Remarks by Phil Chang
312 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 8 of 13
- Play at 30:05
“I will second it. Moved and seconded. Any further discussion?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 30:26
“I'll just say that I am really glad that people are taking, you know, availing themselves of the fire protection that is, you know, that they have access to based on where they live and annexing into this, into the RFPD number two. Okay. Commissioner Dare, you made the motion.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 30:58
“Commissioner Dubon? Yes. And Chair votes yes. Okay. Now we can proceed to the public hearing for Order 2026-033, Approving Annexations to the Deschutes County Rural Fire Protection District No. 2.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 32:10
“And Dave, has the legislature been discussing that specifically for fire district annexations or just for any annexation?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 33:17
“Yeah, but looking towards the next legislative session when money will be scarce, people might be looking for, you know, legislators might be looking for something to do that doesn't cost anything and that actually, you know, you can make the argument that this approves our efficiency if we don't have to hear it at the Board of Commissioners and saves the people of Deschutes County a little bit of money. So, okay. So... Do we have any questions or comments before we open up the public hearing? Alright, then at this time we will open the public hearing for order 2026-033 approving annexation…”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 34:34
“It's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Commissioner DeBone? Yes. Commissioner Adair? Yes. And Chair votes yes.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 34:46
“Thank you, Dave. Okay. We have a few more public hearings. Item number eight, public hearing for Dickey Road LLC comprehensive plan amendment and zone change for 51.86 acres from exclusive farm use to multiple use agriculture. Okay. Okay. Dan, should I jump right into the scripted structure, or do you have any comments to provide in advance?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 35:28
“Okay. All right. This is the time and place set for a hearing regarding file number 245-25-000727-PA. and 247-25-00728-ZC. This is a hearing on a Deschutes County Comprehensive Plan Amendment and Zone Change Request. Staff will outline the hearing procedures that will be followed.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 38:51
“Does any commissioner have, so at this time we should check in to see if any commissioners have any ex-party contacts, prior hearing observations, biases or conflicts of interest. Does any commissioner have anything to disclose and if so, please state the nature of same and whether you can proceed.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 39:21
“I have no conflicts and I can proceed. Okay. Now we'll check to see if anyone else wants to challenge any commissioners. Does any party wish to challenge any commissioner, a member of this hearings body, based on ex-party contacts, biases, or conflicts of interest? As no challenges are presented, prior to opening the hearing, does anyone have any procedural objections to the public hearing? Okay, seeing none, the hearing is now open. Staff will proceed with a brief staff report.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 44:57
“At this point, we can open the public hearing and begin to take testimony. So Typically the way this flows is we will hear from the applicants, persons in support, then persons in opposition. The applicant will then have some time for rebuttal and staff will provide closing comments. And okay. At this time, I've got two blue forms. If there's anyone else in the room who would like to provide input during this public hearing, please look for a blue form over there and fill it out and bring it up to Deborah. If there's anyone online, we will be looking for a raised hands when we get past the…”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:02:40
“So you made a strong argument that this is not agricultural land, that even nearby agricultural land isn't really being farmed. If the agricultural opportunities and potential of this land are so low, why are you pursuing MUA zoning, multiple-use agricultural? So, I mean, why not just go to a rural residential tent?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:03:46
“Well, I think that the label of the MUA zoning implies that, you know, you're still entertaining some potential agricultural use of the property. And it just seems inconsistent with the description of the property that you've just given us.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:06:00
“I mean, I think there's a very fine line between a hobby farm on MUA 10 and a EFU zone property that someone is farming but is depending on the other income earner in the household to go into town and earn income in order to subsidize the continuing agricultural activity on that EFU zone property. I mean, there's If we applied the criteria of profitability to real farms, many of the real farms in Deschutes County, I think you would find that a lot of them failed the profitability criteria. I have significant problems with that factor being considered. Moving on to a couple of other questions,…”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:07:55
“Can you remind me how close this property is to the urban growth boundary?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:08:01
“Yeah. I mean, as we have seen, when the city arrives, when the urban growth boundary arrives in built-out rural residential zoned areas, it is actually, it inhibits the expansion of the city into those areas. The areas that are left inside the city city of Ben's urban growth boundary that are, um, that are RR10 or MUA10 zoned are the ones that the city is having the most difficult time adding to the city and urbanizing. And, you know, adding, you know, you have a 10-acre lot with RR10 or MUA10 zoning, you could put one house there. And with urban zoning inside a city, you could do... You…”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:10:43
“I agree. I understand what we have done about cluster development, and I don't like it, but basically that's what we're working with for the time being. Frankly, I think... I would like us to be able to do cluster developments, especially near into our urban centers, and I would like the potential lot size to be smaller. Because if you could take 50 acres and put five units in a little corner of that property, then that would leave 40-something acres for future urbanization as a blank slate, which would be a really great thing to have 20 or 30 years from now, again, when the city comes…”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:12:50
“Thank you. I appreciate that there is the law that we currently have. I mean, at this point in time, by this point in time, given how long ago I was proposing the idea of some kind of an overlay that would accomplish urban reserve type issues, you know, type possibilities. We could have had that by now. And, you know, I'm as disappointed as anyone else that we don't. But, yeah, I mean, it is unfortunate that we are considering this application under current law. And, you know, I'm just left with the concern that This application under current law and the development that would be allowed…”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:29:14
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:32:25
“Thank you. Going along my earlier line of thought about senior water rights, do you have any observations for me about which irrigation districts these farms are in?”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:33:02
“yeah i recollection well swally swally and cod have these very senior water rights and kind of bear out this i i mean i i i feel like there is a lot of agriculture that is happening um because senior water rights were established at first um because you know logically if you were to go back in time and lay out irrigation districts and, you know, give priority, we would have given North Unit priority first. But, you know, it's probably the best soils in the DeBasin, in the Upper Deschutes Basin, and has the least senior water rights. So... there's gonna have to be some alignment of these…”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:34:37
“Any further questions or thoughts? Thank you very much.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:34:45
“Appreciate you. Okay. At this time, applicant rebuttal.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:43:16
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:43:39
“I mean, I would, on this question of imposing conditions as part of a quasi-judicial decision, I'd be curious whether CDD staff or county legal has any thoughts on whether that can or can't be done.”
Board of County Commissioners · Aug 26, 2026