CU25-015 Staff Decision - Laserfiche WebLink

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8. In addition to the specific criteria below, the proposal must also satisfy the conditional use criteria which are being applied directly from state law. Those requirements are: 1. Will not force a significant change in accepted farm or forest practices on surrounding lands devoted to farm or forest use; and 2. Will not significantly increase the cost of accepted farm or forest practices on surrounding lands devoted to farm or forest use. 3. For purposes of subsection (a) and (b), a determination of forcing a significant change in accepted farm or forest practices on surrounding lands devoted to farm and forest use or a determination of whether the use will significantly increase the cost of accepted farm or forest practices on surrounding lands devoted to farm or forest use requires: (A) Identification and description of the surrounding lands, the farm and forest operations on those lands, and the accepted farm practices on each farm operation and the accepted forest practices on each forest operation; The applicant provided a list of the different uses on surrounding lands. Several of the surrounding properties are located within the UGB of the city of Woodburn and are already annexed into the city. To the south is UFP Woodburn LLC, a building materials supplier, and PalletOne Inc, a pallet supplier. The property on the other side of the railroad and Front St to the northwest is a PGE electrical substation, another non-farm use. On that same side is a residential property which has surrounding oak trees. This parcel does have some agricultural practices in the form of row crops, but these are located on the western edge of the parcel and are buffered by the residence and oak savanna. Lastly, the parcel adjacent to the east contains a residence and the applicant claims there is no identifiable agricultural practices on the parcel. Satellite imagery does seem to refute this claim slightly, as the southern part of the property is more than just a residential lawn, but also does not seem to be more than pasture or grass. The applicant has sufficiently described and identified agricultural uses in the immediate area. (B) An assessment of the individual impacts to each farm and forest practice, and whether the proposed use is likely to have an important influence or effect on any of those practices. This assessment applies practice by practice and farm by farm; and The applicant states that the main impacts of their proposed operation are noise, watering, spraying and dust. The applicant addresses each of these issues by proposing methods through which these impacts can be mitigated. Through this, the applicant demonstrates how none of the potential impacts will have an important influences on local farm or forest practices, particularly through the use of mitigation strategies. The criterion is met. (C) An assessment of whether all identified impacts of the proposed use when considered together could have a significant impact to any farm or forest operation in the surrounding area in a manner that is likely to have an important influence or effect on that operation. (D) For purposes of this subsection, examples of potential impacts for consideration may include but are not limited to traffic, water availability and delivery, introduction of weeds or pests, damage to crops or livestock, litter, trespass, reduction in crop yields, or flooding. The applicant claims that due to the limited amount of farming or forestry activities in the local area the impacts of the proposed landscape contracting business will be limited. In addition, they claim that through their proposed mitigation strategies they can limit the cumulative impact of the operation on these local farm and forest uses. The applicant explains that they will implement measures to help mitigate these impacts on any neighboring farm uses. Specifically, they mention limiting vehicle speed to reduce dust and noise, mindful watering practices to mitigate draws on the local water table, and using targeted spraying practices to reduce the risk of drift and limit overall use of chemicals. Additionally, the activity of employees can have its effects mitigated through the limiting of hours of operation for small motor tools and equipment in conditions of approval, as well as conditioning the operation to adhere to the noise ordinance section of the Marion County Code (MCC 8.45). The criterion is met or can be met through imposed conditions.