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Court may hold Measure 7�s fate Suit involving Jacksonville, county may hinge on McCall�s challenge By Melissa Martin JACKSONVILLE � City and county officials hope a federal judge will dismiss a $50 million lawsuit filed by an aggregate company in what may be the state�s first Measure 7 case. "There�s a great hope it will be thrown out," said Paul Wyntergreen, Jacksonville city administrator. The U.S. District Court may watch the results of a constitutional challenge filed this week by Measure 7 foe Audrey McCall, wife of the late Gov. Tom McCall, who campaigned for Oregon�s land-use planning law passed by the Legislature in 1973. If Measure 7 is thrown out, the $50 million lawsuit filed Nov. 17 against the county and city might be too, said Steve Rinkle, senior assistant county counsel. The newly approved ballot measure requires state and local governments to compensate landowners when regulations reduce property values. It is to take effect Thursday. "In the county�s mind, Measure 7 isn�t even law yet � it doesn�t go into effect until next week at the earliest � and it also depends on the constitutional challenge," Rinkle said. Bob Robertson, a Medford attorney and a partner in Jackson Creek Sand Co., named in the lawsuit Jackson County, the city of Jacksonville, Wyntergreen, Mayor Jim Lewis and Jacksonville council members Doris Crofoot, Donna Schatz, Bill Leep, Joyce Coleman, Dean Paddison and John Dodero. Crofoot and Schatz expressed concern this week because this was the first time they had been named in a lawsuit. But city officials said state law protects them. "In some circumstances, city councilors enjoy immunity from a lawsuit, if they are acting in their capacity as city councilors," said Jens Schmidt of the law firm Harrang, Long, Gary, Rudnick of Eugene, which was hired by Jacksonville�s insurance company for the lawsuit. "If a city councilor is not in a City Council session but out on the street and does something that�s not in connection with his or her duties, they won�t be cloaked by immunity," Schmidt said Thursday. "But as long as actions are taken in context of their legislative capacity, they typically enjoy immunity." City officials said they are not concerned by the lawsuit�s claim of $50 million, a figure Robertson said he calculated by estimating the value of the land, plus the hard rock that could be extracted and sold from the 150-acre site on Reservoir Road. "Values are irrelevant," Wyntergreen said. "It comes down to the issue of the merit of even filing the lawsuit." The case has become a tangled web of legal challenges. It began last summer, when Jackson County planning staff approved Jackson Creek Sand Co.�s conditional use permit to mine 18 million tons of aggregate from the old Opp Mine, owned by Bernadine Wynnyk, a resident of Kelowna, British Columbia. The city of Jacksonville appealed the county�s decision because exiting gravel trucks would travel down the middle of this historic town. The case went before Jackson County Hearings Officer John Eads. Eads listened to testimony in public hearings in August and November. He is expected to make a decision by the end of next week, either upholding the staff approval, changing or adding conditions, denying the plan or ruling that the county shouldn�t have accepted a new application for the same project before a 12-month waiting period was up. The city of Jacksonville asked Eads to decide before Thursday, the day that Measure 7 takes effect, or before Dec. 11, which marks the last of 120 days that Jackson County has to rule on the aggregate application. The old Opp Mine is one of several aggregate sites on hillsides just outside the city limits. Another controversial mining area is located on nearby Pair-A-Dice Ranch Road. Gravel trucks from the Pair-A-Dice Ranch Road pits exit from the mines and travel down city streets. Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.