Cannery Station Progress
The Florence Planning Commission has conducted a series of hearings over the past few months, each on a different aspect of the Cannery Station Planned Unit Development. The final one is this evening on a request for an extension of the Design Review approval for the “transitional housing” portion of the development. Community Development Director Wendy Farley Campbell says despite the delays Cannery Station is moving along.
“They already have a building permit for the actual assisted living facility. This particular design review is for two attached cottages that are associated with that but they are planned to be located across from that assisted living facility.”
Economic conditions over the past 18 months were cited as the reason for the extension requests. Cannery Station is planned for the property directly across the highway from Fred Meyer. When fully developed it will be the site of several single family homes, an apartment building, and commercial buildings, in addition to that assisted living facility. The Planning Commission meets at Florence City Hall this evening at 5:30.
Drone Regulation
The introduction of drones in recent years has left some state and local governments to look at the potential hazards involved with drone operations. Some regulations have been created over time and not the Oregon Parks and Recreation department is drafting a drone take-off and landing classification criteria. There will be a virtual meeting on November 8th at 6pm that can be livestreamed on the OPRD youtube channel. Formal rulemaking has been ongoing since 2021 but stopped in April of 2022 to form a work group to explore the matter in more detail. Regulations are in place in areas that have protected animals and areas like the Heceta Lighthouse. OPRD will be accepting feedback on the process from the public until 5pm on December 29th. a form is available at Oregon.gov/oprd.
Lane County Taxes
If you are a property owner in Lane County you may start seeing your tax statements arriving soon. Lane County has announced that the statements are going out, but if you have not received one you can still see it on the web at lanecountyor.gov/AT. County officials say that the tax levied for the year is 5.1% above the 2022 amount at about $695.5 million. The state constitution limits the amount of tax increase to 3 percent annually, but that is subject to whether changes like additions, new construction or changes in zoning and use of the property. Property values countywide have increased by 3.86% from $39.9 billion to $41.4 Billion. Levies also affect taxes. This past year voters continued 6 ongoing levies and on new one. The new levy is for Lane County Parks and is $.16 per $1,000.
