John Tyler and his wife live just East of Eugene on Rattlesnake Road. He is a fourth-generation Oregonian whose great grandmother came out on the Oregon Trail from Missouri. He loves Oregon and supports Measure 49 as a way to hang on to Oregon's special qualities and avert problems such as water shortages.

John's neighbor wants to divide 27 acres of forestland into 13 two-acre home sites. Even though that is a relatively few number of homes, they could disrupt life in the area.

"We have very tenuous water situation here," John says, "Our aquifer has been dropping steadily over the last few decades. Our nearest neighbor pumped sulphur out of his well this summer. Another neighbor dug three wells, 1,500 feet each, and got zero water." John says 13 new homes using the average of 300 gallons of water a day could decimate the local water supply.

John, and people like him who depend on wells for their water, purchased his property because of land use protections. Restrictions on development in areas where residents depend on wells maintain the delicate balance between the number and the available supply of water. Without those protections, John's property rights are violated.

John and his neighbors also are fearful of forest fires with the additional activity generated by 13 new families. "This is really a big deal. We don't have the firefighting capacity in these rural areas," he says.

Another concern, raised by many people statewide who are facing Measure 37 development, is traffic safety. "This development would empty you on to Rattlesnake Road. It is a curved, rural road. Another 13 houses with two cars each would dump extra traffic on a rural road that already has safety problems," John says.

This is just one example the type of poorly planned developments being proposed for places all over the state via Measure 37. John supports Measure 49 as a way to fix the problems and still allow people to use their land. "The moms and pops need allowance for a son or daughter to build on their acreage. Under land use laws, grandma and grandpa were barred from that option. People got angry and resentment grew," he says. But he supports Measure 49 because it closes the loopholes in Measure 37 that allow large residential subdivisions and commercial and industrial development.

"I love Oregon, it is a great state," John says. He strongly supports Measure 49 to keep it that way.