Commissioners give Vida Community Center rebuild a nudge

VIDA: Some paperwork from the past that could have held up plans to rebuild the Vida McKenzie Community Center (VMCC) was corrected on Tuesday. At the September 21st meeting of the Lane County Board of Commissioners approved easements that were a win for both sides.

Agreements dating back sev-eral decades included access to drinking water and the placement of a restroom. In the 1950’s an easement for a water line taking water from a spring was to granted to the McKenzie River Club by Lane County. Not long after that, the county developed an adjoining park with a parking lot and a boat ramp to provide access to the McKenzie River. That facility included restroom facilities located to the north of the park.

Following the destruction of the organization’s building during the Holiday Farm fire, the Vida McKenzie Community Center, successor to the McKenzie River Club, had their property surveyed and the waterline located.

The survey showed that, due to a misunderstanding of the location of the property line dividing the two properties, the county’s restroom building had been constructed entirely on the VMCC property. In addition, the location of the water line serving the VMCC didn’t jibe with the original 1950 easement.

Under the agreement adopted this week, the VMCC granted the county an easement onto its property that will allow the restroom building to remain on the its property. In exchange, the granted the VMCC an easement for its well and waterline in a manner that does not interfere with the use of the park.

Both easements would continue in effect until and unless the restroom building or waterline and well are abandoned.

“The proposed agreements resolve the issue of the County’s improperly located structure and will allow that structure to remain in its present location without additional cost to the County,” according to county parks division manager Brett Henry. “The easement to be granted to the VMCC will allow for its continued use of its well and for its buried water line, which does not detract from use of the Park property, and supports the community through the VMCC nonprofit organization.”