Union County Planning Commission to Hear Short-Term Rental, Housing Applications March 23

A La Grande couple seeking to operate a short-term rental out of their home on Owsley Canyon Road will face a public hearing before the Union County Planning Commission on Monday, March 23, at 7:00 p.m. in the Daniel Chaplin Building Conference Room at 1001 4th Street.

Stacy and Ruth Livermore filed Application No. 2026-0001, a conditional-use request to run a home-occupation short-term rental at 63698 Owsley Canyon Road. The property, described in county records as Township 2N, Range 38E, Section 18D, Tax Lot 506, sits within the UC-A1 Exclusive Farm Use Zone, a designation that typically restricts non-agricultural commercial activity and makes the conditional-use process the required path for approval.

The commission will also take up a second conditional-use application involving a single-family dwelling, though source materials for that application were incomplete and full details were not available before publication.

Both applications will be heard as quasi-judicial land use proceedings under Oregon Revised Statute 197.763, which governs how local bodies conduct that class of hearing. The meeting will be run in accordance with the Union County Zoning, Partition and Subdivision Ordinance Article 23, subsection 06.

Residents who want to weigh in without appearing in person must submit written testimony to Planning Director Inga Williams before 5:00 p.m. on March 23. Testimony can be emailed to iwilliams@union-county.org or mailed and hand-delivered to 1001 4th Street, Suite C, La Grande, OR 97850. Williams can also be reached by phone at (541) 963-1014.

Those requiring disability accommodations must make requests at least 48 hours before the meeting by contacting the planning office at phall@union-county.org or (541) 963-1014.

The March 23 session is part of the commission's regular schedule, which runs the fourth Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. through December 28, 2026, with the exception of May, which falls on the 18th. Union County Commissioners Paul Anderes, Matt Scarfo, and Jake Seavert oversee the county government within which the planning commission operates.