City of Madras modified the single family zone to include apartment buildings

About two years ago the planning commission amended the R-1 single family housing zone to include apartments, limited to two-story apartments only. The state mandated that this applies only to cities whose population is over 10,000 residents.

How and when “apartments” were added to R-1 Zone, and why is a mystery.  STATE did NOT mandate apartments to be added to the R-1 zone. And Madras is exempt from all the housing mandates; because the population is not 10,000!  For cities between 10,000 and 20,000 only DUPLEXES were added to R-1, not apartments. 

Affordable housing apartments all over will destroy our town.  Nobody will invest in single family houses when apartments can be added to the neighborhood; especially 3 stories high!  There is no other place in the country that eliminated the single-family house Zone like Madras did.

A group of Madras residents have filed papers to take this matter to the Oregon State Land Use Board of Appeals. We hope to prevent the construction of a high-rise project in the Morning Crest subdivision, Northeast of the Madras Hospital. We need input from everyone concerned and hope to have a neighborhood meeting soon.

Please post your comments and concerns here, because everyone’s property values will go down if this is allowed to be built; especially those who will lose their views of the town and Mt Jefferson.