Eight pounds, to be exact. That's what I had to carry out of the Marion County Planning Division last Wednesday, after staff had made a copy of Leroy Laack's Measure 49 vested rights application.
Yesterday the Salem Statesman Journal ran a front page story about it: Measure 49 is put to the test: property owners hope vested rights allow work to proceed on stalled development.
Those who haven't followed the saga of our neighborhood's fight to protect our groundwater from a proposed 42 lot subdivision on high value farmland in a groundwater limited area can peruse the many posts in this blog's "Measure 37" category.
I've written about vesting several times. It's an attempt to be "grandfathered in" under Measure 37, which Oregonians overwhelmingly voted to fix via Measure 49 last November.
The only way Measure 37 claimants can continue on with their original plans is to prove that they were far enough along with their development to be vested under Oregon common law.
A public hearing on the case has been scheduled for July 23. That's when our neighborhood's Keep Our Water Safe Committee, along with attorneys from the Crag Law Center, will present a rebuttal to the eight pounds of paper.
It's interesting reading, if you're into this sort of stuff – which I am, naturally, since my wife and I are leading our neighborhood's opposition to the subdivision.
My interest also was piqued by the mentions of "Brian Hines" in the application. Those words always catch my eye, for some egotistical reason.
"On or around September 21, 2007, Brian Hines made complaints to Marion County Department of Public Works and the Marion County Board of Commissioners asserting that the Claimants were unlawfully proceeding without necessary permits. Mr. Hines alleged that Marion County Board Order 07-303 required a Major Construction Permit prior to beginning land clearing and grading. Marion County Legal Counsel Jo Stonecipher notified Claimants' counsel of the alleged violation."
Well, not quite true. But I'll save my quibbles for the hearing and move on to another mention of me.
"Additionally, on September 25th, discussions took place with DEQ regarding erosion measures and complaints that arose from Mr. Hines and the CRAG Law Center."
Ah, that brings back memories. Which I'll get to revisit as we write our analysis of the vested rights application. I don't think we'll be able to outweigh them. But hopefully we'll out-argument them.
I look forward to the day whaen I drive past this property and see it in grapes, forest, rangeland, or many other suitable agricultural uses that do not adversly affect the surrounding zoning ordinance.
This Is PRIME FARM LAND.
If it cannot be farmed to turn a profit; don't blame the ground!
Before I bought my farm in 1989, it was deemed "Unfarmable".
Surprise, Surprise!!! It somehow became farmable the minute I purchaced it.
Its Magic!
If they cannot farm the ground and turn a profit, then they should sell it (At a huge profit, by the way) to someone that can.
And now for the ultra-ultra-ultra right wing knuckleheads that will state, " Well why don't YOU just buy the land?"
Answer: put the land up for sale for market value, and it will sell, period.
This entire fiasco is a sickening measure of todays society, IMHO.
Posted by: Harry Vanderpool | June 28, 2008 at 10:47 PM