JoCo plowing for Sno-Park could cease
From our weekly issue dated April 16, 2008
Clearing Happy Camp Road of snow from Takilma to Page Mountain Sno-Park is among the many services that might be phased out due to Josephine County budget concerns.
That’s what the county commissioners were advised by Rob Brandes, director of the county public works department, as they reviewed a portion of the department budget Friday, April 11 in the courthouse in Grants Pass.
“We are spending an astronomical amount of money to keep that open,” Brandes said. “Obviously it’s loved dearly by the handful who go there, but it is a handful. Sorry, Dave.”
Click here to learn more about how you can tell us what you think
Commission Chairman Dave Toler, who recently was cited on a parking violation charge near the park, replied with mock seriousness, “Oh, I never go up there.”
“We’re having to send up multiple Cats and graders,” Brandes said. “That road is winding, narrow and nasty, and it’s really getting to be an expense for a debatable payoff.”
Advertisement:
Brandes explained that the state helps fund some 50 percent of the cost for clearing snow up to and including the parking lot, but that the effort is still cost-prohibitive.
If not for the funding coming from the park, Brandes said that plowing would likely be conducted only to just after the last residence on Happy Camp Road – at around the 3-mile marker.
The road, which straddles the state line, is not kept clear on the California side during winter.
~Michelle Binker
