2009-12-04 TMALA MOHALA - Laserfiche WebLink

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One of these associations is the Association of Experiential Education. And actually Ms. Zelko pointed out that a friend sent one of their children to an outfit in Oregon doing a similar program. And I, probably that program is run by Katherine Freer who is actually quite a proponent of regulations of this industry. In fact, she does quite a bit of self-regulations; and I’ve included a copy of the front page of her website in my packet that I submitted. In that same website she lists a number of organizations that do, not really regulate but they guide these types of programs to essentially be safe, be properly licensed, be properly regulated. It’s a must. You’re dealing with minors. And, to be honest, the proof from their past which is how generally things are judged, it doesn’t show a very shining example of how they operate and I don’t see how they can operate very well in the future without some pretty strict requirements from the Commission. So, anyway, there’s also information, printout from the Bureau of Land Management, cause a lot of these types of programs are run on Federal lands. Well, the Bureau of Land Management has recognized that there’s an issue with safety and any states that do not have licensing requirements are not allowed to operate this type of operation on Federal land. The Outdoor Behaviour Health Research, Healthcare Research Coop also states that these types of operations need to gain permits for operating on any private, public or, private or public land in order to operate on their land because of potential risks. Now that would be a self-regulating thing because, I mean, they’re in a van, they could drive just about anywhere. But, anyway, the licensing thing I think is more in your deal, you know, to make sure that they’re properly regulated. More what I really think is the fact that this is not only an unusual use of agriculture land, it’s an unreasonable use. They’re going to impact the area, it’s in no way similar as they claim to the surrounding land. They’re talking about putting a bunch of people on the property which they already did. They’ve proven that they’re essentially unwilling to follow the recommendations of the Commission as well as basic law. And, as a business person myself, I know I have to follow the rules, at least appear to follow the rules. And they don’t, they haven’t even made that appearance, which I find pretty disconcerting. One of the main things, I’ll try to make it short, I just, there are a lot of issues that I have with this organization and with their operation. So I’ll just try to go down the list as quickly as I can. The thing I mentioned at the last Commission meeting was that their water needs to be a certified drinking water system. Well, in researching this, they need to register with the Department of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch, as a nontransient/noncommunity water system. They have to have certified water. If there’s more than 25 people drinking that water regularly, they have to. They also, yes, they’ve applied for a permit for the Shirakawa Hotel but they’ve operated for five years without one. They’ve operated for five years up on the Ag land without one. The other, one of the other things I wanted to mention at the last meeting, it came up that the County Building Department actually allows two structures on an Ag zoned property. That’s correct. They allow one residence and they allow one farm dwelling. A farm dwelling, however, is, actually has to meet certain requirements. In other words you have to have employees which are housed in a farm unit. Well, employees of an agricultural operation are 9 EXHIBIT B