Buying Land in Lane County, Oregon

A Rural Comprehensive Plan Covering Farmland, Forest, and Coastline

Case-by-case / verify locally

Lane County's Rural Comprehensive Plan consists of a General Policies document, a Plan Diagram made up of roughly 650 individual maps covering the entire county, and several special-purpose plans -- including a Coastal Resources Management Plan (relevant near Florence) and the Willamette Greenway Plan (relevant along the river through the valley). The county's EFU-RCP zone aims to preserve open agricultural land in large blocks and substantially limit urban-style development into rural areas -- confirm which specific plan area and zone designation applies to a given parcel before assuming a uniform countywide rule.

The McKenzie Valley's Real, Ongoing Wildfire Rebuild -- See the Dedicated Page

Case-by-case / verify locally

The September 2020 Holiday Farm Fire burned more than 173,000 acres and destroyed 517 homes along a roughly 20-mile stretch of the McKenzie Valley (Blue River, Finn Rock, Nimrod, Vida, and surrounding unincorporated areas). Rebuilding here runs through zone-specific rules -- Rural Residential, Non-Impacted Forest (F-1), Impacted Forest (F-2), Exclusive Farm Use (EFU), and Rural Commercial -- with EFU parcels requiring a Verification of Replacement Rights application and, in some cases, a Type 2 land-use application before a building permit can be issued. Lane County has waived roughly $1.73 million in permit fees for fire survivors. See the dedicated McKenzie Valley rebuilding page linked below for the full mechanics.

A Genuinely New Use Right: Rental RVs on Rural Residential Land Since Feb. 2025

Generally favorable

As of February 27, 2025, properties zoned Rural Residential in unincorporated Lane County may be eligible to add a rental recreational vehicle to the property -- a real, dated, and specific change to what's allowed on RR-zoned land. Confirm current eligibility criteria, siting standards, and any permit requirement directly with Lane County Land Management before assuming a specific parcel qualifies.

Statewide Wildfire Hazard Maps Became Final January 2025

Case-by-case / verify locally

Oregon's statewide wildfire hazard mapping process -- which determines whether a parcel falls in a designated high-hazard zone with associated defensible-space and building-code requirements -- reached final map status on January 7, 2025. Given Lane County's extensive forested and wildland-urban-interface acreage (well beyond just the McKenzie Valley burn scar), confirm a specific parcel's current hazard-map designation directly with the county or Oregon Department of Forestry rather than relying on an earlier draft map.