Jennifer M. Bragar

Law Practice

Jennifer Bragar’s practice is focused on land use, real estate, municipal and environmental law. She represents business, community and government entities in matters unique to land use planning and municipal law. She has appeared before the Land Use Board of Appeals, Oregon Court of Appeals, Washington Courts, and is a frequent lecturer and author on Oregon land use law.

Jennifer has been involved with a number of significant cases in Oregon, including advocacy for a coalition of private property owners who challenged a Umatilla County ordinance that would have severely restricted land available for commercial wind facilities, as well as cases protective of farm and forest land. Further, Jennifer assists in obtaining entitlements for a range of projects including affordable housing, and negotiating development agreements for commercial and employment zoned properties in Oregon and Washington. She has represented multiple clients on hazardous waste cleanup actions arising under federal and state Superfund laws and represents firms developing natural resource mitigation projects. This work involved negotiations with federal and state regulators, cost recovery and contribution actions, the allocation of liability among private parties, and natural resource damage claims. Jennifer’s prior experience as a partner at a large northwest law firm further expands the depth of expertise at Tomasi Bragar DuBay.

Before entering private practice, Jennifer founded JB Associates (1999-2003), a land use and political consulting firm in the Monterey Bay area providing services to clients around the central coast of California. She has worked closely with government agencies, developers and community activists to achieve balanced development proposals that satisfy the requirements of all participants in the review process.

Her experience and background serves clients well, providing first-hand perspective and understanding of the implications of the land use decision-making process in the local political arena. She offers clients a practical approach to dealing with their land use, real estate, and environmental matters.

Recent Representative Matters

Land Use

• Redevelopment of former aggregate mine site in Vancouver, Washington
• Obtain entitlements for controversial affordable housing developments in Washington County , Salem, Lebanon, Lakeview, and City of Coos Bay, Oregon
• Implications of solar on high value farmland  and forest land
• Protection of resource land from non-resource designations

Real Estate

• Assisted in high value land dispositions throughout Oregon and Southern Washington
• Complex construction easements
• Loan document review
• Construction easements

Condemnation and Eminent Domain

• Land use strategy in connection with condemnation and urban growth boundary expansion
• Negotiations related to transit projects

Environmental Law

• Advise on creation of environmental mitigation projects
• Conservation Easements
• Resolve DEQ enforcement matters

Municipal Law             

• Abandoned vehicle repossession procedures
• Wild turkey control
• Public records requests

Natural Resources

• Mule deer habitat
• Water resources

Speaking Engagements

• Ethics Jeopardy! Where Knowing the Questions is Half the Game, ABA State and Local Government Law Section, 2024 Housing Summit, White Plains, NY May 3, 2024
• Look What You Made Me Do: Oregon’s New Urban and Rural Affordable Housing Planning Legislation, ABA Forum on Affordable Housing: 2023 Fall Boot Camp, New Orleans, Louisiana October 6, 2023
• Affordable Housing Series, ABA State and Local Government Section, Webinars, January 13 and 20, 2021
• Legal Issues Associated With Planning and Zoning Hearings in a Pandemic, American Planning Association, April 29 , 2020
• Oregon’s End to Single Family Zoning and Plan for the Future: House Bills 2001 and 2003, ABA Fall Meeting, St. Paul, Minnesota, October 11, 2019
• “Tiny Houses/RVs as a solution to Affordable Housing,” OAPA Legal Issues Workshop, Portland, OR , December 7, 2018
• “Removing Zoning and other Barriers to Affordable Housing,” RE Conference, Salem, OR, October 23, 2018
• “Uncovering the Need,” Oregon Tiny House Symposium, Albany, OR March 13, 2018
• “The Search for Meaningful Goal 10 Findings,” Housing Land Advocates Conference, Portland, OR February 9, 2018
• “Affordable Housing Update – A Panel Discussion,” The Seminar Group, Portland, OR, December 6, 2017
• “Land Use Basics,” Multnomah Bar Association, Portland, OR, September 26, 2017
• “Housing and the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association, Legal Issues Conference, Portland, OR, December 2, 2016
• “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing in Oregon,” 2016 Oregon State Bar Government Law and RELU 2016 – What’s Going On?, Portland, OR, October 21, 2016
• “Regulating Murals,” Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association, Legal Issues Conference, Portland, OR, December 4, 2015
• “Hot Topics in Land Use,” ABA State and Local Government Section, Spring Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, April 24, 2015
• Women of Wind Energy (WoWE) Transmission Breakfast Series, Transmission and Wind Integration 101, Portland, OR, October 15, 2013
• “Land Use Legislative Update 2012,” RELU Annual Summer Conference, Salishan, OR, August 10, 2012
• “Land Use Planning for Job Development,” Digging Deeper into Real Estate and Land Use CLE, Oregon State Bar’s Real Estate and Land Use Section, Portland, OR, November 16, 2011
• “The Other Side of the River: Using Land Use Planning to Create a Regional Fair Share of Housing,” OR-WA APA Conference, Portland, OR, October 20, 2011
• “Measure 49 and the Little Guy,” Oregon County Counsel Association , Bend, OR, July 30, 2010
• “Comprehensive Planning Law Update,” 2010 Spring Meeting, ABA Section of State and Local Government Law, Miami, FL, April 29, 2010
• “Land Use Case and Legislative Review,” Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association, Medford, OR, October 30, 2009

Publications

• Zoning and Planning Deskbook, West Publishing Company, author since 2021.
• “The West Coast’s Flexible Approach to the Open Meeting Laws in a Pandemic,” APA Planning and Law, Summer 2020.
• “Meeting in the Middle,” American Planning Magazine, January 2019.
• “Recent Developments in Comprehensive Planning (2016),” Urban Lawyer, Vol. 49, No. 3 Summer 2017.
• “Recent Developments in Comprehensive Planning (2015),” Urban Lawyer, Vol. 48, No. 3 Summer 2016.
• “Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum Spearheads New State Attorneys General Issues Committee,” ABA State & Local Law News, Volume 38, Number 4, Summer 2015.
• “Recent Developments in Comprehensive Planning (2014),” Urban Lawyer, Vol. 46, No. 3 Summer 2014.
• “Recent Developments in Comprehensive Planning (2013),” Urban Lawyer, Vol. 45, No. 3 Summer 2013.
• “Recent Developments in Comprehensive Planning (2012),” Urban Lawyer, Vol. 44, No. 3 Summer 2012.
• “Final Decision in Washington Land Use Matter Not Rendered Until Decision on Local Motion for Reconsideration Issues,” RELU Digest, November 2011.
• “The Augean Stables: Measure 49 and the Herculean Task of Correcting an Improvident Initiative Measure in Oregon,” 46 Willamette L. Rev. 577, 2010.
• “Local Aesthetic Regulations Can Trump the Federal Telecommunications Act,” Oregon Real Estate and Land Use Digest, Volume 32, No. 2, April 2010.

Community Involvement & Personal

Jennifer is committed to public service and chooses to participate in organizations that promote equity in law and provide access to justice.  She is currently the President of Housing Land Advocates – an organization comprised of land use planners and lawyers who are committed to ensuring land is available for affordable housing across all Oregon jurisdictions.  She is the Past-Chair of the American Bar Association’s State and Local Government Section, and was 2016 Chair of the Oregon State Bar’s Real Estate and Land Use Section.

In her free time, Jennifer is spends time with her daughter, husband exploring Oregon’s great outdoors.