Adapted from remarks by Gov. John Kitzhaber at Ecotrust, September 18, 2007

To me, Measure 49 is one of the most critical votes put before Oregonians in recent years. Ballot Measure 49 represents an effort to correct a number of serious problems which resulted from the passage of another ballot measure — measure 37 — which was passed by the voters in 2004.

Measure 37 was advertised as an effort to compensate or give development rights to individuals whose property value had been reduced by zoning laws or who wanted to build an additional house or two on their land — if the law allowed them to do so when they purchased the property. That sounded reasonable to a majority of Oregonians and the measure passed by a substantial margin.

The problem with the measure — a problem not uncommon to many ballot measures advanced through the initiative process — is that it contained many loopholes and went far beyond what most Oregonians thought they were voting on. Instead of ensuring that small individual landowners could build a few additional houses on their property, the measure opened the door for massive development and land speculation which put in jeopardy many of the values that we cherish as a state.

• In total there are now 7,500 claims for development covering over 750,000 acres and 2,700 housing subdivisions — most of it on protected forest and productive farm land or in areas with limited water supply.
• In Yamhill County — the heart of the Oregon wine industry — there are claims with a total combined acreage the equals 5 new McMinnvilles.
• In Jackson County there are 74 claims covering almost 60,000 acres.
• The list goes on....

And in the process, the legitimate interests of many small individual landowners — the very people measure 37 was supposed to help — were left out in the cold. Because they cannot transfer their development rights to a new owner, they cannot get financing to build any additional houses. In fact, if the landowner dies, the rights disappear even for a surviving spouse.

This is not what Oregonians thought they were voting for — and Ballot Measure 49 gives us the opportunity to correct it —

• To close the loopholes that allow large scale development and land speculation;
• To protect our invaluable farm and forest land
• While preserving the right of individual landowners to add homes on their property.

Yes, this debate is about property rights; and, yes, it is about open spaces and preserving our farm and forest land; but it also about us — about whether we still have the capacity to come together as a community and strike the crucial balance between these two sometimes conflicting objectives.

Because what is really at stake here is our sense of community — our willingness to recognize and act upon the fact that the whole fabric of our society depends on two interrelated concepts, now rarely evoked in this self-centered culture: the "common good" and "stewardship."

The concept of the "common good" is based on the belief that for a society to be successful, the individuals within the society must be willing to think and act not just in their own self interest but also in the interest of the whole; in the interest of the larger society of which they are a part; and that the exercise of individual rights depends on the fulfillment of social responsibilities.

The concept of stewardship is based on the belief that as individuals we have a responsibility to live and act in a way that does not diminish the choices and opportunities available to our children and grandchildren.

In other words in order to sustain a society — especially a democratic one — its members must be willing to fulfill some basic responsibilities to each other and to the future. And that is really what this debate is all about — about striking that balance and fulfilling those responsibilities.

And that is exactly what Ballot Measure 49 seeks to do — to strike that crucial balance between the legitimate property rights of individual landowners; and our larger collective responsibility to each other — to manage growth in a way which preserves what is special about Oregon for all of us today; and in a way which fulfills our stewardship responsibility to future generations.

I cannot impress upon you the urgency, the importance, the imperative of passing Ballot Measure 49 in November. If we fail to do so it will be years before we have another opportunity and by then thousands of acres of open space and prime farm and forest land will be gone, changing the face of Oregon forever. We can do better. And with your help I am confident that we will.