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established, in exception areas approved under ORS 197.732, or in an <br />acknowledged urban growth boundary. For purposes of this section, a <br />determination of forcing a significant change in accepted farm or forest practices <br />on surrounding lands devoted to farm and forest use or a determination of <br />whether the use will significantly increase the cost of accepted farm or forest <br />practices on surrounding lands devoted to farm or forest use requires: <br /> <br />(A) Identification and description of the surrounding lands, the farm and forest <br />operations on those lands, and the accepted farm practices on each farm <br />operation and the accepted forest practices on each forest operation; <br /> <br />The applicant provided a brief overview of the surrounding lands and <br />agricultural practices. <br /> <br />The subject parcel is east adjacent to the UGB for Hubbard. Uses to the west <br />are therefore transitional and urban uses, primarily residential. Uses to the <br />north, west, and south are a mix of rural residential and farm uses. <br /> <br />Comments submitted after the hearing notice and staff recommendation were <br />issued indicate that there are forest uses to the south where stands of timber are <br />being raised and harvested on land owned by the Manton A. Carl LLC farm and <br />timber operation. <br /> <br />The subject property was previously in grass seed production. That production <br />was performed by a neighbor who leased the property for at least three decades <br />as part of a larger grass seed farming operation. The approximately 20-acre <br />field of grass is a protected variety that the lease holder had rights to. After the <br />lease was broken, the applicant allegedly declined to allow the previous lease <br />holder to spray the grass. The applicant now mows the field but does not, and <br />cannot, harvest any part of the grass. <br /> <br />(B) An assessment of the individual impacts to each farm and forest practice, and <br />whether the proposed use is likely to have an important influence or effect on <br />any of those practices. This assessment applies practice by practice and farm <br />by farm; and <br /> <br />The applicant contemplated the potential impacts of the proposed tow truck <br />home occupation on the surrounding farm uses, including his own. The primary <br />potential impact explored by the applicant is increased traffic. The applicant <br />and his business partner leave and return to the property in one of the tow <br />trucks as they each performs tows. The applicant estimates that there are an <br />average of six trips per day. <br /> <br />Neighboring farm operators submitted written comments, and presented verbal <br />testimony at the June 3, 2025 hearing that the traffic does in fact affect the <br />farming of neighboring properties. Furthermore, neighboring farmers suggest <br />that the commercial use on this property will increase the cost of land and <br />therefore farming in the area which will influence a shift of uses away from <br />exclusively farm uses. <br />