Home Rule

Home Rule.   Metro, the State... everyone wants to tell Damascus what to do.   But HOME RULE gives the city independence from the county, regional and state governments.  

Damascus residents begin exodus process

The Gresham Outlook, April 18, 2014

Only border lands can de-annex, but neighbors waiting in line

by: OUTLOOK FILE PHOTO - 

Damascus was incorporated in 2004, but many people want to de-annex because the city has no development plan.

Hank Brown wants out of Damascus. So do Jim Syring, Bruce Kayser, Jerry Schofield, Trish Voss, Don Hanna, Lowell Patton and many more.

Some landowners had high hopes when the city incorporated in 2004, but now are fed up because Damascus has failed to produce a comprehensive development plan, as required by state law.

Because of that failure, people can't develop their land like they want and they have trouble selling it, so they're caught up in comp plan limbo.

But thanks to the Legislature, they now can opt out — or de-annex — from Damascus, and join another jurisdiction, like Happy Valley to the west or Gresham to the north.

Hank Brown was first in line to submit a de-annexation form to the Damascus City Council, and has a hearing date set for May 1. According to House Bill 4029, residents of the city can make statements at the hearing and the city “shall withdraw the tract from the city by an order or resolution adopted during a work session at, or immediately after, the close of the public hearing.”

Within two days after adopting the resolution to allow de-annexation, according to the bill, the city must then report the change in its boundaries to Metro and the Department of Land Conservation and Development.

If the city fails to adopt a resolution or rejects the de-annexation application, within 30 days, “the withdrawal of the tract is deemed complete.”

In other words, the city doesn't have an option to refuse de-annexation of a parcel.

Mayor Steve Spinnett says that's unconstitutional, and he plans court action.

“It's unconstitutional for the state to do this,” he said, and cited the 1957 case of Schmidt v. the City of Cornelius, where the court ruled that the Legislature “...could not pass a special law amending the charter of the city of Cornelius and excluding territory from its boundaries.”

The case history is very similar to that of Damascus, Spinnett said.

“The whole idea of home rule charter is to give cities autonomy from the dictates of Salem,” he said.