Josephine County, Oregon
Merlin/North Valley
Merlin/North Valley is a designated unincorporated community — one of the rural places Oregon’s land-use system treats as a defined settlement outside any city’s urban growth boundary. A state rulemaking now under way could change what can be built here.
- County
- Josephine County
- Designation
- Designated unincorporated communityUnder OAR chapter 660, division 22 — one of the four divisions the current rulemaking proposes to amend.
- Nearest urban growth boundary
- Grants Pass — about 1.1 miles awayWithin five miles of an existing boundary.
- Record status
- Checked against a primary source.
Community records come from our statewide map dataset, built from Oregon geographic data (retrieved July 2026). 272 communities are listed; distance to a boundary is recorded for 253 of them. We publish what the data says and correct it when someone who lives here tells us it’s wrong.
What’s being proposed
Oregon’s Land Conservation and Development Commission is considering new rules for housing in unincorporated communities. The stated goal is more housing. The rules could also let counties raise density, expand community boundaries, and permit more intensive urban uses outside urban growth boundaries. Whether Merlin/North Valley is affected depends on decisions that haven’t been made yet — which is why comment now matters.
Comment on the record for Merlin/North Valley
Comments naming a specific place carry weight the generic ones don’t. This opens the letter builder with Merlin/North Valley, Josephine County already filled in.
Write about Merlin/North ValleyOn the map
Merlin/North Valley sits at 42.5018, -123.3827. The statewide map shows every community, its designation, and its distance to the nearest boundary.
Open Merlin/North Valley on the statewide map