Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Isn’t growth inevitable?

A: Growth may be inevitable, but La Pine can decide how we grow.  Growth doesn’t have to mean big chain stores that make La Pine look like a row of strip malls, La Pine can grow with a small town character by growing with small businesses.

Q: Can the city council legally do anything about it?

A: Yes!  There are dozens of cities throughout the United States that limit formula businesses, including Yachats on the Oregon Coast, and Sisters right here in Deschutes County.

There is nothing in Oregon law prevents the city from limiting chain stores (“formula businesses”).  In fact,  chapter 227 of Oregon Revised Statutes suggests that cities create development codes to encourage the type of development the community would like to see.  Nothing in federal law prohibits it either, and it has been ruled in federal court that a city can have development codes that limit formula businesses in order to preserve the city’s character.

Q: Aren’t chain stores good for the local economy?

A: No.  When people spend money at chain stores, the profits go off to corporate HQ, usually in another state.  When people spend money a locally owned business, the profits are more likely to be spent again locally, keeping the local economy going.

Q: What about property owners’ rights?  Should people be able to do what they want on their own property?

A: Limiting formula businesses doesn’t violate the principle of property owners’ rights any more than current laws and building codes.  People should be able to do what they want on property they own…but only to a degree.  Everyone can agree that a person shouldn’t be able to murder somebody on their own property, or cook meth, or draw unlimited amounts of water from a well, or build a strip mall in residential neighborhood.  We already have building codes that are both for safety and to preserve the character of the area.  While some building codes are overly burdensome or disagreeable, limiting formula businesses is something that most people can agree on.

Q: Doesn’t the city already have specific design standards?

A: The city already has design standards, but they certainly aren’t specific enough.  You only need to look at some of the newer buildings to see this.  In fact, the photo at the top of this web page is the Dollar General (with the Walgreens logo over the sign).  It’s a new building that had to comply with those design standards, obviously those design standards aren’t going to maintain a local small town character in La Pine.