Summary of 2/25/14 Planning Commission Meeting

The Planning Commission meeting took place with approximately 60 people in attendance representing five states, requiring the hallway doors to be opened and additional chairs set up outside the doors. It was announced that there were over 220 emails and letters of support for TM. Most attendees were in support of Train Mountain.

Almost all of the close neighbors spoke in opposition to Train Mountain. The Planning Commission seemed to ignore the opposition as their arguments appeared meritless, and they were dwarfed by the huge number of people in support.

The meeting was a joint meeting, with both the Planning Commissioners and the County Commissioners in attendance. This very efficiently allowed for the witness testimony to be given only once, as both bodies must approve the application.

Individually, all of the commissioners spoke in favor of Train Mountain. A dilemma was created when a last minute eleven page opposition to the TM application from the State of Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development ("DLCD"). DLCD also stated that they could not attend the Tuesday night, February 25, meeting, but were scheduled to meet with Klamath County and Train Mountain on Wednesday, February 26.  This pretty much told us that no decision would be made at the February 25 meeting.

There was much discussion by the Planning Commission dealing with how they wanted to approve the TM application, but arguing over how to do it legally so that it did not violate any other Oregon statutes. In the end, the Planning Commission voted to continue the matter for one month to March 25.

The issue was the then turned over to the County Commissioners for their decision. There were two of the three commissioners in attendance, both of whom spoke in favor of Train Mountain. They also wanted to do this in a manner that would stand up to Oregon state law. One of the commissioners stated that DLCD was wrong in their reading of state law and that the TM application conformed to state law, but they needed to wait until after the February 26 meeting before proceeding. The County Commissioners then tabled the matter then scheduled it to be taken off the table on March 25, citing that Roberts Rules of Order required Tabling rather than Continuing.

Train Mountain wants to thank all those that wrote emails and attended the meeting. It will not be necessary for the long distance out of state supporters to attend the March 25 meeting unless they want to attend, but we would like to have all the locals attend that meeting. We will let you know if any additional emails or other support is needed as this progresses.