Notification Buffers Report prepared by Wasco County Planning Department. For informational purposes only. May 2018.

300 ft buffer (28 taxlots)

500 ft. buffer (56 tax lots)

750 ft. buffer (82 tax lots)

Non Resource Zones

In non-resource zones outside UGBs in Wasco County, the Planning Department uses a 300 ft. buffer for notification, where applicable, to select properties.

The red tax lot indicates the point select for proposed development, or the point from which the buffer is calculated. This example shows three possible buffer scenarios and the difference in number of properties for inclusion in the notification process. The average to mail a notice per tax lot is $3.22 (this includes minimal staff time estimate to run copies, stuff envelopes and post at an average of two minutes per envelope). For this example, the cost for mailing would then be:

1. $90.16 2. $180.32 3. $264.04

The average fee for an application in this zone requiring notice is: $2,134. This fee includes $1,221 in fees from other Departments. Estimated average staff time to complete this type of report is 25 hours. The planning department average bill rate is $76/hr.

750 ft. buffer (10 tax lots)

1000 ft. (10 tax lots)

1500 ft. (10 tax lots)

Exclusive Farm Use

In Wasco County, for development occurring in resource zones (EFU and Forest lands), planners use the State required 750 ft. buffer for notification. In this scenario, staff selected a property in A-1 (160) that was average size for the area (east of Dufur) and showed the impact of increasing the buffer to 1000 ft., 1500 ft., 2000 ft., and 3000 ft. It wasn’t until the buffer was expanded to 3000 ft. that it had an impact on the number of properties that would be noticed for a land use action. For this example, the cost for mailing would then be:

1. $32.20 2. $32.20 3. $32.20 4. $32.20 5. $54.74

2000 ft. (10 tax lots)

3000 ft. (17 tax lots)

750 ft. buffer (25 tax lots)

1000 ft. buffer (27 tax lots)

1500 ft. buffer (27 tax lots)

Forest Land

This series shows a forest zoned property south of Mosier. This area has smaller parcel sizes, and so the change in buffer sizes is more dramatic than the previous example. For this example, the cost for mailing would then be:

1. $80.50 2. $86.94 3. $86.94 4. $148.12 5. $215.74

2000 ft. (46 tax lots)

3000 ft. (67 tax lots)

750 ft. buffer (21 tax lots)

1000 ft. buffer (22 tax lots)

1500 ft. buffer (28 tax lots)

Exclusive Farm Use

In this example, a larger tax lot in South County, typical for the area, was selected to demonstrate buffer size impact. In this instance, the largest difference in tax lots noticed was between 1000 ft. and 1500 ft. For this example, the cost for mailing would then be:

1. $67.62 2. $70.84 3. $90.16 4. $93.38 5. $103.04

2000 ft. buffer (29 tax lots)

3000 ft. buffer (32 tax lots)