HB 3560 changes Oregon land use law to make it easier to site child care facilities, especially family child care homes and child care centers, in a wider range of residential, commercial, industrial, and mixed-use areas. The bill defines family child care homes as residential uses for zoning purposes and prohibits local governments from banning them in residential or commercial zones or from imposing more restrictive land use rules, fees, or conditions than those applied to other dwellings in the same zone. It also allows child care centers in certain multiunit residential areas, in residential areas when co-located with institutional uses such as schools, parks, libraries, places of worship, civic centers, or colleges, and in commercial or industrial zones except heavy industrial areas.
Impact
The bill amends ORS 329A.440 and ORS 243.560 and adds new statutory provisions requiring local governments to conform their land use regulations within one year. In practice, it limits city and county discretion over child care siting, preempts more restrictive local zoning barriers, and creates a statewide framework that treats family child care homes as residential uses and child care centers as generally permitted uses in specified zones. It also allows reasonable conditions in certain sensitive areas, including exclusive farm use, forest use, mixed farm and forest zones, industrial areas, and contaminated properties identified by DEQ.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have broad bipartisan support and little visible opposition. It passed the House committee 8-0, the House floor 54-0, the Senate committee 4-0, and the Senate floor 28-0, indicating strong consensus that expanding child care siting options is a policy priority. The lack of recorded dissent suggests the measure was viewed favorably as a practical response to child care access and supply challenges.
Contention
There is little evidence of major controversy in the available record, but the bill does draw a line between expanding child care access and preserving local land use controls in limited circumstances. The main points of potential tension are local government authority versus state preemption, and whether child care facilities should be allowed in industrial or agricultural settings. The bill addresses those concerns by permitting reasonable conditions in exclusive farm use, forest, mixed farm and forest, and industrial zones, and by allowing siting restrictions for properties with known or suspected hazardous substance releases.