Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
Klickitat County Commissioners had four major issues on the agenda yesterday in the afternoon session and went 50/50 on them, passing two and postponing two for more citizen input.
The Dallesport wastewater rate increase hearing was continued from last Tuesday’s evening meeting in Dallesport. Oral testimony ended that evening and though the written record was held open until last Friday, there were no written submissions. The 10 percent increase in rates and the rounding up of the hookup fee to $6,000passed unanimously.
The other vote that went through was a 6-month extension of the moratorium on battery energy storage systems, or BESS. Planning Director Scott Edelman believes that a full-scale ordinance will be ready before this moratorium arrives. Right now, he said, he’s waiting for the comments from outside consulting council and draft ordinance language.
“The proposal is to extend the moratorium to March 4th and I think we have the commitment, both from the attorney and the planning commission to get that done and get that to you, I would say January, February at the absolute latest.”
Again, the vote was unanimous.
Edelman mentioned that the planning commission was ready to take up a proposal to reduce the energy overlay zone, but he had a clarification.
“I think it’s real important to make it known to the public that the proposed reduction to the energy overlay zone is only for solar. Wind would still be allowed in the entire energy overlay zone. Battery energy storage systems would still be allowed anywhere in the county as long as they are…. it’d be conditional use there.”
The first of the two postponements came with the proposal to change the ordinance on RV parks. There would be a number of changes, including removing the 60-day stay limit, to make them available for workforce housing. Between incoming solar, wind and pumped storage projects, as many as 2,500 workers would be looking for housing in the coming years. But the Prosecuting Attorney said several areas of the proposed ordinance needed modification, and several citizens testified more time was needed, and the hearing was postponed until September 15
And finally, there was a public meeting, which means no testimony was taken on changes to the additional dwelling units or ADUs. There were some aspects to the planning commission proposal that could be used to turn the ADUs into short-term rentals, among other things, and commissioners decided to open up the subject to public testimony with a public hearing on September 22nd.
The morning session featured a special childcare workshop featuring guest from Garfield County who had figured out how to start from nothing and build a successful childcare center, and a representative of the Department of Commerce’s Early Learning Facilities Grant program, both with practical advice on how Klickitat County can move ahead to develop its own.