HomeMy WebLinkAboutstrangMo hannam, Kathteen
Subject: FW: Butte County Policies
From: Gregory Strang [mailto:flstrang@sbcgiabal.netj
Sent: Sunday, Qctober 02, ZOf 1 8: ~5 PM
To: Admin Front Desk
Cc: Connelly, Bill; Wahi, Larry; Kirk, Maureen; BOS District 4; Yamaguchi, Kim
Subject: Butte County Policies
Paul Hahn,
Butte County Administrative Officer
25 County Center Dr
Mr Hahn,
As lifelong residents in this County, we are troubled with same of the County's policies. First of all, what is
Butte County doing about all these pot groves being grown everywhere? Is anyone checking to see if these
large groves have the legal number of scripts for them? From what we have seen, in our area and other rural
areas in this County, it's pretty obvious, this much at one sight, is being grown to sell. Without even trying, we
are seeing evidence of it everywhere, water trucks driving on mountainous rural roads, obviously, a business
created for the growers that have no water access. In our area, we have seen an increase of what looks like
people Iiving in camp trailers, out of state license plates on vehicles driving our roads up here, especially around
harvest time in Octobez, dead brush piled high far the natural fence Iaok, and we smell strong pot odor while
driving an some of ouz public roads. It doesn't seem like Butte County is doing anything about all the pot being
grown here now, it's just afree-for-all for everyone. Those kind of people and the element they bring, is not
what is needed here. This is a repeat of what happened here in the 70's, people flocking in from all over the
country to take advantage of insufficient drug enforcement.
The increase of people in this area, leads to another problem we have tried to do something about far years.
We live in South Butte County, about 15 miles southeast of Oroville. The two roads all of us have to travel on,
Swedes Flat Rd and Hurleton Swedes Flat Rd, are not private roads, they are County Roads. They are suppose
to be County maintained roads, but the two gradings we get a year, on these poorly constzucted roads with this
much traffc, is quite frankly rediculous. There is 2.8 miles of dirt/gravel on Hurleton Swedes Flat and about
3.5 miles of dirtlgravel on Swedes Flat Rd and in 2007 the County chipsealed the bottom 1 1/2 miles of Swedes
Flat Rd.
The County Raad Dept's policy is to grade twice a year, usually in April and not again until November. We
always have clot of potholes from November to April and longer if it rains Iater in the year and then we have
washboard starting in April and continues to get worse until November when the roads finally get graded. This
year especially, because of all the extra vehicles on the road due to all the pot growers, the washboard is
absolutely horrible! We have never seen it this bad in all the years we have owned our property.
With all the heavy rain this spring, it created large washouts on bath roads. We notified the Road Dept
about them in May, they eventually came out, set out a couple of cones and wooden county hazard signs on the
washout on Hurleton Swedes Flat Rd, dumped some old road asphalt in the washout and that was it. With
the ground still too moist, the temporary fx didn't last, but the cone and hazard signs are still there today. One
of the residents up here got tired of waiting and attempted to make it better with his own backhae.
After several requests and a couple of us brushing a mile of Hurleton Swedes Flat ourselves, last spring, the
County finally used a brush hog to do a few miles of much needed brushing on Swedes Flat and Hurleton
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Swedes Flat Rds. It was nice to have some brushing done, but more needs to be done up here, especially on the
narrow one lane cliffs on Swedes Flat Rd.
According to the Road Dept, the chipseal that was done in 2007 on Swedes Flat Road, was at a cast of
$320,000. The chipseal was applied way too thin and some of the edge of the roadway started eroding after
only 2 years. Last winter, after only 3 112 years, the potholes began. We now have over a dozen potholes on
the chipsealed portion of Swedes Flat Road. In places, the road is steep and narrow with blind curves. We
contacted the Road Dept in May, letting them know the potholes need to be filled, the washouts were there and
mare brushing needs to be done an the narrow one lane curves on Swedes Flat Rd. Without good visibility it is
a dangerous situation. We were told it would all have to wait, the County had winter storm debris work going
on elsewhere. Recently, we contacted them again, to see if any of this would be done before winter and again
was told the priority this summer was chipsealing projects and they would be hard pressed to finish before
winter.
It seems outrageous to us, to spend this kind of taxpayer money to chipseal a road, do a poor job anal then let
it start deteriorating in less than 4 years. The County did the same thing on Craig Avenue in the Palermo Area,
when they chipsealed that road in 2003. Within a year or two, that road was full of potholes and deterioration.
The County then, had to go back and repair large sections of that road.
In 2006, after several requests, the County finally replaced a culvert on Hurleton Swedes Flat Rd that had a
hole on the top where vehicles tires could fall through. Today, there are at least 2 other culverts up here,
that have a hole in the top and one of them looks to be completely crushed on one end, rendering it useless,
which leads to more road deterioration. Now, we understand why so many culverts up here are damaged either
on the top or mangled on the ends, its from the County grader. These culverts were installed too shallow for
roads that need grading. This kind of thing has been the norm up here for years. We also, have seen weed killer
sprayed months before the rainy season has ended and when the vegetation has barely sprouted. Is anyone
responsible for the quality of work that is done and how much is wasted because of bad policies? This is a total
waste of tax dollars!
All we have ever heard from this Road Dept is that they have no money or manpower to maintain these
roads adequately, so they adapted a twice a year policy of grading. Never mind what condition we have to
drive on 90% of the time and how much traffic is now using them. The attitude is, oh well, that's the policy
and were sticking to it, no matter what. We have been in contact with Mr Crurnp several times and basically
unless we can form a Permanent Road Division (which is used for improvements on private roads) and pay for
improvements ourselves, this is all we get. With these kind of people moving in here, that want nothing more
than to hide what they are doing, that's never going to happen. And the cycle of run down. and devalued
properties in South Butte County grows.
As far as we're concerned, if the County never has enough money to maintain County roads properly, it's
time to consider going to private contractors instead of so much of the Road Dept's budget being used for
wages, health care, retirements, vacations, etc. They don't have time all summer to fix problems on these roads,
~ve~re-startir~g~rother-wiriter~vitlr problems-from last~i~rzter; but~e~'e7ust suppos~ttr deal-w~t~ it~~tto
line, is to provide adequate, safe roads, not just provide jobs with no money to do what they are getting paid
for. These roads are neither adequate nor safe. Emergency vehicles can not safely drive fast an this kind of
washboard. We're tired of paying taxes for poor or no service in this area and then paying for vehicle repairs
because of the horrible condition of these roads.
Sincerely,
Greg & Fran Strang
1490 Swedes Flat Rd