I served on the Wheeler Planning Commission in the past and feel that I am somewhat knowledgeable about our zoning and ordinances. Here are a couple of thoughts I would ask you to please consider. A huge part of the Mayor, City Council, and Planning Commissions’ job is to limit our town’s “litigation risk.” The reason for that should be obvious, but to state the obvious, our small town doesn’t have a lot of extra money to spend on lawyers (like thousand of small towns across this Country). How do you limit litigation risk? You simply follow the laws. Every city has rules, zoning, ordinances, etc. These are important so that one person doesn’t get to do something that someone else can’t. It’s simply about fairness and should help to prevent discrimination. The best local government is able to work “magic” by negotiating and tweaking development to best fit their town and the property owner’s “vision.” It is all about working toward that “win-win” scenario. You don’t have to view someone’s desire to build on their property as an attack on your town, or that they must be some kind of monster for wanting something different from you.
Wheeler is being sued because the developer feels that the City Council didn’t follow the law. Please think of the situation this way, What if the developer was a racial minority? African American, Latino/Latina, Arab, you pick… And people in town said, “we don’t think what you are wanting to do fits with our ‘vision’ for this town… and, it messes up the view for some of us and we don’t want more traffic (even though our town has a major Hwy running through it).” That is called discrimination and Wheeler could, and is, being sued for it. Or lets say two members on the City Council have a vested interest in protecting the two lodging businesses in town. They should recuse themselves from voting on a new proposed lodging business right? Well they didn’t. It “appears” that their sole purpose of getting on the City Council was to stop this potential motel from being built. It was a threat to their (or their partners) business interests. How can someone who owns a motel on the waterfront vote to deny someone else from building a motel on the waterfront? How was this allowed to happen? Honestly, it is baffling to me. What can happen if City Councilors are allowed to vote when they should have been told to recuse themselves? You get sued. Some would call this behavior corruption hidden under a veil of protecting “our vision.”
That’s why cities have laws that govern development. To prevent discrimination and corruption. It also helps you from getting sued and going bankrupt. That is why it is crucial to have educated and unbiased people serve as Mayor or on the City Council. You should not run for city government because you have a personal agenda, or because you want to stop your neighbor from developing their property because of their race, political affiliation, gender, etc. or because it might compete with your business or would interfere with your view. That’s the law, sorry if you don’t like it. You can talk Wheeler’s Vision document all day long but what matters are the zoning laws and ordinances. By-the-way that vision document was created by taking input from an unscientific survey of Wheeler residents. “What do you like and don’t like about Wheeler?” It was a simple barometer of how people were feeling a very long time ago (20 years ago?). It was/is imperfect. When I was on the Planning Commission I pointed out that not a single question related to children or their families living in Wheeler. The survey questions were clearly formed by a group of people in an older demographic. Yes, Wheeler has a lot of retirees. There is nothing wrong with that, but please realize that the survey had significant limitations and was intended to simply help form the Wheeler “Vision Statement.” The Vision Statement is intended to be one, of many things that help when writing the town’s Comprehensive Plan, Ordinances, and Zoning. The Vision Statement is not a legal document that you can cherry pick to discriminate against someone wanting to develop. A town has to follow land use laws or run the risk of getting sued. Yes, sometimes you will follow the rules and still get sued, but that is not the case here, unfortunately. We have a couple of biased City Councilors who voted, multiple times, who should have recused themselves. And, we have a City Council that didn’t follow the law. I believe that some of these people had good intentions, but at the end of the day, what matters is your ability to be knowledgeable and follow the law. Those are the facts, if you like them or not. LUBA has said as much and keeps sending the issue back to the town to fix it, but that hasn’t happened. If you don’t want anyone to use the Wheeler Waterfront, you have to change the zoning, you can’t just wave your finger and say “no, no, no.” You should be happy that we have laws to prevent anyone from picking and choosing who gets to live here or have a business here. It protects us from racism, corruption, nepotism, graft, etc.
All of this is why I am voting for Dave Bell and Mary Leverette. Lets please get back to responsible governing. On a side note, I know Dave Bell and he is simply an amazing person. You won’t find anyone more thoughtful, honorable, etc. An absolutely top notch person.
For those that are upset about Wheeler changing or their view being disturbed, be careful what you wish for. If Wheeler is bankrupted by this lawsuit we will become an unincorporated community in Tillamook County. We will thus fall under their development rules. They will follow the law, as they should, and approve appropriate development of the Wheeler waterfront (if you like it or not). They will also allow short-term rentals, as is allowed in all other unincorporated parts of Tillamook County. Are you or the City Council willing to pay the judgement if we lose? Very doubtful…
Lets please return to responsible governance and focus on what is important. Top of the list, saving The Roost!
Regards,
Brent Anctil (yes, I am proud to give my name and stand by what I say, no hiding here)
Wheeler, Oregon