New city comprehensive plan expands growth area
Lou Marzeles
News Editor
The city of Goldendale is spreading out.
In just a little more than a decade, the city’s last comprehensive plan—ostensibly a 25-year projection—has become too limited. To accommodate rapid changes and allow for greater expansion possibilities, a new comprehensive city plan has been submitted to the city council and to the Klickitat County Planning Commission. It includes a strikingly broader Urban Growth Area (UGA) outline.
“This is the first updated plan since 1999,” says city administrator Larry Bellamy. “The first one was done in 1970. Each plan is a 25-year projection.” That means change has occurred far more rapidly than planners were able to predict 11 years ago, hardly an uncommon phenomenon in urban planning.
“A task force worked on the new plan for a year a half,” Bellamy says. The result includes a map of new proposed UGA boundaries and city zoning projections, along with a detailed report on current and projected infrastructure capacity and future development activities in the Goldendale planning area.
“The plan is now referred to the city ordinance committee, which will make recommendations,” Bellamy says. “There will also be a public hearing on the plan, before June, hopefully. By the end of the year, we should have completed the UGA and zoning; likely that will be a clarification of what’s allowed in zoning rather than rezoning.”
The plan presented to the county Planning Commission is an interim status report, Bellamy explained, in order to facilitate close coordination between the city and the county.
The comprehensive plan focuses on the following recurring themes:
• Clean up the town: work together and encourage pride in the community; improve curb appeal and community appearance, beautify, and implement more code enforcement.
• Coordinate with other public entities and the business community.
• Develop more options for larger lot subdivisions such as one- and two-acres.
• Encourage more landscaping.
• Provide more clarity to parking regulations.
• Add commercial zoning designations such as a downtown business district.
• Expand the UGA to accommodate inquiries for annexation to the city.
• Retain a small-town atmosphere.
The plan’s recommended next steps include progress reviews with the city council and the county Planning Commission, which have been completed. Beyond that, final changes to the plan are to be finished and a public hearing conducted. Following those, the requisite resolutions and ordinances for adoption by the city council will be completed.
An interlocal agreement between the city and the county was enacted in May of 2000 and remains current. It established a plan for cooperative planning between the two governmental entities. The agreement set procedures for review of land use actions in the UGA and future growth areas, which formed integral parts of the city and county comprehensive plans. Procedures for implementation of the UGA and future growth areas were incorporated in the agreement, which involved guidelines for amendments to the city comprehensive plan; UGA maps, and zoning, subdivision, and ordinance changes. The interlocal agreement also allowed for extension of city services within the UGA at the discretion of the city, limited to water, sanitary sewer and storm sewer, and fire protection.
Annexation of areas within the UGA into the city follows a process of inquiry from surrounding areas and established RCW processes.
From Drugs to Mugs at GHS
The stark reality of the damaging effects of meth and other drugs is the centerpiece of the From Drugs to Mugs program that will be presented at the Goldendale High School gym on March 23, at 6 p.m.
Multnomah County Sheriff’s deputy Bret King will present a video that includes before and after pictures of people who have become addicted to methamphetamines. The pictures document the physical damage caused by the drug and are intended to tell the true story about drugs. Students and parents are encouraged to attend the program sponsored by the Goldendale Police Department and the Klickitat County Meth Action Team.
Deputy King began documenting before and after pictures in 2004 as he worked at the Multnomah County jail. The video has been updated to include information on other drugs, such as cocaine, heroin and marijuana. The program is designed to help families deal with pressure to use drugs and avoid the destruction drug addiction causes families.
Stolen property recovered
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
A break came on several burglary cases in the Goldendale area when Sherman County Sheriff’s Department arrested a Goldendale man. Goldendale Police and Klickitat County Sheriff’s Departments were notified of an arrest on Sunday following investigation of theft from the Pilot Travel Center at Biggs. The investigation took Sherman County Sheriff’s deputies to an abandoned service station west of Biggs where stolen property was found. The Goldendale Police have identified tires, rims, and a torque wrench stolen from Goldendale Tire Factory and several pieces of equipment taken from the Goldendale Rental Center. Also confiscated as evidence was the suspect’s pick-up truck and a number of skis and items believed to be from burglaries in the western portion of Klickitat County. The suspect’s name is being withheld while the investigation continues. Charges are yet to be filed in Klickitat County. |
