Uncertainty about wetlands regulations and the development potential of the properties has reduced their market value to about the same as that of agricultural lands, according to a report released Friday by Assessor Jim Gangle.

Commercial appraisers on Gangle's staff that wetlands in west Eugene be revalued at the rate of $800 to $1,000 per acre, wIth the higher price applying to parcels of more than 100 acres.

Not all west Eugene properties will see such a significant drop in their assessed value, Gangle said. Only the wetlands portion of each parcel will be revalued, he said. Developed properties and properties that already qualify for a lower assessment under the state's Farm Deferral Program also will see no change in their value.

"We have a whole spectrum of (recommended) values on these properties," he said.

Of 250 tax accounts in the study area Gangle said his office is recommending no change in value for about half. About 22 percent are being recommended for a significant change and another 27 percent for some change, he said.

Property owners began appealing their assessed values in light of a recent study conducted by Scientific Resources Inc. for the Lane Council of Governments that identlfled more than 1,400 acres of wetlands in west Eugene.

Wetlands fall under federal and state regulation because of their value as wildlife and plant habitat and because of their role in flood control and water purification.

Because of extensive regulations, many owners of wetlands properties earlier criticized the assessor's office for failing to reduce assessments they say were established before wetlands issues surfaced.

Current values in the area were established after the city identified west Eugene for industrial use and invested $12 million in sewers and roads. Investors' expectations for economic development were raised "and property values adjusted accordingly," the report says.

Gangle said he plans to present the recommended valuations to the county Board of Equalization regardless of whether the property owser has flied an appeal. If approved, the new values would result in reductions in 1990-91 tax payments due in November, he said.

He is proposing to make additional adjustments over the next two years as necessary and then reappraise the entire west Eugene area in 1992. Gangle said he has not calculated the effect on bills of other taxpayers, who will have to pay higher taxes to make up for the lowered assessments on wetlands. But he predicted that it will be slight.

"Other taxpayers in Lane County are probably not even going to feel the difference," he said.

Gangle's appraisers had a hard time corning up with new values because the wetlands issue has introduced "a shock to the market" and few sales have occurred in the area, the report says.

"There was a consensus that any property having a wetland on it would be all but impossible to market given the uncertainty of possible uses," the report says.

For the sake of comparison, the appraisers turned to prices paid in recent sales of wetlands in Multnomah and Clackamas counties, the only counties in which sales were occurring on comparable properties, and came up with a value of $1,000 to $1,500 per acre for Multnomah County properties.

Next, they looked at potential uses for sites with wetlands. Reasoning that because wetlands regulations do not prohibit farming, they concluded that farming is the highest and best use of the properties.

"Therefore, wetlands and farm land should have similar value," the report says. Regulators could impose some restrictions on farming on wetlands, however.

The value of $800 to $1,000 per acre was arrived at by comparing recent sales of agricultural land in the Eugene area to wetlands in Multnomah County. Given the relatively lower real estate prices in this area in general, the difference in value of wetland properties in the two areas also seemed reasonable, the report says.