Commissioners approve Grange Estate permit

The Yamhill County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a home occupation permit for a controversial 10-room bed and breakfast in Dundee Thursday, but indicated changes are coming to the zoning ordinance.

The conflict centers on whether the Grange Estate Private Residence (owned by billionaire Bill Foley) qualifies as a dwelling under county zoning rules for Exclusive Farm Use property. The application wound its way through three levels of state court before being remanded to the county by the Land Use Board of Appeals to flesh out the definition of dwelling.

“I’m not out to restrict anybody on what they can do and what size and what they can have in their personal home,” Board Chair Kit Johnston said. “Does this like a hotel? Absolutely it does. Does it check all boxes to fit in the requirements for the zoning ordinance and the Oregon statutes? Yes, it does.”

Johnston’s opinion follows that of Planning Director Ken Friday, who recommended approval with conditions. Land use advocacy group Friends of Yamhill County has been on the other side of the argument throughout the appeal process, stating the property should be classified as a hotel.

Commissioner Mary Starrett said the board had to approve the original application in 2021 due to meeting the zoning ordinance and the bottom line hasn’t changed.

“This has been contentious going forward (since 2021),” she said. “I think that if you look at the LUBA affirmation it basically said that this is a dwelling and that it is operated as a dwelling that is normally allowed in this zone.”

Commissioner Bubba King said he shared frustration with Friends, but the application meets the bar for approval.

This may be the last large B&B approved in the county, as Johnston said he’d like to revisit local rules before the end of the year.

“See if there’s changes that can be made, that we can either reduce the bedroom requirements, or if there’s other tweaks that we can make to this ordinance under our county purview that can make this a little more palatable,” Johnston said.

Friday recommended a discussion on reducing the maximum number of bedrooms to five and requiring the home occupation be for the primary building on the property.

Foley was originally approved for the permit in 2022; however, Friends appealed the decision to LUBA, arguing the B&B is a small hotel whose ownership found a loophole in county code. LUBA sided with the county, and that ruling was taken to the Oregon Court of Appeals, which reversed the LUBA decision.

Grange Hill LLC and the county appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court, which partially agreed with both sides in a July 2025 ruling that remanded the case to LUBA, which in turn remanded to the county to clarify what a dwelling in Exclusive Farm Use land requires under county statute.

The property is located at 9580 N.E. Worden Hill Road in Dundee.