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RV camp goes back to county planners Zone exceptions trouble board By ALBERTO ENRIQUEZ The Jackson County Board of Commissioners on Monday remanded to the Planning Commission a long-running application for a 117-unit RV campground on Blackwell Road. Laurel Prairie-Kuntz, Jackson County planning director, said the application would not be heard again before January because of previously scheduled hearings. Prairie-Kuntz said commissioners followed the county counsel's recommendation to remand the application because there was not enough evidence to justify an exception to zoning rules. RV campgrounds ordinarily are permitted only as a conditional use on land zoned for exclusive farm use. About half the property is zoned EFU. Commissioners Sue Kupillas and Jack Walker concurred in the remand. Commissioner Ric Holt was on vacation. Developer Joe Rutigliano said he was not surprised by the further delay. "It was our understanding that's the way it would work out because the county ordinance is more restrictive than state law," Rutigliano said. "We'd submitted material on exceptions before but it wasn't dealt with." It wasn't the first such delay. County commissioners approved the application in January after the planning department failed to meet a 150-day deadline for scheduling a public hearing and the applicant sought a writ of mandamus. Neighbors then went to court to block that decision. In October, Judge Ross Davis threw out the writ of mandamus, ruling that the application was incompatible with EFU zoning and violated a county agreement with Central Point to defer urbanization of the area. Barbara Bean, of the Jackson County Citizens League, a land-use planning advocacy group, said she was pleasantly surprised by Monday's remand. Bean said, "I think it was a good decision, but I'm not sure what they might gain by it now. Possibly, they could change the ordinance. They seemed so disappointed that they couldn't speed things up for the developer." The development has been opposed by neighbors and the city of Central Point because it would intensify use of a rural property bounded by a purebred goat breeder on one side and an elk-ranching operation across the road. The applicant has argued that the area already has longstanding industrial uses nearby, including the Erickson Air Crane helicopter service, and would not represent a premature urbanization. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA