HomeMy WebLinkAboutFee Waiver RequestFee Waiver Request
Deschutes County Special Road District #1
David B. Ogden, Commissioner
Conditional Use Permit — Fill & Removal in a Wetlands
Fee - $1:665.00
The land use permit will be to review an application involving the placement of fill
in a wetlands necessary to re -construct a bridge. The work was done by the road
district without prior permits.
Background information from the applicant:
Tom Anderson, Director June 10th, 2009
Community Development Dept.
117 NW Lafayette
Bend, Or. 97701
Tom,
I have initiated the long awaited process of the Application for a Conditional Use Permit for the
emergency procedures we took to rectify the failed bridge on Island loop Way. I know that you are
current of the situation, but for formalities' sake permit me to recap the highlights as they are
germane to my request for relief from the Permit fees. Firstly, as stated in my introduction, this
was an emergency procedure and it was intended to reconnect that group of residents with
necessary services. The situation first came to my attention when our district manager, Rod Millet
informed me that the bridge was inadequate to support the weight of our district trucks and
graders essential in maintaining the roads within the cul de sac. I immediately contacted the Fire
Marshal for La Pine, Chief Gustafson, to inspect the bridge for usage by the fire department in the
event of either a fire or medical emergency, and he informed me that his department would
consider the bridge failed, and that they would not drive a fire truck nor an ambulance across the
bridge. I sent off a letter to the residents immediately, and requested a meeting of the County
Road staff to assist me in evaluating a solution.
The first recommended bridge design both exceeded our needs and our budget, but together we
thought the idea of a culvert would solve the problem. For my purposes of fixing the problem in
order to re- supply services to those residents, this seemed a swimmingly good solution in both
affordability and speed. Here, of course, is where I deviated from protocol by proceeding without
securing the appropriate permits, but I won't beleaguer that point. We installed the culvert and
completed the fill, and that in fact exceeded the maximum of 50 cubic yards, (the total being 61),
and is where I ran afoul of the Department of State Lands. We have since come to an agreement,
that you will see soon probably, that involves some stream mitigation work this fall.
I have also secured the services of W & H Pacific for completion of the permitting process, and it
is here that I wish to extend my request for relief from the permit fees. Together with the
construction and filing costs, our district is now North of eight thousand dollars in expenses for a
project that falls outside the scope of our usual work. These costs ignore the hundred plus hours
of my time contributed to this process, but you get what you pay for here.
Tom, any effort or attention that you could give to my request will be greatly appreciated.
Respectfully yours,
David B. Ogden,
Commissioner, Special Road District #1
Deschutes County
From David & Joan Ogden Date Tuesday, June 02, 2009 6:00:10 PM
To Tom Anderson
Cc
Subject RE: Fee Waiver Request
Tom,
Firstly, let me thank you for your patience with this matter. John and Will
also seemed to understand that the other agencies would take time to get
things lined up, and they never really pressed me on the time factor, so I
appreciate that, too.
As to my request for a fee waiver, I almost feel sheepish asking for it, but
let me recap my position on it. This was not a project that we undertook for
furthering our interests. We did not budget for it and we were impacted by
the construction costs to the tune of over $6,000.00, if my memory serves
me. I do feel I have explained my actions where I did not contact Community
Development or the Department of State Lands, (although we have been
requested to perform some stream mitigation work), we have avoided any fines
to date. I think the parties affected by this have accepted that this was an
emergency removal of the condemned bridge, and our subsequent choice to
remedy the desperation of the access to the cul-de-sac with the culvert
installation was all in reaction to the obvious.
Ted Wise of the ODFW has stated that he doesn't have any concerns with the
direction we took, and Bethany Harrington of the DSL is the party that has
made the request for the stream mitigation work as part and parcel to the
fact that our earthen deposits exceeded the 50 yard maximum restriction for
work near wetlands, (albeit by 10 yards or so).
After all the years that I have been in construction, I simply can not
explain how it is that I overlooked seeking a permit for this work, and can
only say that somewhere between putting the County Road Department's "boots
on the ground" and feeling really good about myself for having found a
relatively cheap fix for bad situation, I think I just got a little ahead of
the situation.
Thank you for any help you may lend to making the case before the County
Commissioners, and if you deem it beneficial that I attend the work session
to present the matter myself, I would be more than happy to do just that.
Respectfully yours,
David B. Ogden
Commissioner, Special Road District #1
Deschutes County
(541) 593-2027
