[Klickitat] 🔥 Smoke, Weeds & Fireworks - Goldendale June '26

It was a packed June for the Goldendale City Council, the county seat of Klickitat County. In two meetings, the council rescued a stalled housing rule by standing up a temporary planning commission, locked in a $221,000 grant to replace the historic library's elevator, and spent a good chunk of fire season arguing over smoke, dry weeds, and Fourth of July fireworks. Here's what it means for you.

In This Episode:

• Why Goldendale's Planning Commission went defunct, and the six-month workaround that keeps the ADU (backyard-cottage) ordinance moving.
• A $221,000 federal grant to replace the Goldendale Community Library's 40-year-old elevator.
• The first-quarter budget: a paper deficit, a $480,000 grant-timing swing, and a softening in retail sales tax.
• A downtown "burnout" event that filled a neighbor's home with smoke, and the older, thornier fight over unmowed weeds during fire season.
• Why both the fire and police chiefs argued against a Fourth of July fireworks crackdown.
• A statewide visit: the Secretary of State and international consuls tour Goldendale.

Resources & Links:

• Read the full written round-up on SkamaniaDispatch.com
• City of Goldendale agendas, packets, and meeting info (Zoom: 415-762-9988, Meeting ID 373 290 5204).
• Next regular council meeting: Monday, July 6, 2026, 6:00 p.m., Council Chambers, 1103 S. Columbus Ave.
• Community Days: July 10 and 11.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey there, and welcome back to Open Gorge. This is the June 2026 roundup for Goldendale, the county seat of Clickitak County. The city council met twice last month on June 1st and June 15th, and honestly, it was a busy couple of nights. There's a housing rule that almost got stuck, a big grant for the library, and a whole lot of talk about fire season. So grab your coffee and let's get into it. Let's start with the one that matters most for the long haul, housing. For months the city's been working on something called an accessory dwelling unit ordinance. That's a mouthful, so let me translate. This will be a term that's very familiar to some longtime fans of this podcast. An accessory dwelling unit or ADU is just a small second home on the same lot as a regular house. Think a backyard cottage or what people sometimes call a granny flat. It might also be an apartment over the garage. It's one of the simplest ways that a town can add housing without really changing the feel of a neighborhood. So here's the snag. Under state law, a change to the zoning code has to be reviewed by a planning commission first, and Goldendale just really doesn't have one anymore. It's kind of surprised me to hear this. City Administrator Sandy Wells laid it out plainly. In her words, quote, we have three members that are expired, one member has passed away, and one member has moved out of town, unquote. So the commission that's supposed to review this ordinance has basically dissolved. Rather than let the whole effort stall out, one council found a workaround. On June 15th, they passed a resolution naming an existing staff group, the Subdivision Review Committee, as a temporary planning commission. It's a stopgap and will last no more than six months, and it goes away the moment the city can seat a real commission again. But there's a really big question hiding underneath. Wells raised the idea of switching from a volunteer citizen commission to a mayor-appointed, quote, planning agency, unquote, which the state law also allows. The trade-off is pretty human, actually. A volunteer commission means more residents at the table. An appointed agency means the work could actually get done when nobody wants to volunteer. That decision heads to the Ordnance Committee next. I'm sure they'd really appreciate some public feedback on what you would like to see. So let's move over to a piece of good news, the library. The Goldendale Community Library is a special building. Mayor Dave Jones reminded everyone it's a Carnegie Library from 1915 and it's on the National Register of Historic Places. The city owns it, and the Fort Vancouver Regional Library has run it since 1973. The problem though is the elevator. It's more than 40 years old, and in a three-story building, that elevator is the only way some folks can reach the upper floors. So the city went after a community development block grant, federal money that flows through the state, and they got it. $221,000. The council held a public hearing on June 1st, which was the last box to check, then passed a resolution setting up a formal complaint process, which the grant requires. When a commenter asked if the money was really in hand, the mayor didn't hedge. He said, quote, we were awarded the grant, unquote. Now the budget, and I promise to keep this friendly. The city's accountant Sarah Kazmarek gave the first quarter financial review, and on paper, the main operating fund is running a deficit so far this year, but before you worry, here's the context she gave. Goldendale's money comes in unevenly. Property taxes mostly land in April and October. Meanwhile, a big insurance bill, nearly $200,000, gets paid in all at once early in the year. So the first quarter almost always looks lopsided. Heavy spending, light income. There was one eye-popping number. The street fund looked like it ballooned, and the reason also is timing. A grant reimbursement for the Darlin Street project, about $480,000, was expected back in 2025, but it didn't actually arrive until this year. Alright, time to get to the part of the night that got a little heated, which I guess happens during fire season. It was dry and it showed. Both meetings opened with fire reports, but the sparks in the room were about a car burnout event held near Ikone Park on a Saturday in late May. If you've never been to one, a burnout is exactly what it sounds like. Cars spinning their tires, making a lot of smoke. A resident who lives right downwind came to tell the council what the smoke did to him, and he did not hold back. He called it, quote, unconscionable, and said he, quote, lost 30% of his lung capacity. His bottom line, he said, we don't issue a permit to do an illegal act. The council admitted a scheduling mistake. There was a kid's ballgame going on downwind at the same time, and promised to keep events from overlapping like that again. That rolled right into a fight Goldnails had before, weeds. Counselor Steve Johnston has raised this in his own words, not once, not twice, but a whole bunch of times over the period of years, he says. Overgrown dry lots are a fire hazard, and he thinks the city's enforcement is, quote, a joke, unquote. Here's the hard part though. The city's tools are slow. It's a letter, then a fire danger notice, and then the city pays someone to mow, and then a lien only pays off when the property finally sells. And the fine itself is capped by the state around $187. So the council can't just make it hurt more. Johnston even floated stopping repeat offenders from renting out their properties. Staff warned that runs into legal limits. And then fireworks. With the fourth this last month, the council talked about how a burn ban squares with legal fireworks sales. Here's the interesting part. Both the fire chief and the police chief argued against cracking down. Fire Chief Noah Halms said Fourth of July fires are historically, quote, pretty minimal, and that a ban might just push people to light fireworks somewhere more dangerous. I am going to note a pretty serious fire started this past 4th of July in Dallasport because of unfortunately folks lighting off fireworks. So I think we are all going to want to take a good hard look at what that can potentially mean in future years. The council did give the Lions Club a green light to sell fireworks as long as they turn in their insurance. Before we wrap, there are a couple of bright spots around town. The city put up a Welcome to Goldendale sign on Broadway, paid for by the Chamber of Commerce in a local abate chapter, A-B-A-T-E. And Washington's Secretary of State, Steve Hobbs, came through the town with honorary consuls from Japan, Mexico, and Lithuania. They toured the observatory, the Merryhill Museum, and local orchards, and talked economic development. The Merryhill Museum, by the way, turns 100 years old this year, and you can expect a special episode coming up from us soon about its history. So what's next? Mark your calendar. The next council meeting was on July 6th, so we'll keep an eye on that for next month, and keep an eye on the Planning Commission decision because it shapes when those backyard cottages will become legal to build. You can read the full written roundup with every figure and link, as usual, on Scamania Dispatch.com. That's where we lay it all out, meaning by meaning. So if you've been listening to a production of opengorge.org, home of the Scamania Dispatch and the Clicka Taddler. We believe that informed communities are stronger communities. To support our work and stay up to date on everything happening in the gorge, head over to ScamaniaDispatch.com to sign up for our newsletters. You can also find us on Facebook at Facebook.comslash opengorge. Join the conversation and share your thoughts on today's episode. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll talk to you next time.