Letters

Greg Mecklem's comments on County planners' attitudes toward farmers and citizen involvement

This letter was published in the Hillsboro Argus on Friday, September 11th. It was written partially in response to this editorial in the Hillsboro Argus.

I read a couple of articles in the Hillsboro Argus and Capitol Press recently and noted with some amazement a couple of statements by planners that crystallized my understanding of the problems in the planning process for Rural and Urban Reserves in Washington County. Planners involved at both the Hillsboro and Washington County levels are totally urban in focus and bias, have little apparent concern for rural areas and the agricultural industry, and aren't really interested in citizen participation in the decision-making process.

In the Hillsboro Argus article, Planner Pat Ribellia goes to great lengths to emphasize that those citizens making comment in opposition to paving over Helvetia's prime agricultural land own less acreage than those favoring urban development. The last time I looked we live in a one person-one vote democracy. A system that Mr. Ribellia seems to favor is a throwback to feudalism where landed gentry make decisions for the rest of us, or perhaps an oligarchy where Donald Trump gets 2,000 votes and we each get one. Such a system discourages citizen involvement which, in comparison to Multnomah and Clackamas Counties, seems to characterize Washington County.

Urban mayors and planners in the county seem to consider themselves at a higher level, and seem uninterested in meaningful citizen collaborative decision-making. Good planners and good planning involve the citizens. It’s infuriating that they draw an Urban Reserve line through the heart of a thriving agricultural community as Helvetia, usurping the most productive agricultural land for development and then criticize those of us in the remaining part of the community and those who depend on Helvetia for food and recreation for speaking out against their nonsense and lack of vision. They act like they’ve never heard of Goal 1 (citizen involvement) in Senate Bill 100 that was the foundation for Oregon’s renowned land use laws.

In the Capitol Press article, Washington County planner Steve Kelley makes the incredibly naive statement, "The farming community has some options. Timber land to the west could be used for growing crops. They can cut some trees down and plant crops." This statement shows the bias the County Planning Department has against the agricultural and forestry communities and the total lack of understanding of their differences — the unique richness and value possessed by farm lands on the Tualatin Valley floor and the ability of the higher elevation forestlands to produce wood products. I own lands in the fertile Exclusive Farm Use zone of Helvetia and timberlands in the west part of the county and I guarantee that the two areas are not equal in their ability to produce agricultural crops--not even close. The timberlands to the west are higher sloped, more difficult to work, have a shorter growing season and are more erosion prone. Mr. Kelley either knows this and doesn't care or he's in the wrong line of work.

If you exclude cattle feedlot counties, Washington County is the 46th most important county in the nation for production of agricultural goods. Once you pave over these lands with development you'll never get them back. Washington County Planners and Commissioners need to take a step back and re-evaluate. Their worship of High Tech for the future while high tech jobs have been moving overseas since 2001 is a false god (they like to use the term "industrial sanctuary"). The $351 million annual agricultural production in the county is forever if we protect the land. These valuable lands need to be placed in Rural Reserves. In this era of global warming, the last thing we need is more industrial and strip development over our valuable farm lands. The purpose of the Rural and Urban Reserves Process was to protect valuable natural resource lands when planning for future growth in the metropolitan region. Hillsboro and Washington County planners and politicians have turned the process on its head — they want to let a few landowners and developers who want to make a fast buck determine the future of the county and region at the expense of our children’s future. Governor Tom McCall would be horrified.

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Greg Mecklem
12995 NW Bishop Rd.
Hillsboro (Helvetia), Oregon
alpacas@teleport.com
(503) 647-7770 cell (503)730-1807
FAX: (503) 647-0632

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