Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Page 11
Outcomes still uncertain in 17-year long land-use struggle
(Editor’s Note: This is the
second part. Part 1 appeared in
the Feb. 18 issue of the Illinois
Valley News)
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
Despite his many set-
backs in trying to get his 157
acres of Hugo property re-
zoned, Ward Ockenden de-
cided to file a new zone
change application in 2002.
That application was
submitted on Feb. 4, 2005,
but the Josephine County
Planning Dept. required
Ockenden to produce another
text amendment regarding the
soil types. The text amend-
ment application was turned
in the next year.
By this point, Jim Raf-
fenburg had been elected to
the board of county commis-
sioners. Even though he is no
longer in office, Raffenburg
said that he still is appalled at
how Ockenden has been
treated during the years by
the county.
“From day one, I noticed
the way his name was bandied
about inside the county organi-
zation with raised eyebrows
and disdain,” Raffenburg said.
“I always wondered what this
was about and why they had
such disdain for this person. As
events unfolded, I found out, in
my opinion, that it was because
he didn’t roll over.
“He didn’t do as he was
told and it’s cost him dearly.”
Ockenden began finding
other ways of fighting back.
He became politically active
through the Grants pass-
based Southern Oregon Re-
source Alliance and the Jose-
phine County chapter of
Americans for Prosperity
(AFP). And he made it a
habit to attend every county
meeting he could.
“I was in their face every
Wednesday and wouldn’t
stop,” he said. “I had nothing
more to lose.”
On March 13, 2008, the
county commissioners ap-
proved Ockenden’s text
amendment. Then, one week
later, the board voted to re-
zone the property, but not to
the R-5 designation that
Ockenden had requested.
Instead, the board re-
zoned it to 15-acre parcels,
despite the fact that such a
zoning did not exist anywhere
in the county.
“Because of the slopes
involved and opposition from
the neighborhood and people
in the area, they wanted to do
some kind of a compromise,”
said Bob Hart, of the county
planning office.
The zone change in-
cluded the requirement that
the property have private
roads, one of which would
have to go all the way
through the lot for emergency
vehicle access.
Hart said that the only
way to handle private roads is
through the Planned Unit
Development (PUD) process.
However, that state law limits
PUDs outside city limits to 10
lots. Ockenden said that the
cost of providing roads,
power and other infrastruc-
ture would have required sell-
ing the lots for $400,000 each
just to cover his costs.
“I couldn’t break even on
it,” Ockenden said. “It was a
total waste.”
Ward’s Last Stand
A provision in the
county’s code allows appli-
cants to ask the board of com-
missioners to reopen a hear-
ing. In those instances, Hart
said, the testimony is limited
to addressing the issue of
carrying capacity “so you
don’t go back to square one
like you’re starting all over.”
In order to achieve com-
pliance, Ockenden hired an-
other set of engineers to de-
velop a complete subdivision
plan to include road design,
slope erosion, sediment con-
trol, water systems and septic
suitability. Hart said that re-
quirement is typically re-
served for the subdivision
process, not a zone change.
Ockenden continued
appearing at county commis-
sion meetings, and was begin-
ning to receive some
“pushback” for his efforts.
On April 30, 2008, then-
Chairman Dave Toler called
law enforcement because
Ockenden refused to obey his
command to stop talking past
the posted time limit and sit
down during a weekly busi-
ness session at Anne G.
Basker Auditorium in Grants
Pass. Four Josephine County
Sheriff’s Office deputies and
two officers from the Grants
Pass Dept. of Public Safety
responded. But Raffenburg
and Commissioner Dwight
Ellis overruled Toler’s deci-
sion to have Ockenden forci-
bly removed.
Finally, on Aug. 4, the
commissioners held a hearing
to determine whether or not to
reopen Ockenden’s case to
hearings. This time, Ockenden
and his family were not alone,
as dozens of his friends, sup-
porters and well-wishers
packed Basker Auditorium.
The board decided to re-
open the case, a decision that
brought tears to Ockenden’s
eyes. But his fight wasn’t
finished.
The Struggle Continues
On Oct. 6, the board of
commissioners voted 2-1 to
approve Ockenden’s request
to rezone his property to 5-
acre lots, with Toler dissent-
ing. However, that decision
was appealed to the state
Land Use Board of Appeals
on Dec. 23 by Rogue Advo-
cates Vice President and
Board member Mike Walker,
who is also affiliated with the
Hugo Neighborhood Associa-
tion & Historical Society, on
procedural grounds that the
hearing shouldn’t have been
reopened.
Man on the Street:
Satisfied with health-care coverage?
Rich requested a continu-
ance on the matter, so that the
record could be properly as-
sembled, but the case likely
will not be heard until at least
March 9. For his part,
Ockenden remains apprehen-
sive about the possible out-
come of his case.
“It’s everything I’ve
made and tried to work for,
it’s not paying for a nice car
or nice home,” he said.
“Everything I have, every-
thing I make, they’re trying to
bleed me dry. Their goal is to
break my back.”
Ockenden admits that the
years of fighting have taken a
toll on him and his family,
and that he has often consid-
ered giving up.
“It’s consumed my life,”
he said.
His proposed project is
listed on the Website for
Rogue
Advocates,
www.rogueadvocates.org,
under its “Project Tracker.”
That organization lists among
its partners the Klamath
Siskiyou Wildlands Center,
the Siskiyou Field Institute
and 1000 Friends of Oregon.
Executive Director Jim
McLeod said that his group is
focused on broader issues
such as global warming.
“For us, it’s not really
about Ockenden,” McLeod
said. “Our mission is about
preserving farmland and for-
estlands and our mission is
working for sustainable com-
munities and livable commu-
nities. This is about a conver-
sion of forest resource land to
rural residential, and it comes
under our mission, and our
interest is to preserve those
types of lands.”
McLeod said Rogue Ad-
vocates maintains that the
land on Ockenden’s property
“is not marginal,” and should
continue to be preserved as
farmland. He admits that ap-
pealing Ockenden’s case has
not cost Rogue Advocates
financially, but that many
hours of volunteer time have
been expended.
Hart said that the
Ockenden case points to a
larger problem in Oregon’s
land-use policy, mainly that
standing in opposition to re-
zoning can be extended to
anyone who wants it.
“Ward is a poster child
for a system gone bad,” Hart
stated. Despite his decades of
experience dealing with plan-
ning and land-use issues, Hart
said that he is still not certain
how the case will end.
“Based on the informa-
tion that’s been submitted, it
should be approved for resi-
dential use. If it goes into
philosophy and politics of too
many people who don’t want
to lose the land to develop-
ment, it’s going to be over-
turned,” Hart said.
“It’s facts, versus politics
or philosophy,” he stated.
“Who’s going to win? We’ll
just have to wait and find out.”
(Editor’s Note: Read the
entire article online at illinois-
valley-news.com)
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