Partition Ideas

The Tillamook County zoning map. This property's zoning is quite unusual: it has three different zones. The blue areas are zoned Rural Residential 2-Acre (RR-2), gray areas are Small Farm and Woodlot Zone (SFW-20) and dark green areas are Forest Zone (F). The RR-2 zone requires 2 acres per parcel and allows a Single Family Dwelling as an outright permitted use. Putting a home on the SFW-20 or Forest zones would be impossible: their development standards are described in Section 3.004 Forest Zone and this property wouldn't qualify for a forest home.

Partitioning the Property

This property has split zoning, so it could be divided into separate parcels. One or more parcels would have RR-2 zoning and each of these small parcels could have a home. Another larger parcel would have the timberland. This provides a potential solution to the joint-ownership problem: each owner could have exclusive ownership of a parcel.

Oregon has strict land use laws, and homesites are in short supply, especially along rivers with such lovely views. So although the homesites would be much smaller than the timberland parcel, they might well be the most valuable part of the property.

Lots of laws and administrative rules limit how property can be divided. Overall, the process is somewhat like splitting a rough diamond: doing it well can have a dramatic effect on the economic outcome.

Dave Sullivan submitted this very preliminary plot plan to the Tillamook Planning Department to get their reaction. They wrote back to say,

"We were able to speak to the director regarding your proposed partition (attached).

"The SFW-20 can be separated from the RR-2 zone. The RR-2 zone needs a minimum of 2 acres per lot. We will covenant that partition is not justified for further land division of Forest zone (green) portion."

A draft partition plan

To get a quick sense of what might be possible, Dave Sullivan created a quick draft plot plan showing four different parcels and asked the Tillamook Planning Department to comment on the plan. They had lots of concerns, but it appears most -- if not all -- of their concerns would be surmountable.

A draft partition plan, version 2

Dave Sullivan used Google Maps to create this partition plan for the property. He did this on a computer at his home, and it took only a couple of hours to create. It hasn't been checked out on the ground to validate its feasibility.

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