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Oregon is green building friendly, but you have to meet the same seismic and sanitary standards that any other structure has to meet. Typically a bale house will start with a steel frame, and the bales will be stacked between and around the framing, then stuccoed to seal them up. It ends up being a lot more expensive than just building a conventional structure, plus you have deep light wells around all your windows and possibly doors. If you are living in the poverty zone, there is no way you can consider building a bale house unless you have come into an inheritance or insurance settlement that has left you with six figures to fiddle with.
You are 40 years late for the back to the land movement. Oregon established a statewide building code in 1973 and statewide land use planning in 1986. Just buying bare land doesn't mean you will be able to build on it, and all the desirable lots have been bought by the 1.8 million people who have moved here since then. Buildable land costs an arm and a leg.
Several small towns have bus service, but you will find it geared to commuters. The buses will run morning and night, and won't run on weekends or holidays. If you miss your bus to a fringe area, you are out of luck, because there won't be another one for 8 hours.
If you live in Washington, you may as well stay where you are, because moving to Oregon won't improve things any.
Just say it like it is, Larry. I mean a spoon full of sugar won't even help this one go down! Maybe you should stay where you are if you will only be met with attitudes like this upon moving to Oregon! I was interested too... we actually have the money to do homesteading - but I had heard that no one new is welcomed into Oregon. I thought it was just a stereotype! I really hope this isn't the attitude of most Oregonians...
Just say it like it is, Larry. I mean a spoon full of sugar won't even help this one go down! Maybe you should stay where you are if you will only be met with attitudes like this upon moving to Oregon! I was interested too... we actually have the money to do homesteading - but I had heard that no one new is welcomed into Oregon. I thought it was just a stereotype! I really hope this isn't the attitude of most Oregonians...
I don't think he was being unwelcoming, just realistic.
New people are welcomed in Oregon. You'll just need to follow the law like everyone else and realize that it's not exactly your utopia.
Larry tells it like it is, just like I do. I have only heard one realistic dreamer on here wanting to come to Oregon. The rest have no concept of what is real. Poor here is the same as poor anywhere else.
Just say it like it is, Larry. I mean a spoon full of sugar won't even help this one go down! Maybe you should stay where you are if you will only be met with attitudes like this upon moving to Oregon! I was interested too... we actually have the money to do homesteading - but I had heard that no one new is welcomed into Oregon. I thought it was just a stereotype! I really hope this isn't the attitude of most Oregonians...
I don't believe you are being quite fair. If you look at Larry's other posts you will find he gives helpful and truthful advice. He has never been unwelcoming to anyone asking for advice on relocation, just informative.
Sometimes potential transplantees, when they discover what they want is not available in Oregon, they mistakenly believe that the people here are trying to keep them out. If you wish to obtain land in Oregon you will have to follow the strict laws that everyone, whether they are transplants or natives, have to follow. It's unfortunate if the circumstances you want to be present in Oregon are not exactly what you had hoped for.
But if you relocated here under the prevailing rules and regulations of the state you will be entirely welcome. You just may have to adjust some of your plans a bit. Check out homesteading laws and allowable land use in Oregon. Then you can decide if it is the right place for you.
Oregon is very welcoming, I lived there and wish I was back there actually I miss it.
The only thing I have noticed about Oregon people is, they love to party lol.
But I was never unwelcome there or felt it, the only bad place is The Dalles where people run around there like they are the only ones that is allowed there in that small ****ty town lol...
Portland was nothing like it nor was Salem, Gresham, Clackamas, and other surrounding places.
I didnt think Larry was being unfriendly, just telling it like it is. I would rather know that now, than find out when I would have got there.
It looks like things may work out where I am at, thankfully. Im in Az right now, & looking forward to summer.
Surprisingly, I think this area may be more green friendly. Of course a septic needs to be put in most anywhere you go, unless you are on a sewer system.
What got me jazzed about Oregon, other than having lived there briefly years ago, was the green angle & bus line's. Which I do miss.
I read a website on how to build cob houses, and the author/house was in Oregon, and had stated how tolerant some of the building codes were in regards to alternative building
Oregon isn't any more friendly to alternative structures than it is to conventional building styles. It just has to meet minimum sanitation, ventilation, seismic, fire and life safety standards. Conventional buildings have a prescriptive path, which means a plans checker can tell if the foundation is adequate, the shear walls are in the right place, etc. The code will tell you what kind of plywood you have to use for a shear wall, and how many nails of what size you have to use. If you build an unconventional structure, you have to show it meets the standards. The Tree House bed and breakfast in Cave Junction built units in living trees. Welcome to Treehouses.com They showed they met floor loading standards by actually loading the floors. The testing got national press.
Since the discovered the Cascadia Subduction Zone quakes, all structures in Oregon have to meet stringent earthquake requirements. That means if you don't follow the prescriptive path you have to get a structural engineer to sign off on your design. Some designs are easy to engineer, like geodesic domes, which are the most stable structure ever invented. Thank you, Buckminster Fuller. Other structures, like hay bales, require a lot of help to keep from collapsing in a magnitude 9 quake. It can be done, but you can't just stack a bunch of bales of straw in a square and call it a house. As I mentioned before, most bale houses have steel seismic reinforcement.
Oregon's land use laws are another shock to many newcomers. Oregon pioneered land use planning over 40 years ago, and a statewide plan was mandated by the 1973 legislature. We had the world's worst example of urban sprawl on our southern border, and the rallying cry was "Don't Californicate Oregon." By 1986 the law was fully implemented statewide. Every city and county had to provide a comprehensive land use plan, and towns had to establish an urban growth boundary that provides a 20 year inventory of buildable lots.
Basically, it's impossible to subdivide any land that is not zoned as a subdivision in the comprehensive plan, and even if you have a small parcel zoned as resource land (agricultural or forest) it can be very difficult to get a building permit. The whole point of the law is to prevent the sort of urban sprawl that has taken 60% of California's Central Valley out of agricultural production and destroyed all agriculture in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
If you want an acre in the woods someplace, I can put you in touch with a developer who got caught by the downturn. He did a beautiful job of developing Rose Village in Roseburg. He left most of the trees in place, treated the geology with respect, and put in very nice streets. He would be glad to sell you four contiguous quarter acre lots, you could do a boundary line adjustment to make them into a single lot, and bingo, there's your acre in the woods, complete with street access, sewer, water, power and natural gas to the property line.
Larry and Steve and others,
I do like that you tell it like it is. I have been checking out some towns/cities to move to. I love the American Southwest because it is so different from where I live and was born (NW WA). But, I do not like intense heat, disappearing water systems, and rattlesnakes. Prescott, AZ was a choice due to having an historic downtown and near recreation and many of our nation's crown jewels (national parks). Home prices weren't outrageous and the population was a tolerable level.
I put out a query about Brookings, OR and did further research but it may be too isolated and small. Now, I am exploring along the I5 corridor, preferably the western side of cities like Eugene, Salem, Albany. My daughter spent a week during 2 summers doing a gymnastics camp about 12 years at OSU. I spent the week traveling around the Corvallis area which reminded me of home but somewhat warmer.
Since I am a 5th generation PNW native, I do not mind the wet. I want the temps to be warmer, however. And, a bit less rain than home. My husband and I are retired so jobs, schools are not important to us (although I would like to volunteer in schools like I did when our daughter was young). We would like low crime area (serious and property), good medical facilities and public transportation for when we get really old, access to a store like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, etc. (we shop Fred Meyers which I am familiar with and like) for groceries, a farmers market, and reasonable housing prices. We are not interested in an exciting night life, retail shopping (but like Goodwill and garage sales), or keeping up with Joneses.
Our ideal home for now would be a small cottage on about 1/4 to 1/2 acre so we can continue to garden both veggies, fruit and ornamental. We could get about $300k+ for our home and would downsize in price. We are friendly homebodies but not nosy, moderate in political view, agnostic and open to the possibilities of what may now seem impossible.
I say "I" but mean "we" as my husband is the other half of our package deal. He is retired skilled blue collar; I am a retired graphic designer. We like to travel in our small truck camper and photograph extensively. That is primarily the reason for the I5 corridor choice. We could travel to the coast or go over the Cascades when we want to travel to eastern Oregon (we will be there in May), Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. Oregon has many beautiful places to photograph. It is similar to Washington in so many ways: desert, salt water beaches (and yours are public), forests, rivers, lakes, mountains. So, we won't be fish out of water. My husband likes to fish, mainly fly fishing.
Just a few questions (my above ramblings just help to coalesce my thoughts):
Are passes over Cascades open year round?
What about roads to the coast over the Coastal range?
What smaller town would fit us? I see towns like Dallas, Veneta, Monmouth, Philomath, etc. Are they compatible?
Thank-you for all your help. I put this query in this thread but maybe should have posted a new one?
Just a few questions (my above ramblings just help to coalesce my thoughts):
Are passes over Cascades open year round?
What about roads to the coast over the Coastal range?
What smaller town would fit us? I see towns like Dallas, Veneta, Monmouth, Philomath, etc. Are they compatible?
Thank-you for all your help. I put this query in this thread but maybe should have posted a new one?
Most passes are open year round, except for during heavy snow storms, when they will close until the storm passes and the snow plows can do their work. A notable exception is McKenzie pass, one of the highest and most scenic passes. They don't even try to keep it open in the winter. It normally reopens by late June. The north entrance and Rim Drive at Crater Lake normally reopen by the 4th of July. Some roads follow river canyons, and if the river moves all bets are off. During a flood a few years ago, the Sandy River took out the highway and towns on Mt. Hood were isolated for months.
Roads to the coast are subject to landslides and falling trees during the winter. All roads to the coast will be closed at one time or another. They generally reopen after a few days, unless there is a massive slide and they have to bulldoze a detour around the other side of the mountain. Highway 18 has been closed already this winter because of downed trees during a wind storm.
As for towns, take your pick of the western side of the valley. Generally the east side of the Coast Range is dryer, with rainfall gradually increasing as you approach the Cascades, but that does not hold true everywhere. There used to be a company town west of Dallas (Valsetz) that was amazingly wet.
Yes, you should have posted your question in a new thread instead at the tail of an amazingly long thread.
Thank-you Larry. It sounds like here in Washington. Some passes (like North Cascades hwy 20) close from November to May. The biggies are kept open because of the large amount of traffic between Seattle and Spokane. If I have anymore questions, I will begin another thread.
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Roads and stuff
