Steve Duin, writing in his blog for The Oregonian, recounts a tale involving Coos County hearings officer, Andrew Stamp, in a rather distasteful affair with the City of Portland and a real property developer, Eric Scheel.

When developer Eric Scheel decided to divide a one-fifth acre remnant into three buildable lots, several Hosford-Abernethy neighbors appealed the city of Portland’s approval to the Land Use Board of Appeals. In a marvelous display of chutzpah, the city asked LUBA and the petitioners to allow the Bureau of Development Services to address the neighbors’ concerns.

In Scheel, area residents already knew they were dealing with a guy who – in order to eliminate a tree-preservation issue – sent a contractor onto the lot to eliminate the trees, resulting in a $6,000 fine.

They realized these minor partitions fit perfectly with Portland’s desire to add density to its neighborhoods. But they needed an impartial referee to weigh the rights and obligations of everyone involved.

That’s not what they got.

Instead, Sean Williams, an associate planner at BDS, and Linly Rees, a deputy city attorney, allowed Scheel’s attorney, Andrew Stamp, to dictate the city’s response throughout the fact-finding and decision-making process.

Stamp, if you recall was the ‘impartial’ party invited to oversee land use matters for the Planning Department related to the conditional use permit for the Williams Pipeline matter. Not surprisingly, Stamp found in favor of the pipeline and his decision is now in front of the Land Use Board of Appeals. Amongst several points supporting the appeal is that Stamp ignored significant amounts of testimony submitted throughout the hearing process.

There is much more to the story and I encourage you to read Duin’s blog but it is interesting to note that Stamp blames the Portland affair on the fact the citizens opposing the land use didn’t have a lawyer. During the public hearings in Coos County, Stamp specifically asked if the pipeline opponents had a lawyer representing them. Possibly, Stamp ignored significant parts of the testimony enabling the appeal because it was not submitted by attorneys.

Happily, in the Portland affair, City Commissioner Randy Leonard is prepared to rehear the entire issue rather than leave the perception the decision process was stacked against the citizens.