TD Eastside Subdivision Wins Land Use Board Approval

By Tom Peterson

Oregon’s State Land Use Board of Appeals has approved the Legacy Development Subdivision in east The Dalles, according to an opinion posted Friday, Feb. 26. 

The Land Use Board found the City of The Dalles erred by imposing municipal code that was not “clear and objective”,  according to the opinion written by Board Member Melissa M. Ryan.

“The city council's decision is reversed, and the city is ordered to approve petitioner's application,” the opinion reads. 

Cameron Curtis

“It is a clear decision,” said Cameron Curtis, president of Legacy Development. “We have been committed to this project of building beautiful homes in a beautiful neighborhood for over a year...  And we are committed to working with the City and the neighbors to provide the much-needed housing for The Dalles.”   

While Legacy maintains the 80-unit subdivision on 6.92 acres in East The Dalles will help the community meet the demand for housing, neighbors and community members believe it will cause extensive safety issues because of a lack of surrounding infrastructure.

Neighbors appealed the subdivision’s original approval by then Community Development Director Steve Harris. He approved the subdivision called The Grove, at 2845 E. 12th Street in Thompson’s edition. The property is bordered by Richmond Street to the east, East 10th Street to the north, and East 12th Street to the south.

Twelfth and 10th streets, which would provide access for future residents at the subdivision, lack curbs and sidewalks until they reach Thompson Street. That’s a half-mile on each.

Neighbors fear that children who would live in the proposed housing development could be injured while bicycling or walking the steep streets.

The Dalles City Council upheld the neighbor’s appeal, nixing the development temporarily until this recent decision by the Land Use Board. 

 “I think it’s an automatic approval,” said The Dalles City Mayor Rich Mays on Friday. “I am not happy with it at all… this looks like 238 additional people with 80 units and 82 peak hour (vehicle) trips all in a small area of the city. All along, I have had safety concerns, and I still do.”

The Dalles Mayor Rich Mays

Mays said he was happy to hear that Curtis was looking forward to working with the City and neighbors to address concerns. 

“Hopefully, Mr. Curtis can work with us to address those issues,” Mays said. 

Last fall, a majority of The Dalles City Council upheld the appeal of the subdivision. 

Councilor Darcy Long-Curtis provided the only dissenting vote before the resolution was approved. 

She said she did not believe the decision would stand up when it is taken to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). 

“Instead of denying… we need to find ways to make this safe... I'm not a lawyer, but I can see the writing on the wall. We really do not have strong standing on this,” she said. 

On Friday, Curtis said he was disappointed when neighbors appealed the project and Council upheld it. 

“City Council did not see the value and the need for it as they did not follow the laws and guidelines in place, and we did. And that is what LUBA concluded.”

He said he was also unsure on how many units Legacy intended to build in months to come. “I have nothing else to say about unit counts at this point,” he said. 

The Land Use Opinion 

The Land Use Board found that “clear” and “objective” language was missing in multiple areas of the city’s municipal code and rejected several Council arguments concerning intersections, pedestrian requirements and safety. The City’s Traffic Impact Study language in regard to crash standards for the loss of service at the intersection of Highway 197 and Freemont/ Columbia View Drive was also found deficient.

Read the opinion in its entirety here.

This is the site of Legacy Developments “The Grove” subdivision, which recently won approval from the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals after The Dalles City Council denied it in a split decision last September.