News10 viewer Robert T. wrote in and said, “We live adjacent to a former(?) illegal grow, which the county or state came and mowed down on July 1st, 2021. Since that time, broken down hoop houses, metal poles, and including all the plastic and all the trashed infrastructure, as well as open buckets of unknown chemicals, have been lying in the field with no signs of any clean up. We were first informed that if the property owner(s) did not clean up the debris within 60 days then the government would come in and clear the land, charging the land owner for the work. That did not happen, and the trash continues to break down and become an environmental mess. Can you please find out who is responsible for this clean up and what can we do to get the trash off of our neighboring land?"
The property Robert was referring to is on the 1100 block of Panther Gulch Road in Williams, Josephine County.
Josephine County’s Community Development Director, Mark Stevenson, was able to give us an answer.
“1100 Panther Gulch is still within our legal department. They’re working through whatever agreement with the property owners. At some point, they will be required to clean the property. If they do not, then we would take over from there and clean the property in its entirety, but that would be up to the courts,” Stevenson said.
The county’s property management department said that the land is owned by the company “Heaven on Earth Farms LLC.”
According to public records, that company was dissolved last November and according to the Mail Tribune, the property was linked to an illegal cannabis grow.
A Grants Pass real estate agent was arrested and released in connection to the Panther Gulch Road property last October.
Stevenson added that it has been a slow process because the county was down an attorney, but they now have a new one and are moving forward again.
Thanks for your question Robert and hopefully that helped.
If you've got questions, email us at ask10@ktvl.com and we'll do our best to get them answered each Tuesday and Thursday on News 10 at 6pm.