zens of Goshen have been concerned that they would be
charged with helping pay for the upgrades, sewer, water,
roads, etc. Commissioner Stewart has stated that Lane
County doesn’t have the money to pay for the upgrades,
and that grants, federal and state funds could help pay for
the upgrades.”
Sewage is a big concern when it comes to developing
Goshen as an industrial site. Goshen is not on the sew-
age system, and many are concerned that it is not a viable
site for more septic tanks. Major landowners in the area
include the McDougal Brothers, who own more than 114
acres, and Cone Investments owns about 72 acres.
“Can we just be honest?” Nelson asks. “This is going to
take a ton of public money.”
If Goshen does get developed, and millions of dollars of
public money are spent, Nelson says that something should
be put in place to make sure the public gets the money
back. She suggests putting a Local Improvement District
in place, or a similar plan. An improvement district is when
property owners share in the cost of transportation infra-
structure improvements or other types of public improve-
ments. If the property owners financially benefit from the
public money spent, some of that money is then given back
to the public so there is funding for future projects.
When asked if the county has such a plan in place, the
spokesperson said, “The vision is that the developers’ in-
vestments will generate long-term private as well as public
returns. Will the county put a Local Improvement District
in place? This is a strategy that hasn’t been part of the Gos-
hen Regional Economic and Transition Plan discussions
yet.”
According to Nelson, the “taxpayers of Lane County
are already spending money; they spent a lot of staff time
on this. Fine, you need to do that to get something done.”
But, she asks, what is the plan to recapture those funds?
— Camilla Mortensen
IT’S ABOUT TIME
BY D AV I D WA G N E R
F
ifty years ago, on Oct. 12, 1962, the great Columbus Day Storm passed through Oregon. With winds surpassing 100 mph
in most of the Willamette Valley, it was the most severe windstorm recorded, so powerful that many anemometers simply
blew apart!
This kind of event has occurred before and will happen again. We don’t know when that might be. We know the rains come in
the winter and it will be dry in the late summer. We adjust our lifestyle to accommodate. Even though we don’t know when the next
massive windstorm or the next earthquake will come, we should be mindful to prepare for these, too. It’s about time, irregular and
unpredictable, but certainly coming in time.
In the mountains I see piles of cone scales on the ground at the end of big logs in the woods. When the Douglas fir seeds
mature the squirrels enjoy “cone on the cob.” Those big logs are special to every woodland critter because they don’t dry out.
Salamanders live under them and roots of forest trees grow up into them for moisture and nutrition.
Even as our spring and early summer were particularly cool and wet, this year our late summer and fall are really dry. I see
too many fruit trees and rhododendrons in town suffering from lack of water. We who dream of mushroom soup want the fall rains
to start. The Mushroom Festival Oct. 28 at the Mount Pisgah Arboretum will have a scanty exhibit if the rain doesn’t come soon.
David Wagner is a botanist who has lived in Eugene for more than 30 years. He teaches moss classes and leads nature walks. See his website at fern-
zenmosses.com.
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eugeneweekly.com • October 4, 2012
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