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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2007)
Kerby water not a pipe dream can be seen on either side of project is finished, which By SCOTT JORGENSEN the highway. should take approximately IVN Staff Writer Residents still are using Kerby Water District five years. (KWD) is two steps closer to wells. However, delivery of During 2005, Kerby resi- delivering H 2 O, after ap- water could begin as early as proval of an engineering con- dents approved a $450,000 spring 2008. tract and an Inter- bond measure to governmental help pay for the Agreement (IGO) water distribution with Josephine system project costs. County. The block grant was Approval for awarded by the U.S. the deals was given Dept. of Agriculture 2-0 by Josephine that year. County commis- Once the distribu- sioners during their tion system is com- Wednesday, May plete, KWD mem- bers will be supplied 30 meeting in by the city of Cave Grants Pass. Com- A remnant of the Kerby Ditch system missioner Jim Raf- Junction, which gets fenburg is on vacation. its water from the Illinois A $314,000 engineering A $1.7 million Commu- River East Fork. contract with Coos Bay-based However, during the nity Development Block Grant HBH Consulting Engineers May 30 meeting, Hugo resi- has been issued for KWD’s Inc. also was approved by dent and land-use activist distribution system, said Rose- county commissioners. The Holger Sommer expressed mary Padgett, the county’s contract is for the drinking chief financial officer. doubt that the city would be water distribution system Steve Rich, the county’s able to provide water to portion of the project. legal counsel, recommended Kerby residents. KWD was formed in that the IGO be implemented, “Cave Junction already 2003 by residents who for has problems supplying water Padgett said. years have been concerned The IGO already has capacity to its new develop- about the quality of their well been signed by KWD’s board ments,” Sommer said. water. The shallow wells of directors, but the grant KWD Board Chairman were bolstered by water from requires that the county co- John Plute said the city is Illinois River that ran into the own the distribution system “well within the capacity of Kerby Ditch. It ran across the project until it is completed. its master plan.” He added east side of Redwood Hwy. that the district could be get- Padgett said that ownership until it was abandoned several ting its water supply from the of the system will be trans- years ago, although portions city as early as next spring. ferred to KWD once the total of its distribution system still ACCIDENT AT I.V. AIRPORT -- Lou Levi- son (right) , of Cave Junction, suffered a right leg injury in connection with the crash of the two-seat trainer ultralight air- craft he was piloting Saturday, June 2. The mishap, reported at 9:33 a.m., brought Fed extension boosts JoCo coffers Last week, the Josephine County Board of Commis- sioners suspended the layoff of approximately 50 criminal justice system employees after President Bush signed a bill that included monies for O&C counties for one year. Josephine County antici- pates that it will receive ap- proximately $12 million in October for fiscal year 2007- 08, the same amount received for fiscal year 2006-07. The board has requested that the Budget Committee be reconvened Thursday, June 7 to discuss and approve a re- vised budget for the Public Safety Fund which includes the operations of sheriff, dis- trict attorney and Juvenile Justice. Staffing is proposed to be comparable to the cur- rent year including approxi- mately 88 full-time equiva- lents in the sheriff’s office. The proposed budget would include the one-time transfer of $4.8 million from the General Fund and the one-year allocation of $12 million from O&C funds. Approximately $6 mil- lion would be placed in con- tingency (reserves) for local law enforcement purposes for fiscal year 2008-09. General Fund would receive no O&C monies. Public Health will add back staff to cover the increased level of inmates (from 70 to 140) in the jail health clinic. All other offices, divi- sions, and program budgets would remain at Service Level 1 with no expected increases, resulting in ap- proximately 45 employees who were laid off Thursday, May 31. Although Josephine County will receive one more year of O&C funding, the budget being proposed by the county commissioners re- flects their commitment to continued paring county ex- penditures. By putting approxi- mately half of the federal payment into public safety reserves, this budget will pro- vide approximately $9.3 mil- lion in overall reserves (including more than $3.3 million in General Fund con- tingencies) at the end of the fiscal year. “This assures us that we will be better prepared to meet the fiscal challenges that may face us next year,” said the county board The Budget Committee will review Public Safety and Public Health Budgets Thurs- day, June 7 between 6 and 8 p.m. at Anne Basker Audito- rium, 604 N.W. Sixth St. in Downtown Grants Pass, adja- cent to the county courthouse. The public can attend. United Way for area will end operations June 30 Despite the coming dis- solution of United Way of Josephine County, 2007 pay- roll deductions to support Illinois Valley Family Coali- tion will continue to reach the coalition. However, after this year, those who wish to assist the coalition will need to make their donations directly to the coalition, said Carol Ronan, executive director. Her comment came last week after the volunteer board of United Way of Jose- phine County said it would end its operation as of June 30. The organization cited “increased competition for charitable donations, declin- ing revenue and staff turn- over.” “United Way has been dealing with these issues for many years,” said Bruce Bar- (Continued on page 7) TWO MOTORCYCLES COLLIDE -- A father and his son crashed onto the Hwy. 199 pave- ment in front of A+ Mini-Storage at the north end of Cave Junction Friday, June 1 at ap- proximately 10:28 a.m. The cyclists were identified as Gordon W. Boswell, 61, and his son, Ryland, 19, both of Lompoc, Calif. It was reported that Ryland slowed to avoid hit- ting a vehicle making a right turn, and that his father, who was following, swerved and clipped the rear of his son’s bike. No citations were issued. The elder Boswell was taken by American Medical Response to Three Rivers Community Hospital. (‘I.V. News’ photo) a response from Illinois Valley Fire District (IVFD), American Medical Response, and Josephine County Sheriff’s Office. Wit- nesses said that Levison was on a landing approach when the engine stalled, and the craft went down nose-first in brush off the west side of the run- way. Sharon Wescott, owner of the plane, said that it was new and a total loss. After first aid, Levison sub- sequently went to Three Rivers Commu- nity Hospital for further treatment. (Photos by ‘Illinois Valley News’ and IVFD Media Dept.) County planning fees to rise July 1 By SCOTT JORGENSEN IVN Staff Writer Despite protests from some watchdog citizens, the Board of Josephine County C o m mi s s i o n e r s v o t e d Wednesday, May 30 in Grants Pass to increase plan- ning department fees, includ- ing those for appeals, as of July 1. The increase was part of a larger effort to make many county departments self- sustaining and fee-based. Commissioner Dwight Ellis moved to adopt the in- creases, which Vice Chair- man Dave Toler seconded. The motion was approved 2-0, as Jim Raffenburg, board chairman, was on vacation. Hugo resident Mike Walker spoke against the in- creases during the public hearing on the matter May 30. Walker stated that he was representing Hugo Neighbor- hood Association and Histori- cal Society, Three Pines Neighborhood Association, and Rogue Advocates. Walker claimed that the fees are “largely unstable” and that the county charter requires voter approval for the increases. The fees don’t cover many state-mandated land-use planning require- ments, and a fee-driven set- ting increases the potential for corruption and favoritism, it was indicated. Hal Anthony, saying that he represented the same three groups as Walker, compared the fee-based system to a poll tax in Josephine County’s distant past. “It almost becomes like a poll tax,” Anthony said. “If you can’t pay, you can’t play.” Resident Gene Mow called the proposed fee in- crease for appeals “excessive.” She said that revenues generated from ap- peals are insignificant any- way, and she had other objec- tions as well. “Public participation will be discouraged by a large increase,” Mow said. “I think it will leave more people out of the process.” Bob Hart, a land-use consultant who served for 17 situation could be accurately described in the same terms. “I truly looked at this as stabilizing planning,” he said. Toler rejected the argu- ment that higher fees paid by developers would encourage favoritism to- Some county planning office fees will rise as of ward those inter- July 1, and some will stay the same. Here are some ests. He pointed examples of increases with the current fee first and the out that higher new fee after. fees A complete fee schedule is available from the appeals won’t make the county planning office. biased *Home occupation public hearing: $2,100/ county $2,750. toward appel- *Home occupation (no hearing): $1,700/$2,000. lants in the mat- *Pre-application for aggregate mining: $950/ ter of appeals. $1,200. He said that if *Aggregate mining permit (conditional use, site the county were- plan review): $3,125/$3,700. n’t moving in the *Appeal after hearing: $1,550/$2,000. *Authorized lot/dwelling determination: $250/ direction of a fee-based sys- $500. *Subdivision pre-application review: $500/$600. tem, “I don’t *Planned unit development, tentative approval: know what we’d $2,950/$3,750. be looking at.” *Road naming: $1,250/$1,500. Toler acknowl- *Variance without hearing: $1,500/$2,000. edged that ap- peals fees are rising faster than the others, Hart noted that the cost but that he was willing to of developing land has “gone look at “potential adjust- up significantly,” and that a ments” later. traffic analysis for a recent, Land-use activist and small development cost Hugo resident Holger Som- $8,000. mer said that appeals heard “I think these fees are not by the state Land Use Board out of line,” stated Hart. of Appeals (LUBA) cost However, he added that $325. Sommer said that such there “should be some general appeals would be more costly fund support” for the plan- at the state level than locally. ning department. Ellis said that the appeals Toler said that the ap- process has become more peals fee was $750 during complex, which has increased 2005, and would be increased costs, but that “citizen in- to $2,000 under the new volvement has remained schedule. level,” despite prior increases. Ellis stated that he was There are fewer appeals bothered by comments that a at the county level now than fee-based system could lead when he first took office, to corruption. Ellis said. He credited An- “I take personal offense thony, Sommer and other to that,” Ellis said. activists for helping the He said that during his county improve its process. two and a half years on the But Ellis stated that the board, many proposed devel- appeals process is more ex- opments have been denied by pensive for the county than the county. for LUBA. “We don’t always come Toler acknowledged that out in favor of the developer,” higher fees are a burden on Ellis said. He also rejected the applicants and citizens, and poll tax analogy. that the system works best “I don’t agree that this is when both groups are in- a poll tax,” he said. volved. But although he Toler said that while hav- stated regret regarding the ing the planning department increases, he said that not be completely fee-based is doing so would lead to a “hugely unstable,” the weaker planning department. county’s entire financial years in the county’s planning office, said that he disagreed with Mow’s statement. “There is plenty of op- portunity for input from citi- zens of Josephine County,” Hart said.
