Those are just a few of the benefits of Oregon's land-use planning system.

Yamhill County is naturally beautiful and bountiful—but you already knew that! What you might not know is that, if not for land use planning, many of the county’s farms and forests would long ago have been sold and paved over, and the unique character of our towns and cities diluted by the same kind of endless sprawl seen in so many other states.

Fortunately, that kind of sprawl can't happen here. It's literally the law.

The passage of Senate Bill 100 in 1973 created our innovative land use planning system. It's one of Oregon’s greatest bipartisan political achievements. Then, when people ask you what makes Oregon such a unique place to live, work, and play, you can let them in on the secret ingredient:

It's our land use planning system!

The framework for the states’ land use planning system is the statewide planning goals. Each city and county is required to adopt and maintain a comprehensive land use plan (or “comp plan”) that complies with the statewide goals. They also must adopt land use regulations (often called the “zoning ordinance” or “development code”) to implement the plan and make land use decisions in conformity with the plan and code. Much of FYC’s work is helping to ensure that city and county land use decisions – whether to amend the plan or issue a permit – are based on sound land use policy and consistent with these regulations.