Douglas Christopherson makes a good point in his letter to the editor (below) about Linn County's proposal to build a park at Highway 34 and Seven Mile Lane.

The apparent lack of coordination between Lebanon and Linn County is only one issue, however.

What does the location near the freeway and one of the deadliest intersections in Linn County have to offer for recreation facilities? Varied landscape with trees and a river, creek or lake? A volunteer group that has already put in thousands of volunteer hours to develop the site and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support their effort? Already established events such as the Strawberry Festival and now the Star-Spangled Celebration? The answer to these questions is none of the above.

The location next to I-5 is its only advantage, and that's a mixed blessing.

Sure, it may be attractive to people who don't want to drive the extra several miles to Cheadle Lake, or for that matter, to other locations in Linn County that could host large public gatherings.

But the land has been used for farming grass seed for decades and, except for I-5 and the interchange with Highway 34, is surrounded by farm land. In land use terms, a park is a non-conforming use in the area. Nearby farmers have good reason to be concerned that a park in their midst will have a negative impact on their operations.

In addition, taxpayers should question whether a park will bring in enough income to the county to offset taxes paid if the land remained in private ownership and farm use.

The proposed park would depend on events to draw people and income. Most of Linn County's parks follow a more traditional model. People use them to camp, relax and maybe hike, swim or fish. They don't bring in big bucks by drawing thousands of folks in a

single weekend, but they don't need a marketing campaign either. All they require is for parks crews to keep them clean and maintained.

From here, it looks like Linn County was seduced by Royal Faires, Inc., the organization that talked about bringing a Renaissance festival to Linn County, into buying land before there was a firm deal. Now the county has the land and needs to figure out what to do with it.

Here's a suggestion. Sell it back to a farmer - if one can be found willing to pay the $1.25 million for 175 acres the county paid for it. That's more than $7,000 an acre when the going price for farm land averages about $5,000 an acre.