Matt Cyrus grows hay and keeps a few head of cattle on his Deschutes County farm. He makes a small profit but not enough to live. His three other businesses keep him and his family financially stable.
Cyrus said it’s tough to grow high value crops in Central Oregon, and that’s why he wants to sell his land.
“You almost have to water the sagebrush to get it to grow,” he said.
Cyrus said that his parents are considering selling some of their family farm as a way to help manage their retirement. There may be more roadblocks to that sale soon.
Central Oregon LandWatch and 1000 Friends of Oregon sent a letter to the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners on July 29 saying they plan to petition Oregon’s Land Conservation and Development Commission unless the county stops converting agricultural land into residential lots.
In Deschutes County, developers are in the market to expand rural housing.
The county’s rezoning efforts have been a growing concern for land use advocates in the region.
Just under 1,200 acres of land have been changed to housing or other non-resource uses since 2007, according to Peter Gutowsky, Deschutes County’s community development director. A little over 1,200 other acres of land are also in process of seeking rezoning since 2023.
The county has seen an uptick in these rezonings since 2022, and that’s what concerns Rory Isbell, the rural land program director for Central Oregon LandWatch. His group estimates these conversions are even more prevalent than what Gutowsky has been tracking.
According to a county spokesperson, there are 250,576 acres of non-federally owned exclusive farm use land in Deschutes County.
Isbell said the organizations sent the letter now because of the recent increase in rezonings.
Per LCDC rules, sending the letter gives the advocacy groups the ability to make the case that Deschutes County “is engaging in a pattern and practice of land use decision-making that doesn’t comply with either a local comprehensive plan or state land use laws.”
Cyrus sees it differently. He’s the chair of the county’s planning commission, chair of the Deschutes County Farm Bureau and president of the Oregon Family Farm Association.
“Quite frankly, (selling land is) any farmer’s retirement plan, you don’t have cash in the bank. You’ve got all your value in land,” he said.
County commissioner Phil Chang said Central Oregon LandWatch and 1000 Friends of Oregon raise an important issue.
Chang tends to vote against rezoning applications that aren’t near an urban growth boundary and will vote in favor of rezoning farm land into residential if it could give a pathway for Central Oregon cities to create more housing opportunities.
“We’re in a fast-growing community. We need more housing,” Chang said.
When considering the changes, Chang weighs the productivity of the farm land versus the housing opportunities that could be built on a rezoned parcel.
Isbell said Central Oregon LandWatch understands the need for housing in the region, but would like to see the county follow the process set forth by the state, a process that Chang called “cumbersome.”
Chang recognized that the nonprofits were working within Oregon’s land use and planning system, but the system isn’t “set up exactly right” to address the county’s specific needs for preserving agricultural land or creating the housing that is needed.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.