For The Greater Good - Tom Landis, Camp Sherman

Dear Senator Westlund,

It was great sadness that I watched Senate Bill 30 be so watered down in committee that the original purpose of the bill was completely reversed. Instead of providing the Metolius Basin protection from destination resort development, just the opposite in fact occurred. Under the provisions of the bill as amended, Jefferson County would have carte blanche to give destination resort developers almost anything they want.

I have been intimately involved with the land planning process in the Metolius Basin/Camp Sherman region for the last 15 years. If one thing is clearest to me, it is that Jefferson County has more concern for the tax revenues they can gain from development than they do for the outstandingly unique natural values of the area. This area desperately needs state protection from the special interests that would drive development at the county level, where dollars speak much more loudly than anything else. This is one of those times when the onus of planning simply must be taken away from local government for the greater good of the citizens of Oregon.

I urge you in the strongest terms to strip from SB 30 the amendment which turns its original protections into, simply, an invitation to developers. Return the bill to its original form and intent, which protects the Metolius River Basin and lands adjacent from destination resort development.

Yours very sincerely,
Thomas Landis
Camp Sherman, OR