Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
Klickitat County wasn’t the only county switching from its normal meeting day to Monday this week. Wasco County scheduled a special meeting yesterday afternoon. There were only two items on the agenda, the award of a contract for a consultant for the Columbia Gorge Resolution Center, and a legislative hearing on changes to the county land use ordinances.
But County Planning Director Daniel Dougherty said, due to new information received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that hearing could be continued for several months:
“We’d like additional time to see how or what or if those modifications are going to have to our proposed legislative amendments to our flood hazard overlay zone, and our request is to continue it to May 7, 2025.”
Originally, FEMA wanted flood plain regulations changed prior to December 1, on threat of losing federal flood insurance coverage. None of the cities or counties in Oregon complied.