Leave control local

Would you prefer Oregon’s Legislature and other state officials, or Baker County’s three commissioners, decide where a destination resort can be built in the county?

We’ll take the commissioners.

At least we had a say in choosing all three of them.

We get to vote on just two of the state’s 90 legislators.

The bill, which seems likely to become law given that Gov. Ted Kulongoski proposed it, limits county officials’ ability to allow destination resorts within the boundaries of most irrigation districts.

County planning departments and commissioners could approve resorts within irrigation districts, but the state could overrule such decisions.

We don’t object to the general goal of the bill: protecting agricultural lands from development.

But we’re confident Baker County’s commissioners understand that agriculture is our most important industry, and that preserving that sector is a top priority.

Yet Baker County also has been striving for more than two decades to promote tourism as a complementary driver of the local economy.

A destination resort, even one built within an irrigation district, could benefit the county without harming its agriculture base.

We trust our elected commissioners to decide whether that’s the case.