Deschutes County is updating its “Comprehensive Plan” and the time for public comment is almost over. If you care about how your county will use public lands and guide development of private lands, this is the time to give the county your input. By sending your comments directly to the County Commissioners, you can support the excellent draft Plan prepared by County staff and ensure that the final Plan serves the residents of Deschutes County, for the benefit of the entire state, and not just a handful of developers.
The Comprehensive Plan sets out the County’s issues and goals in four wide areas: Public Involvement, Resource Management, Rural Growth Management and Urban Growth Management. Citizens will find the Plan’s layout allows for understandable study, but here are some broad areas of interest to consider as you review the Plan and write your comments for the Commissioners.
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In Deschutes County, fish and wildlife-based activities bring in 3 times the amount of revenues as does agriculture (in 2008, $78 million versus $26 million). The Comprehensive Plan can help balance environmental and economic needs successfully by placing emphasis on natural resource-based enterprises, as opposed to setting aside large portions of the County for vacation homes and other development with smaller economic impacts,.
In Deschutes County, our natural amenities are our most valuable economic and cultural resources. Destination resorts reduce the ability of the County to fully utilize these resources. By making the real destination our rivers, wetlands, mountains and other natural amenities — and not river-front vacation homes and golf course McMansions — the County will be able to provide sustainable economic growth that will benefit the entire county. Current provisions regarding “destination resorts” work to the advantage of a small number of developers and should be replaced with provisions that benefit the full range of natural resource-based activities and not just a few vacation resorts or second homes.
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River corridor protection is a complex and technical matter, but what matters is that the Plan address the need for comprehensively mapping river corridors, implement prohibitions on grading and development, and balance the need to protect urban areas from flood damage with the need to maintain healthy rivers, shores and wetlands.
Urban Growth Areas have the resources to provide accountable, long-term public services such as police, fire, schools, waste water treatment and transportation public services such as police, fire, schools, waste water treatment and transportation. By limiting as much development as possible within Urban Growth Areas, the County can provide the services needed while providing necessary protections to our irreplaceable natural resources.
State law requires that that development not result in net loss of critical habitat or wildlife. The Comprehensive Plan must enforce this law by requiring that land use proposals include scientific studies of the effect of a development on current and future water uses.
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The Board of County Commissioners will discuss the Destination Resort Mapping Amendment at their regular meeting on Wednesday, January 20, 2010, at 10:00 am. At this, the Commissioners need to hear the message that destination resorts are not what County residents want; Crook County voters have said No to destination resorts and Jefferson County has removed them from their Metolius planning. Help the Deschutes County Commission make the same decision for the good of the whole county.
Write all three Commissioners and testify at the meeting on January 20th. By hearing from as many Deschutes County residents as possible, the Commissioners will recognize the broad support for the staff’s draft of the Comprehensive Plan. Your voice will make a difference in this effort.
Mail and testimony are both needed. Your letter and voice will demonstrate to the Commissioners that the best decision is to protect our valuable County rivers and lands for everyone.
Take action now. Use the form below to get your voice heard. Increase the impact of your message by putting the message below in your own words.
NOTE: If you have taken action before and previously entered your complete street address, you may use the "Taken action before?" feature. If not, please complete your address info below. County officials will want to know if you are in the county.
