The cost of Measure 37 development

M37 is the initiative from last November's election that has recklessly and shamelessly overturned Oregon's land use laws.  And reckless it is:  we're looking at claims for casino resorts, gravel mines, motorcycle/ATV/paintball parks, subdivisions in the Columbia River Gorge, mega malls in rural/forested areas (link for a more detailed list of these claims.) 

All of these claims are outrageous in and of themselves, but to make matters worse most M37 claims fall outside of incorporated towns and cities.  As a result, developers are not required to pay a single red cent to the nearby communities despite the fact the developments will require public services from local towns and cities.  Before M37, all development fell within urban growth boundaries where developers are required to help offset some of the costs the development brings to the public school system, fire, police, roads, etc.

Urban growth boundaries serve several purposes, one of which includes creating cost efficiencies in providing us with the services that make our towns and cities work.  Unplanned random development, which M37 is, is expensive and inefficient.

So the question is:  Who pays for the services to these rural McMansion developments and obnoxious theme parks?  It's you and me, bubba.  And that's something the pro-sprawler anti-conservationists don't want anyone to know.

Comments

[ron ledbury]

I just wish someone would see the link between easy money Federal Reserve policies for housing and the impact it has on the demand for huge oversized homes.

Suppose we set a limit on FHA loans and the like at a home price that matched the median income household and was pegged to repayment in ten years. The limit would be closer to 120 thousand dollars. What would happen to the demand for McMansions?

I look at easy money as a cancer, which is a factor in the M37 debate too.

[Sid]

Ron-

Here here! I agree with you 100%. And these interest only loans could nearly qualify as criminal as far as I'm concerned. We're playing a game of musical chairs right now and the music's gonna stop and there will be a lot of interest only loan home owners who will be left without a chair.