Oregon Coast Alliance Newsletter
August 2014: Victory and Revised Proposals
Walsh Variance: Planning Commission Denies the Request for 48 ft. Variance!
Biota exchange: No Reconsideration from Parks Dept. and A Few Documents from the Governor's Office
Tillamook PUD Tries New Angles for Proposed Oceanside Line
Knapp Ranch Developers Request More Time and Submit New Application: Hearing Sept. 11th
Walsh Variance: Planning Commission Denies the Request for 48 ft. Variance!
Bulldozed Arch Cape Wetlands

The Walshes purchased a lot in Arch Cape to build a house, after Clatsop County had put in place a 50 ft. setback from aquatic vegetation to protect wetlands.The Walshes, like the Francis Capital owners on a similar lot, applied for a 48-ft. variance that would destroy both the variance and the wetland. The Clatsop County planning commission in August denied the requested variance. 


 
ORCA and concerned residents presented much testimony to the effect that a variance must be unique, and the 50 ft. setback applies to many Arch Cape lots. Most importantly, the setback was in effect at the time the Walshes bought the land, and a National Wetland Inventory map fully available to them to check as part of due diligence prior to purchase. The Walshes have appealed this denial to the Board of Commissioners, and the hearing will be October 8th. ORCA will continue to present testimony advocating for the Board of Commissioners to uphold the planning commission decision.


Biota exchange: No Reconsideration from Parks Dept. and
A Few Documents from the Governor's Office  

Sand Dunes at south end of Bandon State Natural Area
 
ORCA filed a "Petition for Reconsideration" to the Parks Department in early June, asking the Department to clarify and tighten up the rules relating to "exchanges initiated by others" in the wake of approval of the Biota exchange. The Department has applied these rules in a manner that leaves it wide open for other developers to offer the Department cash in trade for cherished parklands so they can complete their own schemes. This is exactly what Bandon Dunes is seeking to do in proposing a sixth golf course on Bandon State Natural Area lands, in exchange for $2.5 million, a couple of small properties and gorse removal monies. However, the Department did not reply to the Petition, thereby turning it down. This means that the "overwhelming public benefit" rule for exchanges initiated by others will remain as it is, allowing future developers to pay for park land and cash in on the Oregon Parks system for projects of their own.

ORCA also filed a public records request with the Governor's office in December 2013, requesting documents about the Biota exchange from January 2011 through February 2014. It is clear that the Governor was deeply involved in the exchange proposal from the beginning. The Governor's office in an initial tally located 500 pages of emails for "Bandon Biota" as a search term, and 1,500 pages (483 emails!) for "Bandon Dunes." There were even 87 emails using "Michael Keiser" as a search term. For documents based on those search terms plus a couple of others, the Governor's office proposed to charge ORCA $2,294. But they released the 87 emails relating to Michael Keiser to ORCA free of charge late last week. As we expected, they show a close working relationship between Keiser and Gov. Kitzhaber, creating state support for Keiser's south coast economic development vision and the Biota exchange.


Tillamook PUD Tries New Angles for Proposed Oceanside Line  

Tillamook PUD - Evaluated Routes for New Transmission Line

  

Tillamook PUD has been working hard to find a way to get a City of Tillamook permit for its proposed Oceanside-Tillamook transmission line. So far, the City has denied the permit, and TPUD lost its bid to overturn the decision at LUBA. Perhaps realizing the need for more community buy-in, TPUD hired the well-known and highly influential Kearns and West mediation group to help find a solution. This company has offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, Portland and Sacramento. First the PUD designed a joint, closed meeting with City Council, where the public had minimal input. But City Council, wary of its responsibilities to the public, declined to be involved in a more robust mediation with TPUD. 

Now the PUD is proposing an "advisory committee," which will explore possible routes and issues with the line. Currently the proposal is for PUD to select likely members and present a proposal to Council for its September 2nd meeting. So far, Council has decided that a Council member will attend the advisory committee meetings once the committee is organized. 

ORCA and concerned local residents note that in all these proposals, PUD has avoided discussion of the fundamental issue: need for the Oceanside-Tillamook Line. Load growth statistics do not support it, and neither do load growth projections. Why, then, does PUD want the line so badly? It is a question that, so far, the company has refused to answer satisfactorily.


Knapp Ranch Developers Request More Time and Submit New Application: Hearing Sept. 11th  

Cape Blanco Lighthouse Just North of Knapp Ranch

  

The Knapp Ranch developers are trying again to site a golf course on Knapp Ranch just north of Port Orford on the south coast. ORCA appealed the initial Curry County approval to the Land Use Board of Appeals. Curry County then asked for a 90-day "reconsideration," which LUBA automatically grants. But now the County wants more time to keep the appeal on hold, and has petitioned LUBA for an indefinite time extension.

At the same time, the golf course developers have submitted a revised application to Curry County for the golf course -- similar in most ways to the original one, but changing the layout to avoid some of the High Value Farmland (HVF) at the site. The hearing before Curry County Planning Commission will be:

Thursday, September 11th
7:00 PM
Curry County Annex Office Building, Lower Level
94235 Moore Street
Gold Beach

Please submit testimony on this golf course proposal if you have concerns. Testimony can be sent to Planning Director Dave Pratt: [email protected]



Correction:  


 

In the August newsletter, ORCA mistakenly described Heceta Water District as having 40,000 customers. By adding an extra zero, we described HWD as being ten times larger than it is! The District serves about 4,000 households in the north Florence area. Our apologies to all for this mistake.



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