[Klickitat] 🏗️ The Multiplex Fight - White Salmon May '26 Round-Up

[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 [https://www.ci.goldendale.wa.us/your-government/city-council/agendas-minutes] (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. Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://facebook.com/OpenGorge].

[Skamania] 🌿 Building Near a Wetland - North Bonneville June '26

What does it really cost to build a house near a wetland in North Bonneville? This month the City Council turned a routine environmental-rules update into a debate about affordability and local control. We also cover the North Bonneville Planning Commission, a firefighter bill four years overdue, a library open just six hours a week, and why sewer pipes are quietly straining budgets all across the Gorge. In This Episode * The Critical Areas Ordinance heads to the state, and one councilor's cost analysis that reframed the whole debate * The city pays off firefighter-pension dues unpaid since 2022, and a vote where the record and the recording disagree * Sixty-five hundred dollars in tourism funds for a summer car show and Gorge Days * A library that gets used every day but is staffed only six hours a week * Blackberries, faded road lines, and a striping machine the city could not buy * Why North Bonneville's fifty-year-old sewer lift stations are part of a Gorge-wide story * What is next: a July 7 zoning hearing and a July 28 look at the Bradford Island Superfund site Resources & Links * Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com [https://skamaniadispatch.com/] * North Bonneville City Council agendas, minutes, and audio [https://northbonneville.net/government/council-meetings/] (the new "Supplemental Documents" link holds sheriff reports and written public comment) * North Bonneville Planning Commission meetings & minutes [https://northbonneville.net/planning/meetings/]: the draft Title 20 zoning revisions and the July 7 public hearing * Fort Vancouver Regional Library: send comments on the North Bonneville branch [https://www.fvrl.org/contact/] through the FVRL website * Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Priority Habitats and Species [https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/phs] and Department of Ecology Critical Areas / wetlands guidance [https://ecology.wa.gov/water-shorelines/wetlands/regulations/local-regulations] Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://facebook.com/OpenGorge].

[Skamania] 📦 A County Locked In A Box - Skamania BOCC June '26

The Skamania County Board of Commissioners rewrote the rules for rebuilding after a wildfire, giving burned-out families ten years instead of one. In this episode of Open Gorge, we walk through a busy June for the Skamania County Commissioners: a five-million-dollar storm road program, a mining company circling the Green River Valley, a sharpening fight with the Forest Service over timber money, and the first real talk of visitor fees as tourism strains the county. In This Episode * Title 22 is adopted: up to ten years to rebuild after a disaster, bigger footprints for small homes, RVs allowed on-site during a rebuild * A road program reshaped by December's storms, and how the Wind River Highway detour is hurting Carson businesses * The timber-revenue fight: "I want the floor to be fifty percent," a second school closure, and a state error that cost the schools * Cascade Forest Conservancy's mine warning, and a county that says it's "locked in a box" * Budget season opens with a "hold the line" message and a new finance system going live * Tourism pressure turns toward fees; a shake-up at the Homeless Housing Council; Title III requests from six agencies * Two retirements, and a July 30 deadline to comment on the Storedahl quarry Resources & Links * Read the full written Dispatch, with links to a year of past coverage, at skamaniadispatch.com * Skamania County agendas, minutes, and meeting audio: www.skamaniacounty.org [http://www.skamaniacounty.org/] * Comment on the Storedahl & Sons Quarry Draft EIS by July 30 (on the county website, at the library, or printed on request) * Written comment to the Board: emerson@co.skamania.wa.us, by noon the day before a meeting * Next meetings: Tuesdays, July 7, 14, 21, and 28, 9:30 AM, at the courthouse in Stevenson and by Zoom Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://facebook.com/OpenGorge].

[Klickitat] 🔌 EV Vote & 30% Rule - White Salmon June '26 Round-Up

This month, the White Salmon City Council voted to make every new home EV-ready, and the debate was really about who pays for it. We've also got a denied housing appeal at the Planning Commission, a ten-thousand-dollar snag for the Fourth of July parade at the Community Development Committee, and a storm that closed a road. Here's your June in White Salmon. In This Episode * The City Council adopts an EV-ready ordinance, 5-0, and wrestles with affordability * The six-year transportation plan, storm damage on Skagit and Scenic, and a drought summer * Cluster mailboxes retired, Knowledge Bowl state champions, and a state housing-board appointment * The Community Development Committee reworks heritage months and hits a $10,000 parade-closure wall * The Planning Commission denies the Wyers Street reconsideration and eyes the short-term-rental "30% rule" Resources & Links * Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com * White Salmon agendas, packets, and meeting recordings: whitesalmonwa.gov/meetings * Submit written public comment: public.comment@whitesalmonwa.gov * Next up: City Council July 1, Planning Commission public hearing July 8 Community Development Committee coverage draws on a recording from the Columbia Gorge Documenters [https://upliftlocal.news/columbia-gorge/columbia-gorge-documenters/], powered by Uplift Local (CC BY 4.0). Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://facebook.com/OpenGorge].

[Skamania] 🅿️ Rethinking Downtown Parking - Stevenson June '26 Round-Up

This episode: Stevenson's June meant a sewer-ordinance rewrite that's almost across the line, a move to scrap downtown parking minimums, and a Board of Adjustment that granted one hotel parking relief while sending an accessory-dwelling-unit case back for more homework. We cover the Stevenson City Council (June 18) and the Stevenson Board of Adjustment (June 10), plus a city-administrator hire that fell through at the last minute. In this episode: * The revised sewer ordinance: who has to connect, who doesn't, and the one clause still holding up a vote * Why Stevenson wants to drop its downtown parking minimums, and the national movement behind it * The Artbliss Hotel parking variance, granted * A continued ADU variance, and a fact-check on whether ADUs are "just money makers" * A CPA hired for financial oversight, and a stalled administrator search * What's next: the July 9 retreat, the July 16 council meeting, and a mid-July Board of Adjustment hearing Resources & Links: * Read the full written Dispatch, with every source linked, at skamaniadispatch.com * City of Stevenson agendas, packets, and meeting video: ci.stevenson.wa.us/meetings and vimeo.com/cityofstevenson * Going deeper on parking reform: Strong Towns (strongtowns.org/parking) and the Parking Reform Network (parkingreform.org) * The ADU data: UC Berkeley's Terner Center [https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/blog/cci-adu-survey/] and the Florida Housing Action Lab [https://flhousingactionlab.substack.com/p/adus-in-florida-what-the-data-tells] Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://facebook.com/OpenGorge].