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

[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].

[Klickitat] 🔒 Missing Care Lands in Jails - Klickitat BOCC 6/9-6/23

This month the Klickitat County Board of County Commissioners moved a public-records job to the Prosecutor's Office, absorbed roughly four hundred thousand dollars in public-health cuts, and heard a sobering update from the county jail, all while residents pressed them on data centers and Fourth of July fireworks. We connect June's decisions to the Gorge's longer story on mental health and the justice system. In this episode: * Why the county is creating a Public Records Administrator, and the resident who keeps calling in to oppose it * A candid jail update: a shrinking population but harder cases, a new local opioid-treatment partnership, and a proposed body scanner * The Health Department's roughly four-hundred-thousand-dollar cut, and what it means alongside jail spending * Data centers floated for the old aluminum site and Dallesport * A fireworks survey pointing toward a partial ban with designated areas * Backyard-cottage (ADU) rules, a Goldendale rezone, and short-term-rental tracking * And a warm send-off for a longtime volunteer pilot Resources & Links: * Read the full written Dispatch - https://SkamaniaDispatch.com [https://SkamaniaDispatch.com] * Klickitat County agendas, packets, and meeting recordings: https://www.klickitatcounty.gov [https://www.klickitatcounty.gov/] * Submit public comment before a meeting: bocc@klickitatcounty.org * Prior coverage: "Mental-Health Crisis Deepens" (Nov. 2025) [https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/mental-health-crisis-deepens-wic-shortfalls-klickitat-board-of-health-update-fall-2025/] and "The 2-Year Wait for Disability Services" (Apr. 2026) [https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/the-2-year-wait-for-disability-services-developmental-disabilities-advisory-board-apr-26/] 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].