247-23-000391-TA – Repeal of Conventional Housing Combining Zone
Proposal Summary
This is a legislative text amendment to Deschutes County Code (DCC), Title 18 County Zoning, to repeal Chapter 18.92, Conventional Housing Combining (CHC) Zone.
Staff is proposing the following revisions to complete this text amendment:
- Repeal of section 18.92 Conventional Housing Combining Zone from the Deschutes County Code
- Zoning Map Amendment to repeal the Conventional Housing Combining Zone
The CHC Zone serves as an overlay zone and restricts placement of manufactured or prefabricated homes in specific areas of the County with the following stated purpose:
“To provide a variety of residential environments in rural areas by maintaining areas reserved for conventional and modular housing permanently attached to real property”. [1]
Deschutes County adopted the CHC Zone in 1979 as part of Ordinance PL-15, the County’s Zoning Ordinance. The CHC Zone applies to three areas – an area to the east of Tumalo, west of Tumalo and east of Bend as shown in the map in Attachment 2. From staff research, this overlay zone appears to have been created by petition of property owners, although specific findings for the intent of the zone and its location are not available in county records.
In 2020, the County produced a Rural Housing Profile, which outlined several potential strategies for removing barriers to housing production in rural Deschutes County. The repeal of the CHC Zone was listed as a strategy as it would give those properties the potential to provide affordable housing in the form of mobile or manufactured homes, which are less expensive alternatives to stick‐built or modular housing.
In addition to this, on March 23, 2022, Oregon House Bill 4064 became effective. The bill amended several sections of Oregon Revised Statute which clarified that local governments may not prohibit siting of prefabricated structures in residential zones where traditional single-family homes or other common dwelling types were allowed. Although the amendments were primarily targeted toward cities and urban growth boundaries, Section 4, ORS 197.312 OR was revised to limit both city and county jurisdictions’ ability to prohibit manufactured prefabricated homes in residential zones.
The CHC Zone impacts approximately 505 properties. The tables below break down the zoning of the properties within the CHC Zone. Staff notes that of the 505 properties, 381 of them have at least some portion of the property within a resource zone and 128 have at least some portion of the property within a residential zone.
[1] DCC 18.92.010
| Zone | Number of Properties |
| Resource Zone | |
| Exclusive Farm Use (EFU) | 353 |
| Forest Use (F1/F2) | 4 |
| Open Space and Conservation (OSC) | 3 |
| Residential Zones | |
| Multiple Use Agricultural (MUA10) | 83 |
| Rural Residential (RR10) | 10 |
| Tumalo Residential (TUR/TUR5) | 7 |
| Total Residential Zoned Properties: 100 | |
| Total Single Zoned Properties in CHC Zone: 460 | |
| Zones | Number of Properties |
| EFU and F1/F2 | 1 |
| EFU and MUA 10 | 3 |
| EFU and RR10 | 1 |
| EFU and FP | 13 |
| EFU, FP, and MUA10 | 2 |
| EFU, FP, and TUR/TUR5 | 1 |
| MUA10 and Flood Plain (FP) | 16 |
| Surface Mine (SM) and FP | 3 |
| TUR/TUR5 and FP | 4 |
| MUA10, TUR5, and FP | 1 |
| Total Split Zoned Properties in CHC Zone: 45 | |
The purpose of these amendments is twofold: to implement the recommendation of the 2020 housing profile to allow for an affordable housing option where stick-built residential structures are otherwise allowed and also to bring the Deschutes County Code into compliance with HB 4064 by specifically removing this combining zone from residentially zoned properties.
Proposal Status
The Board adopted the repeal and Ordinance 2023-019 is in effect.
Staff Contact:
Rachel Vickers, Associate Planner
Email: Rachel.Vickers@deschutes.org
Phone: (541) 388-6504
