no single family zone in Madras
About 2 years ago, the city of Madras eliminated the single family housing zone by adding apartment buildings as a permitted use within R1 zone. This change was not publicized , so the citizens of madras had no say in this decision. Apartment buildings do not belong in a single family zone. Madras is the only city in oregon that allows it. Because of this change to the R1 single family zoning code, any house with a vacant lot next to it has no protection against an apartment complex being built on that lot.
Not only did the city of Madras decide to make this change, But in the past has also decided to arbitrarily change R1 zones to R2 zones to allow builders to to construct high rise apartments in Madras neighborhoods. How this benefits the city planners I’m not sure. Changing R1 zones to R2 only benefits developers by instantly making the property a lot more valuable and allowing them to build high rise apartment in people’s back yards. This happened in october of 2025, when they changed the zoning of the property that would allow the construction of Stone Oak apartments; three high rise apartment buildings on Oak street near the hospital in madras.
Is it time now for citizens to recall the city council? Because they seem to be working not for the citizens of madras , but for the out-of-town builders.
