Illinois Valley News

A property owner facing multiple layers of restrictions and an attorney representing a couple who feel their land has been mis-zoned had the chance to address members of the Josephine County Land Development Advisory Committee during a 75-minute meeting on Monday evening, Aug. 2 at the Merlin Community Center.

The committee was made possible by the passage of House Bill 2229 by the legislature last year. That bill enables counties to examine their codes and re-zone parcels of land that may have previously been mis-classified.

Trenor Scott testified that he purchased a piece of riverfront property near Merlin in 1968 and built more than two miles of roads as part of his plans for a subdivision.

But the federal Wild & Scenic River bill passed, Scott said, which put him in an “instant legal desert.“ That was despite the fact that some of the surrounding property was zoned for five-acre, single family residential parcels, he said.

Scott provided committee members with a packet of maps and documents to provide a detailed record of his account.

Chairman Harold Haugen, a former longtime Josephine County commissioner, suggested that committee members Jack Swift and Jim Frick form a task force to examine Scott“s issues and report back to the group within two months.

Frick stated that he has seen similar scenarios “several times“ throughout his career as a real estate broker. The Wild & Scenic River designation makes Scott“s situation “unique,“ Frick added.

Roger Harada from the county planning office said that because of the federal issue, Scott“s problem goes “above and beyond“ that of a typical property mis-zoning.

Swift stepped down from his role as a committee member and spoke on behalf of property owners that he has represented as an attorney. He said that his clients purchased 43 acres of riverside property in Grants Pass in 1978 that was surrounded by one-acre, developed residential parcels.

Plans for a subdivision were in the works at the time of the purchase, Swift said, and consisted of 32 high-end homes in a gated community. A manor home was built as a showcase, along with two ponds stocked with bass fish, Swift said.

The permit for the manor home was obtained with no difficulty, Swift said. However, Swift said that at the time, the county“s comprehensive plan had been submitted to the state. Details of the plan were debated between the county and state.

“Salem prevailed,“ Swift said, and the parcel was zoned for Exclusive Farm Use (EFU). “Since then, (the property owner) could not do a thing.“

Swift said that irrigating the property and paying the personnel necessary to convert it into a farm would be cost prohibitive.

“It“s not a viable farm,“ Swift said.

Scott said that he had once considered purchasing that particular parcel, and verified that it once was zoned for one-acre lots.

Committee member Grace Zilverberg, a former county planning official who has since retired, said that there should be a list of properties whose zones were changed in 1985. The list should be in the planning office, Zilverberg said, opining that the properties were properly zoned before the state forced the county to make changes.

Haugen said that if the state had simply accepted the county“s zoning recommendations back then, all of the subsequent local land-use conflicts could have been avoided.

The meeting was the third of four public hearings set by the committee to hear from residents about their land-use concerns. Public hearings already have been held in Murphy and Cave Junction, and another will be set for Grants Pass at the Anne G. Basker Auditorium.

On Monday, Aug. 9, the committee will hold its next regular meeting at the county public works building in Grants Pass.

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