Draft Oregon House/Dobbins May Newsletter:

 

To Value & Maintain Our Rural Environment
Final report submitted by the Maintain Rural Environment subcommittee:
• Our community represents a traditional rural environment.
• We live in a foothill area of scenic beauty. We value this and want to 
preserve it.
• We have chosen to live in an area relatively untouched by urban sprawl and 
desire to see it remain that way.
• We value low density of housing and population, where one notices 
relatively few people and where there is relatively little traffic on the roads.
• We value having our homes secluded and separated, part of the 
environment, such as low-density single family dwellings that blend well with 
the surroundings.

Community Action Planning 

The Community Action Plan Committee is working with the Yuba-Sutter 
Economic Development Corporation (YSEDC) to create a planning document 
that will be based on a general consensus of what the participating community 
residents want to see their community become in the future. Therefore, it will 
be created by those people who live and work in Dobbins and Oregon House 
that are interested enough to give their input. The current main body of the 
committee includes a wide spectrum of personalities and interests in our 
community. There are housewives, business leaders, volunteer fire fighters, 
members of DOACT, members of the Fellowship of Friends, retired people, 
and others. The intent is to get a balanced voice from this diverse community 
and to include those who are interested in participating.

The goal of this planning document is to outline the general vision of our 
community values and list specific goals toward realizing our vision. The plan 
may also, but not necessarily, include ideas for future businesses and 
economic development. The plan puts down in writing some of the things we 
feel are special and need to be preserved in relation to our community plus 
things to improve and enhance our lives here.

Another aspect to this plan is that it will make it possible to apply for 
grant money for various projects that will further enhance our community and 
help us achieve current short and long term goals.

The Committee meets every first Monday of the month at the Lake Francis 
Resort Clubhouse at 6:30 pm. Anyone from our community or who has an 
interested in it is welcome to attend. We plan to continue updating you 
through this newsletter and in other ways as to the progress and 
developments resulting from our meetings. If you have any thoughts or wish 
to participate, please come to a meeting and let us know.

New Community Center

Our new Community Center is on it’s way! The funding required for our 
Community Center is estimated at a total of $750,000. The Yuba Feather Lions 
Club is doing a wonderful job heading up and following through with the 
project. They have been able to get grant money and other funding to get the 
project as far as it has come so far.

The building plans have been completed and the project has been broken 
down into the following phases:

1. Provide 20.15 acres of land, change the zoning. This was completed June 
1996.
2. General Site preparation and planning, septic system, commercial well, 
underground electricity, and rough grading of parking and roadways.
3. Design and build main building with restrooms, kitchen, large meeting room, 
ancillary rooms and storage.
4. Build regulation size Little League Baseball Field with bleachers and night 
lighting.
5. Build a 5 acre park with BBQ and tables, along with areas of grass and 
shade trees.
6. Build 6 horse shoe pits, 2 shuffle board courts, and 4 multi-purpose sports 
courts with night lighting for activities such as tennis & basketball.
Anticipated uses of the facility include library, space for a Sheriff’s sub-
station, meeting space for activities such as 4H, Boy & Girl Scouts, Schools, 
Voting, Grange, Lions, theater productions, craft shows, and many other 
community activities.

The following progress has been made to date:
• Land has been purchased
• Zoning has been changed
• Rough grading has been started on road & building site
• Approved community well installed with sanitary seal
• Pump and pressure tank installed
• Sewer system design and Yuba County permit obtained
• Main Building plans completed and in final stages of permit being issued by 
Yuba County
• Main 600 amp electric panel on site
• Grant has been obtained for installation of sewer, electrical, and well. 

Rural Environment 

• We prefer man-made structures and utilities which blend into the 
environment, not dominate it.
• Our people are diverse, but represent a frontier attitude of freedom and 
individuality.
• Our people value serenity and slower pace of the area, which encourages the 
development of strength of character and freedom of the individual.
• We love our land and we know our relationship with the land is vital to living 
a wholesome, uncluttered way of life.
• We value being able to own our own land and use it in individualistic ways.
• We value our forests and prefer they not be removed to plant food crops or 
to support commercial development.
• We value the recreational aspects of the area, where peo-ple can live and 
visit to get away from the din of urban development.
• We recognize that certain government regulations are necessary to protect 
basic health, safety and cleanliness, and to prevent landowner abuses which 
might damage our rural environment, but we desire a minimum of regulation 
consistent with basic protections.
• We want to keep low-density land zoning.
• We do not want to see increased traffic, urban types of business and 
“development”.
• We prefer unhurried simplicity, privacy and quiet over having a nearby mini-
mall, service station, rushing autos or service trucks.
• We value our clean, fresh air. We wonder at vast starry nights without the 
night lights obscuring their brilliance.
• We value our clean surface and ground water sources and want to see our 
water resources protected.
• We value quiet, except for the sound of birds during the day, crickets at 
night, frogs croaking, and the occasional winds and rain of a storm.
• We like seldom hearing the sound of a siren or of noisy neighbors.
• We prefer the landscapes of nature and unfettered open space. We value the 
silhouette of oaks against winter sunsets, rather than rooftops.