Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
Tuesday’s Klckitat County morning workshop session was a bit of a quickie, clocking in at just 32 minutes. Here are some of the highlights: • Planning Director Scott Edelman said they were somewhat disappointed with the vendor of the
short-term rental software, who had been slower to respond than expected. To date, he said, only about half of the short-term rentals in the county had been processed. The total so far was 170 short-term rentals, and 20 of them were in accessory dwelling units, which cannot legally be used as short-term rentals. Fines are expected to be in the $150 – $200 range.
• An amendment potentially reducing the energy overlay zone for solar projects is proceeding, with a review of contracted attorney comments on September 21st, and a planning commission public hearing scheduled for September 28th at 6:00 PM.
• The first of two new aircraft hangars, each with room to store ten airplanes, is drawing lots of iinterest, as airport manager Jeff Reynard reported:
“The good news in our T-hanger project is we have six leases signed, and tenants actively texting me all morning wanting to know what time they can get in . The project is moving along very, very nicely.”
• Public Works Director Jeff Hunter, explained why drivers on SR-14 near the Hood River-White Salmon bridge might see a very bio-friendly way of dealing with some stubborn vegetation:
“They cut down a lot of the smaller trees, and then the blackberries took off like mad. So this year, instead of mowing it down so it comes back, they’re gonna put goats out there. We don’t own the goats. The goats are not ours, thank goodness, but they’re gonna try to eradicate some of the blackberries with the goats.”
in the formal afternoon session, much of the discussion was about data centers. Several people questioned why the other two members of the board did not support Commissioner Todd Andrews’ motion last week to enact a six month moratorium on data centers in the county.
Another person questioned the classification of data centers as warehouses under Title 19 zoning ordinances, which would allow them as an outright permitted use in industrial parks, and wondered where and when that decision had been made.
The answer? The February 21 meeting of the county planning commission in 2023, which concluded that “Data centers are good target markets for Klickitat County.”
The issue will be discussed in depth at the board’s workshop session starting Thursday morning at 9:30 in the meeting room in the courthouse annex. That meeting is open to the public, but will not be Zoomed.