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Wyden releases draft legislation for free transfer of Bend Pine Nursery to Parks District
Senator is “deeply troubled” by possibility of higher local tax burden and dismayed at Forest Service “foot-dragging”

September 10, 2003

Bend, OR – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today asked the Board of the Bend Metro Parks and Recreation District for their comments on a new draft proposal to transfer the Bend Pine Nursery from the Forest Service to the Parks District at no cost. Since Wyden initially passed bipartisan legislation in 2000 to authorize the sale of the Forest Service property, the cost estimate has almost doubled from $3 million to $5.8 million, causing Wyden to weigh in on the issue again.

In a letter to the Board of Directors of the Parks District today, Wyden wrote that he is, “deeply troubled by the additional tax burden parks district residents are being asked to endure to see this project to its completion.”

The Parks District commissioned an independent appraisal of the property’s value in 2002, and that valuation came in at $4.5 million. Now, after almost three years of waiting for the Forest Service to act, the Parks District was told by the Forest Service this week that its proposed $5.8 million sale price is not negotiable and that the Forest Service needs an answer on the proposed sale price in three weeks (by Sept. 30) or it may seek to sell the land to another buyer(s).

In his letter, Wyden expressed his dissatisfaction with the Forest Service’s delays, writing, “It is an understatement to say that I am frustrated by the foot-dragging of the Forest Service, which, intentional or not, has served to inflate the Forest Service’s potential payoff at the expense of the residents of Deschutes County. I, for one, see no reason taxpayers in the county should be asked to pay additional tax dollars to reward the Forest Service’s ineffective response time on this very important issue.” He added that the land transfer process has “taken longer than any reasonable Oregonian would have expected.”

The land sale was originally authorized by legislation Wyden, in consultation with the Forest Service, passed with bipartisan support from U.S. Senator Gordon Smith and U.S. Representative Greg Walden. Wyden has followed the progress, or lack thereof, of the sale since that time and decided to push the idea of a free land transfer after a recent discussion with Deschutes County Commissioner Tom DeWolf.

 

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