1991 c.621 §2]

(1) The records of the county surveyor shall be located in county facilities designated by the county governing body. (2) The county surveyor shall be provided reasonable facilities for the proper filing, indexing, copying, public inspection and examination and protection of publ…

When a railroad gives notice of its intention to abandon a railroad line within this state, the Department of Transportation shall provide a copy of the notice to the county surveyor of each county in which the line to be abandoned is located. Upon written request from a county s…

(1) The costs of the reestablishment of the corner or witness monument may be recovered in a civil action together with costs and attorney fees for the prevailing party. (2) A person may obtain injunctive relief to prevent further disturbance or destruction of survey monuments. (…

The governing body of any county may by ordinance create an office of county accountant. [1981 c.216 §1; 1983 c.310 §2]

The person appointed to the office of county accountant shall qualify within 30 days from the time of the appointment by taking and filing with the clerk of the county an oath to faithfully perform the duties of office, and by executing an official bond, with sureties to be appro…

Whenever, in the opinion of the board of county commissioners, the county accountant’s letter of credit, bond or any surety thereon becomes insufficient, the board shall require an additional bond or letter of credit. An additional bond or letter of credit shall also be required …

A county accountant shall be liable on the official bond required under ORS 210.120 or 210.130 for the acts and omissions of any deputies, assistants, clerks and employees appointed by the county accountant, and the official bond shall contain such a condition. [Amended by 1981 c…

A county accountant may require the deputies, clerks, assistants and employees of the accountant to give bonds of indemnity, with sufficient sureties, or to give an irrevocable letter of credit issued by an insured institution, as defined in ORS 706.008, for the faithful performa…

The demand of a county accountant for monthly salary shall be audited, allowed and ordered paid by the board of county commissioners. All other demands on account of salaries, or otherwise, fixed by law or otherwise and made payable out of the treasury, must be approved by the ac…

(1) The county accountant shall be the accounting officer of the county. All demands, accounts or claims against the county shall be presented to the accountant with the necessary evidence in support thereof, and the accountant shall examine and audit the same. If the accountant …

Any law or rule providing for the payment of any demand of any kind or nature, except the salary of the county accountant, out of the treasury or any fund thereof, whether from public funds or private funds deposited therein, shall be construed as requiring auditing and approval …

No demand shall be allowed by a county accountant in favor of: (1) Any corporation or person in any manner indebted to the county, except for taxes not delinquent, without first deducting the amount of any indebtedness of which the accountant has notice. (2) Any person having the…

A county accountant may administer oaths. The accountant may require any person presenting for settlement an account or claim for any cause against the county to be sworn before the accountant touching such account or claim, and when so sworn to answer orally as to any facts rela…

A county accountant shall: (1) Keep a register of all claims presented against the county and place upon each a uniform mark or stamp, to indicate that it has been examined by the accountant. (2) Keep an account with each department of the county government and with each county o…

A county accountant shall establish a standard system of keeping accounts and a uniform method of statements for the same. The books of the accountant shall at all times be subject to the inspection of the board of county commissioners, or any member thereof, and of the grand jur…

(1) A county accountant shall have prepared suitable forms of receipts, and from time to time shall deliver to the treasurer and to every officer authorized by law to charge any fee, commission, percentage, allowance or compensation for the performance of any official duty, as ma…

As used in this chapter: (1) The terms defined in ORS 92.010 shall have the meanings given therein, except that “parcel”: (a) Includes a unit of land created: (A) By partitioning land as defined in ORS 92.010; (B) In compliance with all applicable planning, zoning and partitionin…

(1) The governing body of any county may create and provide for the organization and operations of one or more county planning commissions. (2) This section shall be liberally construed and shall include the authority to create more than one planning commission, or subcommittee o…

(1) The county planning commission shall consist of five, seven or nine members appointed by the governing body for four-year terms, or until their respective successors are appointed and qualified, except that the terms of the initial members must be staggered for one, two, thre…

(1) The governing body of each county shall designate an individual to serve as planning director for the county responsible for administration of planning. The governing body shall provide employees as necessary to assist the director in carrying out responsibilities. The direct…

(1) County governing bodies 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 de…

Solar access ordinances shall not be in conflict with acknowledged comprehensive plans and land use regulations. [1981 c.722 §3]

(1) Except as provided in ORS 527.722, the county governing body shall adopt and may from time to time revise a comprehensive plan and zoning, subdivision and other ordinances applicable to all of the land in the county. The plan and related ordinances may be adopted and revised …

Action by the governing body of a county regarding the plan shall have no legal effect unless the governing body first conducts one or more public hearings on the plan and unless 10 days’ advance public notice of each of the hearings is published in a newspaper of general circula…

The commission, and any of its members, officers and employees, in the performance of their functions, may enter upon any land and make examinations and surveys and place and maintain the necessary monuments and markers thereon.

Public officials, departments and agencies, having information, maps or other data deemed by the planning commission pertinent to county planning shall make such information available for the use of the commission. [Amended by 1977 c.766 §3]

The county planning commission shall advise and cooperate with other planning commissions within the state, and shall upon request, or on its own initiative, furnish advice or reports to any city, county, officer or department on any problem comprehended in county planning.

(1) A planning commission may recommend to the governing body ordinances intended to implement part or all of the comprehensive plan. The ordinances may provide, among other things, for: (a) Zoning; (b) Official maps showing the location and dimensions of, and the degree of permi…

(1) Any legislative ordinance relating to land use planning or zoning shall be a local law within the meaning of, and subject to, ORS 250.155 to 250.235. (2) An ordinance designed to carry out a county comprehensive plan and a county comprehensive plan shall apply to: (a) The are…

(1) Notwithstanding ORS 215.130, 215.213 or 215.283 or any local zoning ordinance or regulation, a public or private school, including all buildings essential to the operation of the school, formerly allowed pursuant to ORS 215.213 (1)(a) or 215.283 (1)(a), as in effect before Ja…

(1) The Legislative Assembly finds that each county should plan for and develop energy resilience and be prepared, in the event of major grid disruption, to maintain basic services and functions. (2) In order to carry out the provisions set forth in subsection (1) of this section…

The powers of an incorporated city to control subdivision and other partitioning of land and to rename thoroughfares in adjacent unincorporated areas shall continue unimpaired by ORS 215.010 to 215.190 and 215.402 to 215.438 until the county governing body that has jurisdiction o…

(1) In case a building or other structure is, or is proposed to be, located, constructed, maintained, repaired, altered, or used, or any land is, or is proposed to be, used, in violation of an ordinance or regulation designed to implement a comprehensive plan, the governing body …

No person shall locate, construct, maintain, repair, alter, or use a building or other structure or use or transfer land in violation of an ordinance or regulation authorized by ORS 215.010 to 215.190 and 215.402 to 215.438. [1955 c.439 §9; 1963 c.619 §13]

(1) Zoning ordinances may be adopted to zone designated areas of land within the county as exclusive farm use zones. Land within such zones shall be used exclusively for farm use except as otherwise provided in ORS 215.213, 215.283 or 215.284. Farm use zones shall be established …

The Department of Land Conservation and Development shall develop, in conjunction with local governments and other state agencies, a computerized database that is capable of producing county-wide maps that show the diversity of Oregon’s rural lands. The database shall include, at…

(1) If a person concludes that more detailed soils information than that contained in the Web Soil Survey operated by the United States Natural Resources Conservation Service would assist a county to make a better determination of whether land qualifies as agricultural land, the …

The Soils Assessment Fund is established in the State Treasury, separate and distinct from the General Fund. Interest earned by the Soils Assessment Fund shall be credited to the fund. Moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the Department of Land Conservation and Dev…

(1) In counties that have adopted marginal lands provisions under ORS 197.247 (1991 Edition), the following uses may be established in any area zoned for exclusive farm use: (a) Churches and cemeteries in conjunction with churches. (b) The propagation or harvesting of a forest pr…

(1) Notwithstanding ORS 215.130 (5) to (11), if a nonfarm use exists in an exclusive farm use zone and is unintentionally destroyed by fire, other casualty or natural disaster, the county may allow by its zoning regulations such use to be reestablished to its previous nature and …

(1) A person who owns a private hunting preserve that was licensed under ORS 497.248 on or before July 28, 2003, and that has not been submitted to the appropriate local governing body or its designee for land use approval may continue to operate the hunting preserve without loca…

(1) No zoning ordinance enacted by the county governing body may have legal effect unless prior to its enactment the governing body or the planning commission conducts one or more public hearings on the ordinance and unless 10 days’ advance public notice of each hearing is publis…

Nothing in ORS 215.010, 215.030, 215.050, 215.060, 215.110, 215.130, 215.170, 215.185, 215.190, 215.203, 215.213 and 215.223 and this section shall impair the validity of ordinances enacted prior to September 2, 1963. All development patterns made and adopted prior to that time s…