The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors believes that the key to preserving our rural lifestyle is to encourage the preservation of the agricultural lands and open space. The Board will not consider the inconveniences arising from agriculture or timber operations to be a nuisance if such operations are legal, consistent with locally accepted customs and standards, and conducted in a non-negligent manner.
People who own property within or adjacent to agriculture lands or Timber Production Zones (TPZ) should understand that along with the financial and scenic benefits of such ownership, there can also be additional nuisance factors. These can include, but are not limited to, noise, dust, chemical spraying, and hazardous road conditions due to use by heavy equipment. Within reasonable limits, these conditions must be accepted by the property owners in such areas.
It is the unanimous wish of the Board of Supervisors that a prosperous and sustainable timber and agriculture industry be a permanent part of the future of Mendocino County.
The MEC Board of Directors responded with the following letter, which also was sent to county media as a letter to the editor.
Dear Mendocino County Supervisors:
Like many other residents of the County, members of the Mendocino Environmental Center were disturbed by the recent statement sent on County tax bills...While we agree that encouraging preservation of agricultural lands and open space is one of the keys to preserving our rural lifestyle, we also believe that it must not be done in a way that causes harm to other rural residents as your statement seems to condone. We find it particularly ironic to send such a statement on tax bills, as it seems to confer second class citizenship to many rural residents.
The Mendocino Environmental Center believes that:
(1) ownership of timber or agricultural land does not (or should not) confer any special privileges to those owners beyond using the land for the purposes for which they are zoned;
(2) use of such lands, and all other rural lands, must be done in a way that does not create nuisances to other residents or cause long-term harm to land, waters, or wildlife;
(3) excessive noise, or movement of dust, chemicals (or sediment) from land use operations on agricultural lands onto adjacent lands or waters are indeed unacceptable nuisances;
(4) hazardous road conditions due to use by heavy equipment is
not acceptable and can be mitigated; and
(5) the County Board of Supervisors has a statutory responsibility to protect all citizens from the nuisances described in 3 and 4 above.
We reject the idea that citizens must accept such nuisances. Rather we feel that it is the legal and moral obligation of all landowners to ensure that their land uses do not create a nuisance for other residents of the county.
We understand that at least some of the existing language comes from an existing county ordinance. We do not know the history of that ordinance, but feel that it no longer expresses the will of the citizens of the county. Nuisances as described are no longer "locally accepted customs".
Therefore the Board of Directors of the Mendocino Environmental Center requests that a revision of that ordinance be put on your agenda, as soon as possible after the new Board is seated in January, so that a new policy that reflects the principles above and that does not relegate many of us to second class citizenship can be adopted. We thank you for considering this request, and encourage all citizens to let their supervisors know how they feel about the current policy.
Sincerely,
Mendocino Environmental Center Board of Directors
We encourage Mendocino County residents to:
1. Write or call your supervisor about this ordinance
2. Attend a Board of Supervisors meeting and make public comment about the ordinance. (Tuesdays at the Administration Center on Low Gap Rd., Ukiah. Opportunity for public comment is throughout the day.)
3. Check with the MEC for the day and time when this will be heard on the agenda and attend that BOS meeting.
4. If the ordinance is not satisfactorily amended, boycott the April property tax payment. Perhaps send a tea bag in the envelope.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1999
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited