[Klickitat] 🧮 Budget Season Meets Data-Center Season - Klickitat BOCC 9/16 - 10/6

Klickitat County commissioners backed drafting interim zoning instead of a data-center moratorium, and the permanent draft ordinance asks for less on buffers, power and water on its second try. We also cover the ADU decision, a Husum short plat appeal, 911 and senior services in budget season, and the Bear Creek Bridge closure.

In This Episode

• Interim zoning, or "moratorium light"
• Draft 1 vs. Draft 2 of the data-center ordinance
• Petitions and a commissioner who still backs a pause
• ADUs: bigger, owner on site, one short-term rental
• A firmer count of short-term rentals and a $200 fee
• The Tomahawk Road short plat appeal
• Budget workshops: 911, public health, seniors, roads
• Supplemental budget hearing October 27
• Bear Creek Bridge closed October 19 to November 6
• The Hood River bridge and the county's land
• Where the budget and data centers meet

Resources & Links

• Read the full written Klickitattler round-up at skamaniadispatch.com
• Klickitat County data center information and drafts
• Bear Creek Bridge closure and detour
• Our September round-up

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey neighbor, welcome to Open Gorge. Before we get to the meetings, more from our Halloween month cabinet of curiosities, a story about how Click-A-Tat County almost didn't happen. In December of 1859, the Territorial Legislature in Olympia created a new county out here. They spelled it C L I C A T A T. Click At. They put the county seat on Alfred Allen's land claim across the river from the Dalles. And they appointed a full slate of officers, three commissioners, a sheriff, an auditor, a treasurer, and more. There was one problem. About 15 families wintered here that year, and they were in no hurry to make a county. As the 1904 county history put it, quote, few people are anxious to hasten the time when they will be required to pay taxes, especially when no apparent benefit is to be derived from their payment, unquote. And most of the appointees just never took their oaths. Olympia could appoint them, and the history says, but quote, it could not compel them to qualify. No assessment roles, no taxes. In 1860, the county held an election. Most of the winners didn't take office then either. There was, the history says, quote, a general understanding among the settlers that the men elected were not to qualify. Olympia, the history says, was persistent. In January of 1861, it appointed a whole new slate and the county finally got up and running. It's kind of funny to see how many different times they tried to get folks out here to actually take their oaths of office and were unsuccessful. So Clickattack County was born in an argument about taxes. This month, the commissioners are still doing that math. Now, on to this month's business. This is your ClickAtac County Commissioners Roundup, covering September 16th through October 6th. It was a crowded three weeks, six sessions, and once again, data centers. So let's start there. On September 29th, the board did not adopt a moratorium on data centers. It backed something else. Community development director Scott Edelman called it interim zoning. In his words, quote, it's sort of a moratorium, it's not a moratorium, but it puts guardrails in place so we have time to do the ordinance, unquote. One speaker at the table called it, quote, kind of a moratorium light. Here's how Edelman described it. Data centers would be allowed only in the county's industrial zones. They couldn't sit within one mile of land zone for homes, and they couldn't sit within five miles of an incorporated city. Edelman said the one mile line rules out Dallasport and Roosevelt. The five mile line is aimed at Goldendale. That leaves the old aluminum plant site or land that gets rezoned. The difference from a moratorium, applications keep coming in. The rule just says where they can go. There was no vote. It was a workshop, and workshops don't vote. Chairman Ron Irig summed it up as consensus, and staff went off to draft it with the prosecutor. When the chair read the limits aloud that afternoon, someone at the Dais added, quote, so this basically limits 90% of the county, unquote. As of October 6th, no interim text had come back to the board. Now the permanent ordinance. That's a separate document on a slower track, and the county has posted two drafts. The first came out September 22nd, the second is dated October 1st. It was written by economic development specialist Keaton Curtis, and Edelman called it, quote, a much more thorough draft. It is more thorough. Every project would need noise and visual studies. Applicants would pay to train and equip local first responders. But on some big points, it asked for a little less. Draft 1 kept data centers a mile from any home. Draft 2 said 500 feet, and that number sits in brackets, which means it isn't settled. Draft 2 drops that. In its place is a section titled, quote, ClickTap Public Utility District Predominates. Draft 1 required closed loop cooling or something like it for the big water users and required the operator to share how much water it actually uses. Draft 2 drops that trigger and names closed loop as one example, and the water use disclosure is gone. And one line worth a second look. Draft 1 kept the cleanup bond in place, quote, during the life of the project. Draft 2 says, quote, during the decommissioning. As written, it doesn't require the cleanup money to be in place while the data center is running. On October 6th, there was no data center item on the agenda. Staff hoped to bring the second draft back October 13th. Commissioner Lori Zoller was excused that day. Public comment kept coming back to a pause. When Collard said her petition picked up more than 200 signatures over a weekend, Commissioner Todd Andrews answered her, he's the one who proposed a moratorium this summer. Quote, I do believe a moratorium would be a good thing, he said. I propose one. Anne Sled of Dobbsport put it this way, quote, we stand to lose more than we stand to gain by rushing into this. And Pat Arnold said, quote, it's like a gold rush or something. Moving on to housing. The debate over accessory dwelling units or ADUs was settled September 29th. The Planning Commission had wanted to drop the rule that let the owner live on site and drop the ban on short-term rentals. Staff pushed back. Edelman warned, quote, you could have a company from California purchase 50 properties with two short-term rentals on every one. That is, of course, speculation. Many things are possible, but it's why we often look to other cities and states to see how that's panned out with their policies. Most speakers asked to keep the owner on site, and that's where the board landed. Once the ordinance is adopted, ADUs can grow to 1,296 square feet. The owner still has to live there six months a year, and one of the two homes can become a short-term rental. Until the county's rental rules exist, that takes a conditional use permit. As of October 6th, that rental license was still being written. The county's latest count found 209 rental properties, only 22 of them look like ADUs. And that fits research from California and Florida, where most ADUs never become short-term rentals. Staff expect to license somewhere between 104 and 150. Edelman recommended a flat $200 fee. The board set a workshop for the morning of October 27th. Next, a short plot on Tomahawk Road near Hewsome. Neighbors George and Lynette Ogden had appealed it. The county had found a shop and a shed turned into homes without permits. Staff's plan was to split the lot first, then permit the conversions. The Ogden's answer was, quote, review first, record second. The applicant, Nate Bell, apologized and said, quote, it was not deceitful, it was not a scheme, unquote. This is a story that we often see across a number of cities and counties, that people are sometimes unaware that making an accessory building into an accessory dwelling unit can be a different designation and require a different process. It's always important then for cities and counties to have a process of how they might decide to bring different units into compliance or figure out how to retroactively solve a problem with permitting. Staff acknowledged a couple of things on the record. Edelman said, quote, it's failure in our CEPA process that we don't notify neighbors, unquote. He also said a 2024 complaint about the shed, quote, was not taken as it should be. On September 29th, the board upheld the approval. Commissioner Andrews said the process was no shortcut. Quote, if this is a shortcut, I'd rather take the long route. Another commissioner added, quote, I think the county's failed the neighbors here, but that's a different discussion. Now, budget season. Nothing adopted yet, and no type record of these workshops have been published just yet by October 6th. But here's what departments told the board. 911 director Jeff King said the money for contract dispatchers, quote, runs out in mid-December. Public Health Director Aaron Quinn asked for $35,000 more in general fund money than last year, and said the county hasn't put its own money into public health for about six years. State foundational public health money to the county dropped by $380,000 this state fiscal year. And we've been reporting these cuts across both Scamania and Clickattack counties. Senior Services Director Sharon Carter said rides are often turned away when the schedule is full. And Commissioner Zoller said, quote, I'm really worried about where these departments are going for senior services. And the State Department of Ecology wants gas vents at the old horse thief lake landfill fenced off. Staff priced a fence at $125,000. Someone at the table said, quote, I don't think we should budget to do the Cadillac. That line got cut to $25,000 while staff look for something cheaper. There's also a supplemental budget and about $1.6 million, with a public hearing October 27th at $1.30, most of it's housekeeping. The new spending is mostly courts and the sheriff, including $37,000 for, and I'm quoting the county here, goat boarding for problem goats. Here's the thing though, the budget talk and the data center talk are really the same conversation. Costs are rising at about 4% or more a year. The county's property tax could only rise 1%. That's the squeeze our levy scissors series keeps coming back to. Data centers get pitched as a way out, as new construction can help lift that tax levy lid. But state law lets them skip sales tax on servers, and one commissioner put that at $15 to $20 million or more on a full build. Pat Arnold had said it simply, if there's benefit to the be had, the people who live here, quote, should get some. A few quick ones. Bear Creek Bridge on Jennings Road closes to all traffic October 19th through November 6th. It's the bridge's second closure this year. On the new Hood River Bridge, the Bridge Authority Commissioner Jacob Anderson said the project now costs $1.12 billion. He asked whether the county would donate its land at the Washington landing. The two commissioners present said easement's only for now. So what's next? October 13th, the second data center draft may come back. October 19th, Bear Creek Bridge closes. October 27th, the short-term rental workshop and the supplemental budget hearing. And October 10th, the road plan hearings in Goldendale and White Salmon. For the side by side of both data center drafts and links to everything, read the full written edition at SchamaniaDispatch.com. You've been listening to a production at OpenGorge.org, home of the Schemania Dispatch and the Click of Tatler. We believe the informed communities are stronger communities. To support our work and stay up to date on everything happening in the Gorge, head over to Schemaniadispatch.com to sign up for our newsletters. You can also find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/slash open gorge. Join the conversation and share your thoughts on today's episode. Thanks for tuning in. We'll talk to you next time.