Winchester Water Control District and the private water ski lake behind Winchester Dam
Homeowners in the Winchester Water Control District (WWCD), whose residences surround the private water ski lake behind the condemned and uninsurable Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River, pay high “calculated total monthly association fees,” as well as the ever-increasing legal fees resulting from the numerous lawsuits in which the WWCD is either a defendant or a plaintiff.
But some Oregon realtors don’t disclose the cost of the “calculated total monthly association fee” in their listings for properties for sale in the WWCD for fear of scaring off prospective buyers.
According to Oregon Realtors, an industry consortium for real estate professionals founded in 1932, “All real estate licensees have a general duty to disclose material facts known by the agent and not apparent or readily ascertainable to a party. This duty applies to both the listing agent and the selling agent. The duty is not the same as the affirmative duty of disclosure because it applies to all parties, not just to the client.”
Oregon law considers the “calculated total monthly association fee” to be a “material fact” that must be disclosed. Nevertheless, some real estate brokers are out of compliance with the Oregon Realtors code of ethics.
Condemned in 1976 by the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD), the derelict Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River provides no hydroelectricity, irrigation, or flood control.
For 56 years its sole function has been as a private water ski lake.
It’s a private dam (owned by the WWCD) on a very public river recognized by anglers on five continents as the number one steelhead Stream in North America.
OWRD rates Winchester Dam a “high hazard,” meaning the agency expects loss of life when the dam fails. Half a century ago, OWRD told WWCD that “consideration must be given to a permanent dam, the existing wooden dam being considered as temporary in nature … either reconstruction or removal of the dam would be necessary.”
And yet the 135-year-old dam is still there—unreapaired and unreapirable.
In 2019, OWRD ordered the WWCD to repair the crumbling and leaking dam—a dam that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife now considers the worst man-made obstacle for fish on any river in Oregon.
In response, on November 21, 2021, the WWCD members approved County Measure 10-184, appropriating $3 million “payable from assessments of benefitted [WWCD] properties” to fund the 2023 “repairs” of Winchester Dam, as well fines and lawsuits incurred during previous “repairs.”
Like a drunk driver with a dozen DUIs, each time repairs of the dam are attempted, the WWCD winds up in court for permit violations.
There is great inequity among the WWCD homeowners, three out of four of whom don’t own a speedboat or use the private water ski lake. However, it matters little whether they do or not, as they are still required to pay “calculated total monthly association fees.” And the $3 million for the 2023 “repairs” was a lot of money, even divided among 100 homeowners.
The considerable expense of maintaining the most dangerous and illegal private water ski lake in Oregon is ever-increasing because the WWCD Board of Directors prefers to sue state agencies, even though it would be cheaper to simply comply with state laws and regulations.
Consequently, in 2024 WWCD legal fees alone totaled $270,662. The WWCD also paid another $110,304 for insurance. These costs will likely double in 2025, due to the numerous state and federal lawsuits in which the WWCD now finds itself embroiled.
These mandatory “calculated total monthly association fees” present a serious liability to any WWCD homeowner attempting to sell their house. Potential buyers are scared off by the rapidly rising fees which are calculated to exceed $1,000 a month in 2026.
In an apparent lack of transparency, the WWCD Board of Directors does not publicly disclose how much each individual WWCD member pays in monthly fees. However, a review of real estate listings for WWCD properties currently for sale reveals a wide variance in the “calculated total monthly association fees” reportedly paid by WWCD homeowners, as disclosed to prospective buyers.
Consider the three riverfront properties for sale this week in the WWCD.
The first is an 0.80-acre property with a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 550 Pioneer Way, listed for $685,000. The listing declares calculated total monthly association fees of $472 a month.
The second home is an 0.89-acre parcel with a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house at 374 Pioneer Way. The listing reports a $285 a month in fees—$187 less than their neighbor down the same street with the same size house on the same size lot.
Yet inexplicably, the sprawling 22-acre property with a 6,000 square-foot five-bedroom, four-bathroom house with a five-car garage at 141 Umpqua College Road is listed on several realtor’s websites for $3.5 million—with a calculated total monthly association fee of $0.
Some readers may have assumed it was a typo.
This house is owned by Andrew Shirtcliff, owner of Myrtle Creek’s Shirtcliff Oil Company, one of the richest people in Douglas County, Oregon. Although Shirtcliff’s property appears to be exempt from “calculated total monthly association fees,” a call to the listing agent Jason Mann in Myrtle Creek dispelled this assumption.
“The property is not exempt…” Mann explained. “If you could read the private remarks, it clearly states what he pays for that service to have—he pays about $8,000 a year. So, he is not exempt.”
However, these so-called “private remarks” are not visible in the property listing.
According to Mann, the $0 calculated total monthly association fee in the listing for 141 Umpqua College Road is “not a typo.” He explained, “That’s an automated program that calculates based on what we put in for an HOA fee”—whatever that means.
Mann admitted that it was confusing that the listing says the monthly fee is zero when it’s actually $666 a month.
“It is confusing,” he explained, because “you can’t see the private remarks. If you had a realtor, or you were a buyer looking at that, we could clearly explain that to you. There are private remarks that the public cannot see that clearly discloses things that doesn’t go to the public.”
Earlier this year, the Neil Real Estate Company in Roseburg listed a property for sale in the WWCD at 82 River Drive, without any mention of the infamous calculated total monthly association fees. When asked about this questionable practice, a representative of the company said, “We’re not obligated to disclose that until it gets to the broker stage.”
The ongoing problem regarding the hefty monthly fees paid by WWCD homeowners is about to get worse.
The WWCD is currently a plaintiff or defendant in no fewer than five lawsuits. They always hire the timber industry’s attorney, Dominic Carollo in Portland, who bills $500 an hour.
And all of Carollo’s bills must be paid by the WWCD homeowners, who are held like hostages by their elected Board of Directors, whose members don’t care how much they spend on lawyers, as long as they spend as little as possible maintaining their deadbeat dam, and their 80-year-old worst-in-the-state fish-killing fish ladder.
Ultimately, the simple physics of capitalism will bring down the Winchester Dam, as more and more WWCD homeowners balk at the ever-increasing calculated total monthly association fees. It’s only a matter of time until they sue their Board of Directors to put a end to the runaway costs of maintaining the finical sinkhole that is the Winchester Dam.
One thing is certain: when the Winchester Dam is removed, property values in the WWCD will increase.
When the river is returned to its aboriginal level, riverfront homeowners will gain acreage and, by extension, property value.
And it’ll be a heck of a lot easier to sell your house when the sale is not encumbered by the ever-escalating costs of maintaining what is widely recognized as the most dangerous and illegal dam in Oregon.
