The Oregon Supreme Court on December 24, 2008, accepted the Petition for Review of Central Oregon LandWatch, Friends of the Metolius, and Pete Schay and agreed to review the Oregon Court of Appeals decision that land use protections of the Headwaters of the Metolius do not include the spring water that feeds the Headwaters.  In the press release announcing its acceptance of the Petition, the Court stated:

“On review, the issues are:

1. Whether the assessment of conflicting new uses to a protected Goal 5 resource under OAR 660-023-0250(3)(b) need not take place if the means of impact is not itself a designated Goal 5 resource itself.
2. Whether the scope of a Goal 5 protected resource should be interpreted broadly to include all of its resources and to recognize specific protections over general exclusions.”

Oral argument will be in June. 

The Supreme Court approval came just days after Jefferson County had issued a hearing announcement and draft ordinance on its destination resort zoning, in which it declared that the Supreme Court had declined to grant review and had disallowed the Petition.

“The Supreme Court’s action is encouraging,” explained Paul Dewey, attorney for the Petitioners.  “Very few petitions for review are granted by the Court and we look forward to an opportunity to present our case on why the Headwaters should be protected.  This case is also important beyond the Metolius because it concerns how narrowly or broadly all natural resources are to be protected under Oregon’s land use system.”

Additional details are available online, Elizabeth Johnson v. Jefferson County (S056377) (A138263) are here. And our August 13th petition to the Supreme Court is attached below.