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Updated at 12:15 pm with comments from Rep. Brian Clem and a map of possible resort locations in Clatsop County.
Five years ago, lawmakers and Gov. Ted Kulongoski teamed up to protect the Metolius River basin in Jefferson and Deschutes counties, slapping a novel environmental protection on the pristine river that blocked a developers from building projects, including a proposed resort called The Metolian.
As a consolation, lawmakers awarded three development groups trying to build in the area what are called "transferable development opportunities," to develop resorts. The TDOs, as lawmakers refer to the rights, gave developers five years to find another spot on which to develop and made it easier for them to develop resorts within Oregon's strict land-use laws.
One of the developers, Shane Lundgren, who was working on the Metolian, has pursued a variety of other locations for resorts since then without success.
But now lawmakers, led by state Rep. Brian Clem (D-Salem), want to extend the deal Lundgren and others got.
In effect, the new law, House Bill 3431 A, gives them another three years to site a resorts in specific locations in 19 rural Oregon counties.
Although Lundgren had previously focused on trying to expand an existing Deschutes County golf course, hearings and amendments to the current bill suggest he may now be looking at property in Clatsop County.
WWeek 2015