2025-02-05 Jim McMahon Testimony

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roads will be used it is anticipated that based on pass use that the proposed uses will add significant burden to the already overburdened property owners along Indian Tree Road (See Access section below for more details). This single lane private road cannot safely handle regular use by large heavy vehicles nor the high volume of vehicles resulting from these new uses. Consequently, the property owners overwhich this road passes will be impacted by damage to the road itself and the surrounding lands. There will also be significant noise, dust, vibration, impacts to farm operations, and possible liability exposure. Widening of this road to 2 lanes along with other improvements should be a condition of this permit along with a road maintenance agreement. Otherwise, the landowners rather than the major road users will have to carry most of this burden. The proposed remedies by the Planning Director such as an annual $5000 road repair fund falls way short of the required amount. It should be noted that many other special permit applications in the past such as retreat and event centers have been denied because it was determined that they would overly burden the roads (public or private) in the area. While most of the impacts to the surrounding area are traffic related, noise from the all-night long music events and smoke from the campfires and other burning are also significant impacts to the surrounding area. These impacts will certainly make this area less desirable to live in and make it more difficult to farm the land and thus will negatively affect property values. It should also be noted that having to deal with the frequent unpermitted uses in our neighborhood and then having to respond when attempts are made to legitimize these uses through the special permit process is itself a burden. Should either of these proposed uses be approved given the modest prerequisite condition imposed by the Director, we would expect there will be additional special use permit requests of a similar nature from other users of our road. We therefore would like to see a higher threshold of standards applied to these applications along with real enforcement of the conditions such that the burden on the landowners is reduced. For example, for this project it is very likely that we will have to spend significant resources (time and money) in a contested case situation. When we bought our farm in the middle of an Ag-zoned area we expected to have to deal with the normal burdens normally associated with farm activities. We did not expect to have to deal with so many attempts to change the surrounding land uses through the special permit process or via other means.The ongoing uncertainty with the future surrounding land uses makes it challenging to make long term plans for our farm. 9. According to the criteria Section 6-3(b)(5) (C), Such use shall not unreasonably burden public agencies to provide roads and streets, sewers, water, drainage, school improvements, and police and fire protection. This is partially true and only because much of the road burden will be carried by the surrounding landowners.