Posted inNeighborhood

Here comes the sun…appeal is done

Yesterday was bright for us for several reasons, not least of which was the Marion County Commissioners’ 3-0 rejection of the Nielsen’s request for them to hear an appeal of the denial of their lot partition request that Laurel and I have been fighting (along with other supportive neighbors) for what seems like eternity—but hasn’t been quite that long, I’m sure. We got ourselves down to the Commissioners’ meeting room at the ungodly hour, for us, of 9:00 am, wanting to be there in time to hear Roger Kaye make use of the public comment time at the beginning of…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Appeal successful!

All in all, a pretty good day for Laurel…and Brian, and the neighborhood. On my next walk up the driveway, to get the mail around 2:00, I saw a manila envelope from the Marion County Hearings Officer—the long-awaited decision on our long-fought appeal of the attempted Nielsen lot partitioning in Spring Lake Estates. First we had won; then on a first appeal by the Nielsens we lost; and now we had made a second appeal, which we were pretty confident about, since all the newly assembled facts were on our side. Laurel was nervous opening the letter, as was I.…
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Posted inNeighborhood

‘Twas the night before Thanksgiving

Yes, it was the night before Thanksgiving, and where else would Laurel and Brian be until 7:30 pm but at a hearing on the proposed Nielsen lot partition that has occupied so much of our time (mainly Laurel’s, for she is the Groundwater Protection Activist of the Year, without question, in Spring Lake Estates at least). Wednesday was the long-awaited remand hearing, remanded, that is, from the state Land Use Board of Appeals and the Marion County Board of Commissioners. Right off the bat we observed something strange: the Nielsen’s hydrologist, Nick Coffey, was nowhere in sight. And he never…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Land use twists and turns

Ah, the wonder of all the twists and turns in our appeal of the neighborhood (Spring Lake Estates) proposed lot partitioning. First we win the appeal. We’re up! Then that decision is appealed. And we lose the second remand decision. We’re down! Then we ask the County Commissioners to reconsider the remand approval, and they decline, thereby sustaining the atrocious decision. We’re even further down! Then, after consulting the level of our psychic energy and bank balance, we decide to take another step and appeal to LUBA—the Land Use Board of Appeals, a $375 step. Though it is customary to…
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Posted inHome life Neighborhood

Fire karma comes closer

Nothing grabs your attention like hearing the phone ring, picking up the receiver, saying “hello,” and then having the neighbor across the street excitedly tell you that he has just called 911 because there is a wildfire burning a few lots down from you. The neighbor was out of breath because he had noticed smoke, went to check it out, and ended up trying to put it out with a garden house (the people whose house the fire had started next to weren’t home). Laurel was in town, so I left a message at one of her likely stops, LifeSource…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Anti-partitioning battle continues

The Hines’ battle to save the Earth from greedy land developers, or, at least, the small corner of the Earth that is Spring Lake Estates, continues. A few weeks ago we were surprised and dismayed to learn that the Marion County Hearings Officer had overruled herself on the Nielsen’s lot partitioning case. We won the first appeal, as the Hearings Officer found that the Nielsen’s hydrologist had failed to demonstrate that this partitioning wouldn’t harm the long-term sustainability of groundwater in the surrounding area. When the Nielsen’s appealed this denial, the Marion County Board of Commissioners remanded the case back…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Laurel, the unlicensed geologist

Our (mostly Laurel's) appeal of the Nielsen lot partitioning in Spring Lake Estates continues to take its twists and turns, but the road is inexorably coming closer to its end. Some time back Laurel testified at a hearing where Denny Nielsen and his hydrologist-for-hire, Nick Coffey, presented their (weak) case for overruling the Hearing Officer's initial denial of the lot partitioning. The Marion County Commissioners decided to remand the decision back to the Hearings Officer, so several issues were revisited, such as the number and cause of well deepenings/replacements in the area, and the rate at which groundwater is being…
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Posted inNeighborhood Sustainability

Laurel makes waves at Water Resources Commission

Friday, Laurel testified during the public comment period at a meeting of the state Water Resources Commission. I played a part also, by looking on admiringly from the audience as she spoke. Laurel spouted out terms such as “recharge rates” and “sensitive groundwater overlay areas” with wonderful fluidity. I also contributed as Laurel’s faithful and obedient secretary by making up labels for the packets she handed on to the Commission. Basically she appealed to the commissioners to step in and do something about Marion County’s longstanding apathy about groundwater problems. Laurel cited several instances in which obvious well problems were…
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Posted inNeighborhood

War against partitioning continues

Recently Laurel learned that the Nielsens have asked the Marion County board of commissioners to hear an appeal of their proposed lot partitioning in Spring Lake Estates that was denied by a hearings officer. We’ve gotten a copy of the appeal request letter that was written by Nick Coffey, the Nielsen’s hydrologist. There don’t appear to be any new facts presented in the letter, just arguments that the old facts were misinterpreted by the hearings officer. This is good news, because our understanding is that the commissioners usually won’t even consider an appeal of a denied partitioning unless new facts…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Keep those coyote control ideas coming

[Update: I've observed that some people find this post via a "coyote control" Google search. What you'll read below is , obviously, a tongue-in-cheek approach to coyote control. If you want to know the truth about coyote control, take a look at some other posts I've written on the subject of controlling predators: "Is killing cougars a wildlife service?" and "Coyote debates."] I've heard from a fellow Spring Lake Estates resident who has got his shotgun facing in the right direction when it comes to controlling the coyotes around here. It's refreshing to find someone who cuts through the B.S.…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Victory! (but the war may not be over yet)

No, we're not talking about Iraq, but about Laurel's fight to stop further partitioning (a.k.a. subdividing) of lots in Spring Lake Estates. The report from the Marion County hearings officer arrived in the mail today. She denied the Nielsen's application to partition their Oak Drive lot. We're still digesting her findings, but clearly all of Laurel's hard work researching well deepenings and replacements, plus the competent hydrogeology reviews by Malia Kapillis, paid off. The hearings officer cited numerous errors and omissions in the original hydrogeology report prepared by Nick Coffey for the Nielsens, most of which were pointed out by…
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Posted inNeighborhood Sustainability

Sustainability in Spring Lake Estates

Laurel and I typed away like demons last week, getting ready Laurel's response to the Oak Drive lot partitioner's response to her response to the partitioner's application. As if that wasn't enough legalese, now the partitioner gets two weeks to prepare a response to Laurel's response to the partitioner's response to Laurel's response to the partitioner's application. (No wonder why people find the legal system so confusing.) We'll keep you posted, neighbors, as the appeal winds closer to a decision. Of course, there is a good chance that no matter how the hearings officer rules, the losing side will appeal…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Thanks, “Stop Densification” supporters

Laurel and I greatly appreciate the donations we've received recently in response to our "help, we need more money for the Stop Densification in Spring Lake Estates Committee" letter. With the help of other concerned neighbors, we're doing our best to overturn the initial approval of the Oak Drive partitioning request. Well, Laurel is doing most of the real work; I mainly help with the typing and other clerical chores. Friday, Laurel went down to the county planning department and picked up the partitioner's response to our appeal. Fortunately, it still looks like we have the facts and the law…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Laurel’s letter–she’s published!

Now we finally can stop running up to the end of the driveway each morning, grabbing the newspaper, anxiously scanning the opinion page for Laurel's coyote letter. Today, right there smack dab in the middle of the page, is her letter to the editor. Laurel was spurred to write after we heard some distressed-sounding coyote calls late one night, seemingly coming from the property of a neighbor who has been threatening to set traps/poison to kill the coyotes who supposedly are threatening the feral cats that he and his wife like to feed. Of course, leaving food out for cats…
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Posted inNeighborhood Plotinus Writing/Weblogs

Plotinus and coyote-control

It's nice to make connections between various aspects of your life. Here I am just now, editing my Plotinus (3rd century Greek philosopher) manuscript, and I come across a passage wonderfully apropos to our efforts to stop the killing of coyotes in our neighborhood. This bit is about Plotinus' attitude toward meat-eating, but I think he would be equally (if not more) aghast at the idea of killing an animal just because it is doing what comes naturally to it, and isn't harming any human. The quote in italics at the end is from Plotinus' Enneads, the collection of his…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Coyote debates

There was some good coyote debating going on at the Spring Lake Estates board meeting at our house last night. Laurel and I appreciated the concerns of the sheep-raisers, but we weren't convinced that shooting coyotes is the solution. Tim Jaskoski correctly pointed out that much research shows that killing coyotes does nada to reduce the coyote population, long-term or even medium-term. Some people have the anthropomorphic attitude that coyotes go up to the body of Joe Coyote, shot by an angry sheepowner, and say, "Ooops. We've got to get out of this neighborhood. Look at what happened to good…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Backhoes are beautiful

Everyone in Spring Lake Estates should extend a huge "thank you!" to Craig Snively and his backhoe. With the help of several neighbors, Craig and company enlarged the "emergency" spillway on the right side of the dam, which currently is pretty much the main spillway--with the trickle tube partially blocked. So far, it looks like the water is flowing out faster than it is flowing in, which is a good thing, obviously. If the reverse happens (water coming in faster than it goes out), grab your shovels! (or, better, Craig's backhoe)
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