Renee France is a partner in the firm’s Land Use practice group, where she helps clients successfully navigate complex land use and environmental issues in residential, commercial, mixed-use, industrial, resort, and utility development projects in multiple jurisdictions.

In her land use practice, Renee helps private and public clients obtain land use approvals and permits, including zoning and comprehensive plan amendments, greenway and environmental reviews, land divisions and property line adjustments, design reviews, development reviews, floor area transfers, nonconforming use expansions, and annexations. She also represents clients in land use hearings before local decision makers and appeals to the Land Use Board of Appeals and Oregon Court of Appeals.

In her environmental practice, Renee advises clients on a wide range of federal, state, and local issues, including wetlands regulation, contaminated property liability and clean-up laws, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.

Renee has significant knowledge of the federal Clean Water Act and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Stormwater Permitting Program. She has assisted clients with permits for point source discharge, including businesses and landowners that operate injection wells subject to regulation under the Underground Injection Controls (UIC) program.

Renee assists clients with environmental due diligence inquiries and brownfield redevelopments, working with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on cleanup requirements and other regulations.

Prior to joining Radler White Parks & Alexander LLP, Renee served as Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Oregon Department of Justice, where she was the Primary Contact Counsel for the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) and the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC). She provided legal advice to ODOE on a variety of administrative law issues and served as legal counsel to EFSC and the ODOE Siting Division on complex and often high-profile energy facility siting applications. She was also lead counsel for ODOE in contested case proceedings for the energy facility site certificate process.

From 2000 to 2012, Renee practiced land use, environmental, and natural resources law with Ball Janik LLP. She was at the Department of Justice from 2012 to 2017.

Renee is a member of the Oregon State Bar Association and a Founding Member of Women in Environment.

Personal

Renee enjoys running and spending time with her family. While attending UC-Santa Barbara, she competed in Division I soccer and continues to follow the sport.

Renee represents the University of Portland in its campus expansion and development. Renee helped obtain greenway review and other land use approvals for the initial phases of the University’s River Campus, including approvals for new athletic fields, roads and landscaping.

Renee is assisting ZRZ Realty in obtaining natural resource permits from state and federal agencies for a public-private partnership with the City of Portland to redevelop 33 acres of formerly industrial land known as Zidell Yards in Portland’s South Waterfront. It is one of the largest undeveloped sites in the City’s urban core.

Renee helped a client obtain a Planned Unit Development amendment and Environmental Review approval for property in Portland that was subject to both environmental protection and environmental conservation overlay zones. During this process, she helped the client through difficult environmental mitigation, tree protection, landscaping, and storm water issues.

Renee helped a client obtain county land use approvals for a natural gas pipeline crossing both forest and agricultural lands.

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