JoCo leaders challenged on I.V. Ranch ruling
From our weekly issue dated July 2, 2008
By approving inclusion of I.V. Ranch on Holland Loop for aggregate removal, the Josephine County Board of Commissioners has violated an Oregon state statute.
The accusation, and a demand for a written answer as to how the action is justified, were made by Holland Loop resident Joel Perkins. He addressed the county board during its meeting in Grants Pass on Wednesday, June 25.
Perkins referred to Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 215.296, “Standards for approval of certain uses in exclusive farm use zones; violation of standards; complaint; penalties; exceptions to standards.”
Asked Perkins, who had to speak rapidly, as Chairman Dave Toler had reduced public comment time to two minutes because of the length of the meeting, “How can the board of county commissioners sign into law Ordinance 2006 that violates the intent of ORS 215? We have farms and vineyards that will suffer economically if you permit mining on the I.V. Ranch.”
He quoted the ordinance in part: “The mining of significant aggregate sites pursuant to this subsection shall not be subject to the basic aggregate policies applying OAR (Oregon Administrative Rules) 660-023-180 requirements for minimizing or resolving existing and new conflicting uses or obtaining an Impact Area Agreement, but shall be subject to the operating standards implemented through Article 91 of the Rural Land Development Code.”
Perkins then cited Article 91 in part: “Conflicts due to noise, dust or other discharges with regard to existing and approved uses which are sensitive to such discharges shall be minimized to ensure conformance to the applicable local, state or federal standards.”
He asked, “How does the county propose to verify and enforce this, given current lack of resources? Who gets to decide what ‘minimize’ means, or how these standards are met?”
He added, “Does anyone on the board understand how intrusive mining is to adjoining properties, including a vineyard that has customers on site? Why would you put the I.V. Ranch into the county’s inventory of Significant Aggregate Sites, given that it will economically harm the adjoining agriculture-based properties?
“This,” said Perkins, “is in direct contradiction to ORS 215-296.”
Click here to learn more about how you can tell us what you think
Advertisement:
