SALEM — A bill in the Oregon Legislature would allow some unproductive farmland near the Idaho border to be rezoned for 2-acre residential lots.

The change would allow more houses to be built in that part of Oregon, said Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale.

He said Malheur County in 2020 issued building permits for 23 homes, compared to the 153 that neighboring Payette County, Idaho, issued.

About 75% of the workers at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario live in Idaho, he said.

Boise-based Intermountain Multiple Listing Service reported that the median price of a Payette County home in January 2021 was $305,000, up 27.5% from $239,175 in January 2020.

Senate Bill 16 would apply Oregon’s exclusive farm use zoning law uniquely in the region that borders growing southwest Idaho.

SB 16 would apply only to unproductive farmland.

“It doesn’t have to grow a crop,” said Findley, who comes from an agricultural background. “It could grow a house.”

The bill also would protect a neighboring farm’s right to continue farming. It aims to “put some more people back in Oregon to live here” without taking farmland out of production, he said.

For example, a producer could sell unfarmable ground and “make some use out of it,” Findley said. “It’s almost impossible to do that now.”

The bill allows the conversion of land zoned for exclusive farm use to rural residential, subject to criteria.

SB 16’s text says the bill applies to the established Eastern Oregon Border Economic Development Region. The region encompasses an area from Jamieson south to Adrian and within about 20 miles of the Idaho border.

A county that has established a review board could rezone exclusive farm use ground for development of 2-acre lots for single-family homes.

Land used for farming in the previous three years would not be eligible. High-value farmland, with soils in the state’s top three quality classes, and land that is “viable for reasonably obtaining a profit for a farm use” also could not be rezoned.

Rezoning could not involve more than 200 acres, or force a significant change in practices on surrounding farm or forest lands. It would require a deed restriction that protects neighboring farming, forestry and rangeland practices.

The bill also would not allow rezoning from exclusive farm use in critical groundwater areas or where the state restricts withdrawals.

Findley said a bill that was the same as SB 16 passed the House in 2019 with bipartisan support, but the Senate adjourned before considering it.

The Legislature in 2012 approved creation of the economic-development region, for which the governor appoints a seven-member board.