State Ex Rel. Department of Transportation v. Schrock Farms

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) appeals from a judgment that dismissed its action to condemn approximately 12 acres of land that defendants own (the land). ODOT needed the land in order to realign, a portion of State Highway 34 between Corvallis and Lebanon. We reverse.

The land runs through one of defendants’ fields; the realigned highway divides that field into two sections, creating a new land parcel. The entire field is in an Exclusive Farm Use (EFU) zone; at the time, the applicable statute did not permit new or relocated highways in an EFU zone if the result would be to…