``This is what California used to look like,'' says Steve Bennett with an anxious sigh, looking down upon the Ojai Valley spread before him. Meaning this is everything that the teeming megalopolis Los Angeles, 60 miles to the southeast, is not. ``And we want to keep it this way,'' he said.

Earlier this month, Bennett and his allies succeeded in winning voter approval for the most revolutionary slow-growth measures ever passed in Southern California, a region of explosive suburban development whose look, feel and very culture almost define the concepts of ``car co-dependent'' and ``sprawl.''

On Election Day, the citizens of Ventura County gave resounding support for a handful of city and county initiatives that created "urban growth boundaries'' around the county's major and smaller cities. At the same time, the measures took power away from the county board of supervisors, declaring that agricultural and rural lands outside city perimeters cannot be rezoned for development until the year 2020 without approval from the voters.

In Southern California, the derailment of suburban sprawl is unprecedented on such a large scale. But the decisions here are part of a nascent national trend by states, counties and cities to slow the growth machine and protect large swaths of green and open space in an attempt to divide the landscape clearly between urban and rural - making it look more like Europe and less like the 610 Loop around Houston.

"The party is over for tract housing development,'' said Larry Bohlen, co-chairman of the Sierra Club's national anti-sprawl efforts. Bohlen may be overreaching, but some 200 state and local sprawl initiatives were on the November ballot. The majority passed, including a vote in New Jersey to spend $1 billion to protect farms and forests, about half of all the state's undeveloped lands.

The fear that suburban America is becoming one giant Los Angeles is certainly motivating many citizens who themselves live in tract developments. And anything embraced by suburban voters - the soccer moms and dads who can swing elections between the parties - is like catnip to politicians, some of whom see sprawl as the Next Big Thing, as issues go. Meaning: It's the bike paths, stupid.

Vice President Gore and his aides have been floating the idea that the federal government - and the next president - can do much to curb the march of mini-malls, though what exactly Washington can do with such intensely local affairs is unclear. The federal tax code and use of money allocated to transportation provide one avenue.

But if the grand experiment here in Ventura County illustrates anything, it is this: The anti-sprawl measures are popular because they are largely an end run around professional politicians - local and national - and their timeless need to compromise, especially when it may benefit financial contributors in the housing and construction industries. Source: Register Guard, November 29, 1998, by William Booth, The Washington Post.

But analysts said the pace is unlikely to continue as the effects of an Asia-induced slowdown in economic growth are felt over the next few years. Oregon's population growth for 1998-99 is projected at 1.5%. Kanhaiya Vaidya, a state demographer, said 79% of the most recent growth occurred in four urban areas of the state -- Salem, Eugene, Portland and Medford -- and 61% in the upper Willamette Valley around Portland.

He said that reflects a growing imbalance of urban over rural population, as the four urban areas now have 71% of the state's population, and the upper Willamette Valley has 54%. "It indicates population growth is associated with job growth in the state," Vaidya said. Source: Register Guard, November 24, 1998, by The Associated Press.

The $672 transportation impact fee charged for each new dwelling in Eugene does not cover the full cost of providing or enhancing the transportation facilities around the subdivision, according to Fodor's study. He estimated the full transportation impact cost to be $4,430 per new home. To make up for the shortfall, local governments are forced to raise taxes, increase municipal debt by issuing general obligation bonds, defer maintenance of other public facilities or reduce public services, he said.

Another cost of growth, Fodor said, is "infrastructure deficit," which results when communities fall behind on providing new and expanded facilities to accommodate growth. The result, he said, is overcrowded schools, congested roads and undersized sewage treatment plants. "The situation is that taxpayers are subsidizing the majority of these costs when the primary beneficiary is the development," Fodor said. "So it makes sense that most, if not all, of these costs should fall on the development."

The study, funded through grants from land use watchdog groups 1000 Friends of Oregon and Friends of Eugene, urges state and local governments to begin conducting a fiscal impact analysis for major projects to identify the costs and benefits to cities and taxpayers. Fodor found that because cities do not account for all these costs, growth tends to increase overall taxes. "An impact analysis would give the city and the public an idea of the cost impacts on the local treasury," Fodor said. "So it really becomes a taxpayer impact analysis." Source: Register Guard, November 24, 1998, by Joe Harwood.
Also see: link to Fodor's Report

Because LUBA agreed with the local group on one issue -that the city didn't properly assess whether it could handle sewage from the proposed 127,000 square foot store -- the project was remanded to the city for further work.

That decision pleased members of the citizens group, but they decided to carry the fight to the Court to of Appeals on two other issues. "We think the LUBA decision did not correctly address two of our major concerns about the design -- traffic and the storm-water disposal system," said Zane Ziemer, president of Citizens For Florence.

The citizens group's appeal contends that the city failed to ensure the planned store meets a state requirement for "safe and efficient" access by vehicles and pedestrians. The appeal also argues that proposed storm-water drainage system fails to meet standards in the city zoning code.

William Sherlock attorney for the citizens group, said it will likely take three to four months for a court decision on the traffic and storm-water issues. The appeal effectively puts a hold on the sewage issue that was remanded to the city, Sherlock said. Until the court rules, he said, the city will be unable to resubmit its work on the sewage issue for LUBA approval. Source: Register Guard, November 23, 1998, by Larry Bacon.

"I would have an easier time accepting it if there were a need for this mall," Catherine said. "But with less than an hour's drive from here there are 40 malls. What's the point of destroying the environment and creating permanent traffic congestion so we can have exactly the same stores with exactly the same merchandise right next to each other?"

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, there are already 20 square feet of retail space for every person in the United States. Malls have become the primary centers of family entertainment. The mall in Catherine's neighborhood contains an amphitheater, an ice skating rink, numerous waterfalls, 22 movie screens and a Ferris wheel. According to Richard Rodgers, a marketing professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, malls are "the Main Streets of the 21st century."

What an unsettling thought. Is this really what families and communities want? Or have we been bulldozed into thinking that these commercial enterprises are what we need? I know many people share my idea of real entertainment: a quiet walk with their kids on a sandy beach, watching the sunset form an untamed hill, sitting beside a quiet pond. The people I hear from are interested in lifestyles that revolve less around consumerism and more around relationships, nature and time with their families. They want to preserve the essential beauty of America, and they'd love to be able to protect the environment against the steamrollers of urban sprawl.

Though it's too late to stop the development of this mall, Catherine and a group of like-minded friends and neighbors decided to do something about limiting future malls. They called and wrote their city and county planners to let them know how they felt about having more malls: that they have enough already, and enough is enough.

However, they don't delude themselves that City Hall will necessarily listen to them. Even if Catherine and her friends pooled all their resources, they couldn't match the pocket-lining funds that mall developers have available for planners and politicians who make these commercial development decisions, often unbeknownst to their constituents. So they've made a commitment to also vote with their feet by staying out of the malls and taking their walks on nature trails instead. If enough of us vote this way, we could make a difference. Reprint from Los Angeles Times, by Elaine St. James.

"Almost lost in last week's election results was an unmistakable mandate for elected officials to deal with an issue that affects everyone: unmanaged growth, better known as sprawl. Given the opportunity to express their views on some 200 state and local ballot mreasures related to sprawl, voters delivered an overwhelming and bipartisan 'yes' to quality-of-life measures ... It is clear from these results that Americans are increasingly fed up with traffic congestion, strip malls, visual blight and loss of open space." Source: Register Guard, November 18, 1998.

Mumpower notified the police at 1:41 p.m. It was discovered by workers at the pump station, Lanfear said. "It wasn't the normal color of raw sewage, so we reported it to police," he said. Lanfear said samples were taken to determine the makeup of the green substance.

Lanfear said he doesn't know whether the dumping into the city's system was the result of vandalism or carelessness. Thursday's discovery is the third reported incident in the past four months. An illegal dump of an alkaline material on Oct. 15 killed off many microorganisms used in treating sewage and upset the treatment process. A similar material was dumped into the system on July 21, causing a 213,000 gallon spill of partially treated sewage into the Siuslaw River.

Lanfear said the dumping of any material in the sewer that would cause a spill is a violation of the federal Clean Water Act. He said the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is notified about all incidents and the departments notifies other agencies when appropriate. "It is a federal and state crime and if someone is caught, we will proceed with legal prosecution," he said. Source: Coos Bay World Newspaper, November 17, 1998, by Paul Noel.

Also see: CFF Offers Reward

The violation could have brought up to a $2,000 fine and the requirement to pay more than $9,000 in restitution for the cost of the project, Priest said. The complaint was filed against Parent on Aug. 13 by former mayor Phil Lapin, who alleged Parent used his position on the council to have drainage improvements done to benefit his property. Priest said the commission voted to move forward with an investigation into the allegations and is scheduled on Nov. 19 to decide whether to accept a final settlement with Parent. Current Mayor Rob Ward said the complaint was filed a year after Parent resigned from the council. He said he thinks the complaint was part of a longtime feud between Lapin and Parent. "It's almost like the Hatfields and McCoys," he said.

Parent was reportedly out of the state and could not be reached for comment. He was the councilor assigned to the city's Road Committee when the committee recommended to the council to seek bids to repair storm drainage problems caused by the construction of Ocean Boulevard next to Parent's home and business. According to the investigation, the road prevented a natural runoff of water from Parent's property.

Ward said the mistake occurred when Parent, who abstained from conversations on the contracts and easements for the project, made the motion and voted to accept the lowest bid for the work. "He should have abstained," Ward said. "But the decision to do the project had already been made at that time." Ward said he also felt partly responsible for not catching the mistake. "Dick was acting in good faith with the city and it was probably an oversight on my part, too," he said. The council is obligated to pay for the defense of councilors accused of ethics violations, but is not mandated to pay fines levied against councilors. Ward said if Parent requests the city to pay the fine, it would have to check with its attorney before deciding.

Lapin said he felt there was a serious question of whether the new road caused the drainage problem and how the $9,000 project benefited Parent's property. "The job was not needed to that extent," he said. "I felt the road didn't create all those problems." He said the city had placed rock along an area where Parent had previously complained about the effect of runoff and never heard any further complaints until Parent was elected to the council.

Ward said he thinks Lapin complained because Parent brought an ethics complaint against two city councilors when Lapin was mayor. The charges were later dismissed. Lapin disagreed, saying he felt something was done wrong and the commission confirm(ation)ed proved that. Source: Coos Bay World, November 14, 1998, by Paul Noel.

He thinks keeping a close involvement with the community had contributed to his success. He said he stayed at the department longer than the average tenure of a police chief because of his desire to get things done and help people. "I like to help people," Mathieson said. "My job is not to just enforce laws and throw bad people in jail. My job is to help people."

Mathieson has also gone beyond the responsibilities of a police chief to help people in the community. He was elected to the Siuslaw Public Library Board of Directors for years ago and is the current president of the board. He also served as the president of the Florence Kiwanis Club.

Retirement won't stop Mathieson's characteristic of being involved and meeting people. He said he plans to travel the country with his wife, Pat, and visit friends and family along the way. "Eventually, we will settle down, but now it's time for us to smell the roses and see the country," he said. "There's a lot of beautiful country and a lot of nice, nice people to meet."

City Manager Ken Hobson said Mathieson will be hard to replace and is happy that he will remain as chief long enough to help in the hiring process. "Chris is very well liked in this community," Hobson said. "He is always well-received and respected. He will be missed here in Florence, there's no doubt about that."

Mayor Roger McCorkle said Mathieson has been an asset to the community. "He brought a lot of experience and intelligence and talent to the position," McCorkle said. "He isn't a chief that just sits in his office and runs the department. He has always been involved with the community."

Mathieson started his law enforcement career in 1958 at the age of 21. He was an officer for five years in Oxnard, Calif., and moved on to the California Highway Patrol where he worked for 13 years before taking an early retirement on a medical disability for diabetes. "When I retired, I wasn't even interested in working in law enforcement again," Mathieson said. He took a job at a bank in the installment loan and collections department in Trinity County, Calif., and was approached by the sheriff who offered him a position. "I told him I didn't want to work in law enforcement and he asked me to work for him long enough to get the dispatch center together," Mathieson said.

The temporary position stretched out several years and in that time Mathieson worked his way up to third in line in the department before leaving in 1980 to work as chief of police in Devils Lake in North Dakota, his home state. In 1987, he left the 30-below weather of North Dakota and moved to Florence.

He said he prefers the small towns to the metropolitan areas. "One thing about working in a small town is you get to know the people," he said. "You get to know them quicker and better." Mathieson's ability to get to know the community helped in winning voter support to fund a new Justice Center that houses the department and courts. "I'm really indebted to the people in this town who gave us this Justice Center," he said.

The center has been open for about a year and a half. Mathieson said the building's construction kept him in his position a little longer than he anticipated. "I wanted to see this thing completed," he said. "I wanted to see it up and running."

The city will begin advertising Mathieson's position in about a week. Applicants will be interviewed by Mathieson and a panel of police chiefs from other communities. Mathieson said we will miss the job and his co-workers. "I think I have a good department with integrity and honest(y) and compassion," he said. "If that's what I will leave behind me, I think it will make me feel pretty good." Source: Coos Bay World, November 14, 1998, by Paul Noel.

In five cities that already required such votes, annexation proposals were approved. Philomath voters approved seven land annexations, four were approved in McMinnville, Sherwood approved three, and Newberg approved two. And Bend voters took the biggest gulp, bringing 10 square miles and 12,000 people inside the city limits.

Results show that voters want more say about land decisions but that gaining approval of annexations is not that difficult when voters have the choice, according to the voter-annexation movements most prominent member.

Jeff Lamb of Philomath, chairman of Oregon Communities for a Voice in Annexations, said Tuesdays results debunk a primary argument against his groups efforts: that requiring voter approval will stop or dramatically slow growth. "The argument that home builders and Realtors are making, that this is only a tool to stop growth, has no validity, Lamb said. Sure, if its a big subdivision and the developer doesn't have infrastructure, people will vote no."But if its a small or medium-sized development, they typically end up getting approved, and the community gets a better product because the developer has to run a PR campaign. Maybe they throw a park in.

Jon Chandler, director of governmental affairs for the Oregon Building Industry Association, said he isn't sure what to make of the election results. I don't know was Chandlers first take on the elections meaning.

Chandler says he doesn't know because he hasn't analyzed each proposed annexation and its size, and he also hasn't tried to determine whether an annexation was kept from the ballot because it might not have been approved. In any case, he said, builders still oppose putting annexation decisions to a vote because voters are not required to apply any criteria to their decision-making. "The fact that all these annexations are passing doesn't make this procedure a good one, Chandler said. Its like no harm, no foul.

Having come to what he called a grudging recognition of the voters desire to be heard on annexations, Chandler said builders are looking for other ways, including legal action, to get their point across. Chandler said builders also are considering possible legislation next year, but he ruled out any kind of head-on bill prohibiting any more Oregon cities from requiring voter approval of annexations, which failed in 1997.

The voter-annexation movement reflects residents frustration that elected officials have been leaving them out of the planning process, said Robert Liberty, executive director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, the land-use watchdog group. He said the movement also had helped force a healthy discussion of growth costs, such as extending sewer and water lines or building roads and new schools.

Lamb said residents of as many as two dozen Oregon cities are working to qualify similar charter amendments for votes next year. They are people such as Jack Sloan of Monmouth, who watched the City Council annex 89 acres the same September night his group found out it would be on Tuesday's ballot. "We wanted a say, Sloan said, and it seemed like a pretty tightly scripted process. Source: Oregonian, November 7, 1998, by Alex Pulaski.

Major illustrated the problem to councilors using photos showing smoke emerging from the ground, ditches and other locations where the piping leaks. In some circumstances, smoke wafted from tree stumps where roots had grown into the system. "Smoke coming out of the ground means that when it rains, water is getting into the system," Major said. As a result, the city winds up treating rain water along with its waste, leading to higher treatment bills and requiring a bigger facility to deal with the extra water.

While the city will need to budget to take care of leaks on public property, homeowners will need to pay their own bills for the piping on their land. City Manager Bud Schmidt suggested the council take people's financial concerns into account while fixing the piping. Major said fixing the problem leaks will be extremely cost-effective for the city because there will be a direct link between the amount of sewage treated and how much money the city spends. "Because flows increase after the rains," Major said, "the majority of the increase is coming because of the leaks."

Mayor Ranelle Allen Morris, said she would rather wait until the conclusion of another already scheduled test before alerting homeowners. "I would hate to send a letter asking someone to do something and then wait a few months later and ask again," Morris said. In a final report, Major said he will prioritize which portions of the piping should be upgraded first. Source: Coos Bay World, November 3, 1998, by Andrew Sirocchi.

The proposed store would generate an estimated 8,000 gallons of sewage a day, the equivalent of sewage produced by 25 to 30 homes. Before developments can be approved, the city zoning code requires that utilities be able to handle the increased demands. But Florence officials only found that the 127,000-square-foot store would not “overload” the sewage system.

The Land Use Board of Appeals agreed with the appellant -- the Citizens For Florence -- that “not overloading” isn’t the same as having sufficient capacity. Fred Meyer spokeswoman Marilyn Coffel said Monday that the company’s attorney sees the ruling as merely a temporary roadblock. She said the city apparently can overcome the problem by submitting rewritten findings to LUBA. “It’s a matter of definition (of capacity),” Coffel said, “That’s my understanding.”

But William Sherlock, attorney for the citizens’ group, said gaining state approval could be far more difficult. “Until the city’s sewage treatment plant improvements and expansion are complete, I just don’t see that Fred Meyer can meet the standard,” he said. “LUBA clearly saw the city has very serious problems in dealing with its sewage.”

City officials have acknowledged that since 1994, there have been numerous bypasses and spills of raw sewage during heavy rainstorms. An environmental group has filed a lawsuit calling for a moratorium on new sewer hookups until a treatment plant expansion is completed, and the matter is now before a federal judge. The new plant is expected to go on line in the summer of 2000.

Sewage treatment was also an issue in a recent decision by the state land use board, delaying construction of a factory outlet mall. That project also was appealed by Citizens For Florence.

After a cursory review of the state board’s decision, City Planner Jim Mulder said Monday that he’s unsure whether the Fred Meyer project can proceed without an upgrade of the treatment plant. The impending court ruling may have a direct bearing on the matter, he said.

Both sides in the appeal expressed satisfaction with the LUBA ruling. Sherlock said the citizens group is pleased the matter was sent back to the city. Coffel said she is pleased that Fred Meyer prevailed on four of the five appeals issues raised by the citizens group.

The board rejected claims that the city did not sufficiently address transportation issues, that it didn’t properly consider possible effects on city well fields, that plans for stormwater runoff were inadequate, and that the design process was flawed.

If the board approves the city’s reworked proposal, any future appeals must be directed to the courts. Source: Eugene Register Guard, November 3, 1998, by Larry Bacon.

Also see: CFF Fred Meyer Page