Harloff: Don’t fall for idle rhetoric; let taxpayers decide on trail

##Jane Harloff

About the writer: Jane Harloff of Yamhill is a 28-year resident of Yamhill County. She is employed as an occupational therapist at Hillside’s skilled nursing facility in McMinnville.

It was interesting to me to read the juxtaposition of two perspectives on the Yamhelas Westsider Trail in the March 29 Viewpoints.

On one side, we heard the encouraging views of Radford Bean, a man with science and recreation management degrees, who supported his arguments with facts, examples of successful trail developments elsewhere, and hopeful suggestions for the future. This was rebutted with hyperbole, scary prophecies and half-truths from County Commissioner Mary Starrett.

Looking at the facts, Bean points out how other communities have benefited economically from trail development — Vernonia, Oakridge and Cottage Grove, just to name three in Oregon. He uses facts to show that outdoor recreation contributed $862 billion to the GDP in 2022. And for those who enjoy local trails, we don’t even need studies to tell us how much health and well-being benefit we receive from having access to open spaces.

The Chehalem Park & Recreation District recently released the results of the 2023 survey of community support for parks and trails, showing a whopping 87% of respondents terming trails important to communities and 81% supporting development of more.

This fact-based information was rebutted by Ms. Starrett with highly inflammatory language about “unfunded mandates,” unsubstantiated claims of a referendum “costing upwards of $70,000,” and hyperbole about how a “controversial” trail that “hurts our farmers and conflicts with land use laws.”

For added emphasis, she points to the recent legal liability situation, which came about after one lawsuit in Newport resulted in the city being held liable for an accident to one of its citizens over a fall suffered on a trail. This was, of course, immediately remedied by a two-year legislative relief measure that will undoubtedly be reworked and reissued when it sunsets.

To really fan the flames of fear-mongering, she then states that the trail could eventually be turned into light rail line, and stoking the fire with threats of “violent crime and drug use.”

The fact is that the land on which the trail will be built has never belonged to neighboring farmers. Yamhill County purchased the land from the railroad when it was abandoned. It has always been a transportation right-of-way.

Master planning was just beginning, in good faith, in order to address the concerns of the adjoining property owners and state land use regulations when the commissioners pulled the plug. And recreational trails alongside farmland do not “run afoul of state land use laws,” as demonstrated by trails in Forest Grove, Corvallis, Banks and Vernonia.

If you travel to other parts of the country, you will see miles of rails-to-trails projects abutting farmland — most without fencing or any noticeable farm impact. Ohio, Florida and Michigan have multiple trails abutting vast expanses of farmland.

If you believe Ms. Starrett’s threats of rising taxpayer expense, perhaps you should look into the amount of taxpayer expense that went toward paying back ODOT for the grants received to complete the trail master plan and to build the two bridges – which were underway when she and her cohorts axed the project. Perhaps you should dig into the nepotism of employing a family member as legal counsel for her “unfunded mandate” of turning Yamhill County into a gun sanctuary, or hiring consultants to fix our county’s limited childcare system, then scrapping their recommendations to fund a church childcare center and ultimately denying that entity funding also.

It’s time for residents of Yamhill County to step up to the ballot box and demand our elected officials represent all residents. The current three commissioners should not have the final say on our health and well-being.

Hold the referendum. Let taxpayers decide if a trail is approved by the majority of county constituents.