Livid residents urge lid on LID
Approximately 30 residents jammed Cave Junction City Hall on Monday night, June 11 to voice their opinions on a proposed $2.56 million Local Improvement District (LID) on Redwood Hwy.
The city council was considering a resolution of intent to establish the LID boundaries and provide taxing authority for the project. City staff prepared three options for council consideration.
John Chmelir, of Willow Development in Grants Pass, said that he and the other chief petitioners for the project have been working on it for a year and a half. He recommended that the city accept the technical design worked out by Oregon Dept. of Transportation (ODOT).
Chmelir said that half the LID charges should be based on Redwood Hwy. frontage, with the other half based on total property acreage. He added that he and the other petitioners, including developers Dan Hughes and Larry Osborn, have worked extensively with the city, county and state governments to move the project forward, and that its costs are exacerbated by any further delays.
The developers signed a contract with ODOT for the LID in January 2006, Chmelir said, and had to borrow $2.5 million as part of that process.
“We’ve obligated ourselves to do this,” he said.
Opposition to the LID proposal has been building for months. In a Feb. 10 letter to City Recorder Jim Polk, Paul and Arlis Wieler, owners of property at the corner of Laurel Road and Redwood Hwy., said they wanted nothing to do with the LID or its related costs.
“We would like to go on record that we object to an LID being formed by developers for the purpose of forcing other property owners to pay for improvements that those developers have already committed to being responsible for,” the letter read.
It also included, “The developers are the ones that will gain the most benefit and profit from these improvements and they should include these in their project costs and follow through with their commitment to pay the same.”
During the meeting, Medford attorney David Ingalls spoke on behalf of Versteeg family members, who also are included in the LID.
Ingalls requested that the public hearing be discontinued, saying that adequate notice wasn’t given to affected property owners.
Mayor Tony Paulson stated that the council was considering a resolution of intent to establish the LID. Part of that process is the scheduling of a public hearing in the future, Paulson said.
“We’re not making a decision on this tonight,” Paulson said.
Ingalls said that the council was providing a forum for the LID’s petitioners to make a case for their proposal.
Steve Zabriskie, owner of Z Coffee on Redwood Hwy. at the north end of Cave Junction, said that affected property owners should be similarly able to make a presentation.
Councilor Russell Ehrman agreed.
“I think the points being raised are true,” Ehrman said, adding that he would favor continuing the matter.
Chmelir denied that the developers were trying to make an end-run around public participation.
“It wasn’t our intent to subvert the process of citizen involvement,” Chmelir said.
Polk tentatively scheduled a continuance for the council’s July 9 meeting “if the noticing requirements can be met.”
The council also voted to annex two properties owned by Osborn into city limits after a public hearing drew no response.
The properties, at 25210 and 25156 Redwood Hwy., are zoned for Rural Commercial, and are in the city’s Urban Growth Boundary.
Councilors voted 4-0 to approve the annexations, with Councilor Lynne Atteberry abstaining on both votes.
Annexation of property owned by Robert Johnson at 460 Caves Hwy. was approved by the council 5-0.
