The owner of Marr Ranch, near Chief Joseph's burial site, has filed a Measure 37 claim in order to build an RV camp there. (Ellen Morris Bishop)

An Oregon judge shocked the state—and the country—this month when she overturned the controversial Measure 37, a property-rights law voters passed last November.

On Oct. 14, Marion County Circuit Judge Mary James ruled that the state law violates the state and federal constitutions.

Measure 37, which says that government "must pay owners, or forgo enforcement, when certain land use restrictions reduce property value," helps some landowners, James ruled, but treats others unfairly. For example, under the new law, developers can build on land next to working farms, lowering their property value.

The decision, which will likely be appealed, responds to a lawsuit, MacPherson v. Department of Administrative Services, filed in January by former Senator Hector MacPherson, landowners, farmers, and the preservation group 1,000 Friends of Oregon.

"We were very pleased but not as surprised as the rest of the state was," says Bob Stacey, executive director of 1,000 Friends of Oregon. "More and more Oregonians are becoming concerned that Measure 37 didn't strike a balance between land-use planning and property rights," says Stacey, whose group wants the state to replace the now-invalid statute with a law that compensates landowners based on actual loss of property value, not potential losses.

Preservationists and others objected to the law in part because it opens the door to development. Since the measure passed, landowners have filed "Measure 37 claims"—requests for compensation or exemption from land-use laws—to build a strip mall and houses on Willamette Valley farmland; build houses in vineyards of Yamhill County; build houses in the pear orchards of Hood River County; and build houses near Chief Joseph's burial site. Read more >>

"Measure 37 gave a blanket right to property owners based on the date they bought their property and nothing more," Stacey says. "It has resulted in a complete windfall to those property owners. For every property owner who hits the jackpot with the new Measure 37 claims, new victims are being created."

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