A friend sent me a link to this site about an 18" gauge train in Oregon that the state wants removed. Rather than rewrite the whole thing here, please read my blog post on the subject. I sent the link to the Oregon House Majority and Minority leaders. I've already gotten a reply from Rep. Hanna saying she'd look into it. Best!
I followed the link, but I couldn't find the text of the actual complaint from the state. Do you have access to that? What I am thinking is that this could be as simple as making a few small modifications, or applying for a conditional use permit or something like that. I would hate for them to get in a pitched battle with the state government and bankrupt themselves when they might be able to avoid most of this by simply crossing a couple t's and dotting a couple of i's. Of course, I have no idea since I don't have the text of their actual complaint to review.
SteamDonkey; You sound like you're a lawyer. I agree with you, but the average Joe doesn't usually have the expertise to figure out the t's and i's. Best!
Randall, Unbelieveable story. And to think I was born in Oregon. I'm ashamed. If this was a business and never bothered with licenses and stuff that one thing, but this is private. I'm guessing the creeks have something to do with it. Cheers, Jim CCRR
Well, more private property rights are taken.... Seems to me Oregon could save themselves a bunch of budget money, by ridding themselves of all those people involved in this nonsense. The State should be embarrassed and ashamed. :thumbs_down: Boxcab E50
I'm not an attorney, but I review documents for court cases often when it comes to building code issues and sometimes zoning. What I am saying is that the complaint from the state probably cites some law that has been broken (or that someone thinks has been broken), and sometimes if you bark up that tree and get that issue taken care of then the issue goes away. My guess is that maybe some neighbor of the nosy variety got up in arms over it for reasons only they can understand, and that they found some law they thought was violated and lodged a complaint with a state agency who was then compelled to act. So many zoning and land use things are complaint-driven. Is there any paperwork available on this? Adam
It could be as simple as maybe they dumped a little rip-rap along a stream bed. If that's the case, they might be able to get the bureaucracy off their backs by simply rerouting a little bit of track and removing the rip-rap. I have never been there so I don't know the exact situation. When you get into streams things can get trickier. Rules about clean water and navigation and other things trump most everything else when it comes to a stream. On my end of the Willamette there are a bunch of places that the local government doesn't want us to go because they say they're too contaminated. Of course, on a hot summer day it's not unusual to see someone swimming in Willamette Cove. We're not allowed near waterways when it is perceived that we're damaging them or that they're damaging us. :tb-biggrin:
Amazing looking railroad! Looks like they have done more good then bad for the enviornment. Always someone complaining about something!
I can't believe this. I have been a guest of the folks who own the property and built the railroad. It is a small paradise, absolutely beautiful, environmentally friendly. Politicians have no scruples whatsoever. Any of you familiar with the crews that volunteer at the Brooklyn roundhouse in Portland will recognize some of the faces in the archive photos at the railroad website. These guys and gals have laid a lot of the track there, all volunteer effort. The trestles are miniature (actually not so) engineering marvels. The streams through the property have not been disturbed except during construction. As pointed out in the article, many trees have been planted. These people are NICE people and don't deserve this treatment. Attached is one of the photos I took during my visit there in 2004.
Government B.S. Looks like a real great place. Attractive and well maintained. That's the problem. If they had a pile of junk appliances and other untidy trash stacked around the state would have never noticed. There is a derilict house right in the main business district here. It has been vacant for years the windows are broken out and the weeds and briars growing wild. If we let our house look like that the city would be all over us and yet this house gets overlooked. Government officials with nothing useful to do but bother someone enjoying their dream.
The Register-Guard, a paper in Eugene, did a piece on the Meadows and Lake Kathleen Railroad on Sunday. Railroad runs into red tape: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore. I want to thank everyone who read my blog post on the subject. Best!
This is probably going to make me unpopular here, but if there are structures involved that were not permitted then, technically, there has been a building code violation. The same sort of laws apply if I decide to build a large shed or rebuild my detached garage. Not having seen it, I am guessing the threshold was crossed in the sizes of the structures. Any G-scale backyard railroad is not going to have a building over so many feet high (I don't know which height limit applies here) or 120 SF in floor space. This railroad probably does have structures which hit such limits. Having said that, I hope they can bring this into compliance enough that they can continue to operate their railroad.
