Thrive Hood River applauds recent land use decision

“Had Meadows prevailed at Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA), it would have set the stage for real estate investment firms to buy homes on rural lands and turn them into tourist lodgings staffed by employees with no connection to the property, the neighbors, or this place we call home,” said a Thrive press release.

After Hood River County moved to enforce the land use laws protecting forest land in 2021, Meadows sought to make the use legal by applying for a permit to turn the home into a B&B, said the press release.

“Hood River County’s zoning code puts strict guardrails in place when using a home for a business,” said the press release. “In order to establish a B&B, the business has to be operated by a permanent resident of the home and the primary use must be as the resident’s personal home, with the B&B a secondary, subordinate and incidental use.”

Meadows sought to create a commercial lease that would have required an employee to “rent” and live in the home on the condition they operate it as a B&B with up to 15 guests a night. Thrive objected, warning this precedent would provide a loophole in the county’s code, enabling companies to hire “caretakers,” passing them off as residents under a commercial lease, and converting year-round homes into tourist lodgings.

LUBA agreed with Thrive, saying, “... The record overwhelmingly demonstrates that the bed and breakfast use is the primary proposed use, and any residential use is subordinate to that use … This is a case of the tail wagging the dog.”

Tara Mills, co-executive director of Thrive, said, “We applaud the ruling as upholding the codes meant to protect our community. Hood River has a housing crisis with some of the most expensive homes of any rural community in the country. If Meadows had been allowed to exploit this loophole, more of our limited housing stock would be in danger of being snapped up by real estate investors to use as mini-hotels instead of much needed homes for full-time residents.”

LUBA’s ruling remanded the application back to Hood River’s Board of Commissioners, who will have to reevaluate its compliance with local land use laws at a date yet to be determined.

“When that hearing occurs, Thrive is hopeful that Hood River’s Board of Commissioners will be as skeptical as LUBA was of Meadows’ attempts at legal side-stepping meant to defeat the plain purpose of Hood River’s zoning code: That homes be used as homes, and hotels and rentals be sited on commercial lands, as they always have,” said the press release.

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Thrive Hood River is one of Oregon’s oldest regional land-use watchdog groups. For more than 45 years, its mission has been to protect Hood River’s farmland, forests, wild places and the livability of its cities and rural communities.