State rejects land use plan for Camp Sherman

The Land Conservation and Development Department has remanded to the Jefferson County Commission "periodic review work task number 4," which concerns zoning and land- use regulations in the Camp Sherman area.

"The department concludes that the county's inventory, analysis, exception statement and new zoning for the Camp Sherman area does not fully comply with... task number 4 which required the county to address Goal 14 and the (Oregon) Supreme Court decision" in what is commonly referred to as the "Curry County case," County Judge Daniel J. Ahern was told in an October 27 letter.

James B. Knight, community/assistance division manager for the department, advised Judge Ahern that the county has until October 18, 1996, to complete the requirements specified in the remand, but that the county can appeal the department's decision to the Land Conservation and Development Commission by November 17.

Ahern told The Nugget Monday that the county will not appeal. "We have another year to get (the Camp Sherman plan) right and it will probably take us every bit of that year to do so," he said.

"Our first step will be to determine whether Camp Sherman is a rural or resort community under new (state) rules concerning unincorporated communities," said Ahern. He noted that these new rules were being developed at the time Jefferson County was changing Camp Sherman's zoning and land- use regulations and that the commissioners were advised not to refer to the planned new rules at that time.

Goal 14 of LDC,, generally calls for the protection of rural areas from urban development.

In turning back the periodic work review submitted by the county last February, the department said a new comprehensive plan and zoning applied to the Camp Sherman area "do not satisfy Statewide Planning Goals 11 and 14."

Specifically, the state concluded that densities allowable under the new comprehensive plan could overtax the area's capacity to provide adequate drinking water, sewage disposal and roads to meet the demands of greater development. The remand order also noted a number of discrepancies in an inventory of properties made by the county.

During the formative stages of the new Camp Sherman comprehensive plan, some residents and property owners in the community were sharply divided on the question of density, said Tom Landis, chairman of the Camp Sherman Local Advisory Committee of the Jefferson County Planning Commission.

"We (the LAC) spent lots of time within the community to reach a consensus, or at least a compromise on the question of density, and we feel we did a pretty good job of compromising with different groups in the area," Landis said.

The zoning ordinance which the LAC proposed to the county planning commission -- and which the planning commission adopted and sent to the county commission -- was different from the one the commission later adopted, Landis said. The densities recommended by the LAC and planning commission were lower than those eventually approved by the county, he asserted.

Reflecting upon the county's action, Landis said, "My biggest disappointment, as an individual, was that we went to so much trouble to reach a consensus the community could live with, and then the county commission ran roughshod over that. I believe my opinion reflects that of a majority of the LAC."

The LAC started to rewrite the comprehensive plan at a lengthy work session November 3. "There's a tremendous amount of work to be done," said Landis.

The Camp Sherman Local Advisory Committee normally holds public meetings on the fourth Friday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Camp Sherman Fire Hall.