Many of us support county’s current Comprehensive Plan

Posted

I have lived in rural Clark County for more than 50 years, and have operated a farm for most of those years. I am chair of our neighborhood association and I have been involved in protecting rural lands since the 1980s.

Over the years I have seen some individuals falsely claim the banner of private property rights in order to achieve financial gain. When properties surrounding me were divided into 5-acre lots, I lost one of my wells.

I take issue with the claim that Clark County Citizens United (CCCU) represents the views of the rural landowners. Most rural landowners I know have never heard of this group and many reject the group’s primary goal of segregating the rural area into 1- and 2.5-acre development parcels – prime for McMansions and not farming or timber harvest. CCCU only represents a handful of residents who want to divide their properties into smaller and smaller parcels resulting in adverse impacts on their neighbors who want to continue to work with the land in the rural and resource areas.

According to the assessor’s office, the Alternative 4 trumpeted by CCCU would make legal and buildable lots out of illegally created lots and other segregated lots created in contravention of current zoning after the passage of our county’s growth management plan. Thus, CCCU’s proposal would reward those who acted outside of the law with financial gain and raise the taxes of neighbors.

I, and many others, support our current Comprehensive Plan that has been developed over two decades with the input from hundreds of individuals, reviewed and affirmed by several different boards of county commissioners and been affirmed and ratified by the courts and hearings boards.



Our rural residents should reject the premise of any special interest individual who seek the arbitrary carving up of the rural and resource lands, with site specific zoning which rewards those who have chosen not to follow our laws regarding the creation of legal lots.

Instead of allowing unconstrained land divisions that harm our rural way of life and threaten our environment, I will continue to work with Friends of Clark County and work with farmers, local food advocates and rural people who prize quality of life over using property in a manner that will shred the fabric that weaves rural landowners together.

Valerie Alexander

La Center