🖥 The Data Center Moratorium Next Door - Skamania BOCC August '26

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🏛 August 2026 Skamania County Commissioners Round-Up

Agencies Covered: Skamania County Board of Commissioners (regular meetings August 18 and August 25, plus August 11 items not previously reported)

The Bottom Line: On August 18 the Board adopted a moratorium on data center development, first by motion and then as Resolution 2026-22, both unanimous, after eight people asked for one. A week later Public Works said the county had received zero applications for a data center.

The Vibe: Quick and unanimous on the big question, then back to roads, contracts and fire. "We get the facts first," one speaker said shortly before the first vote.

🔎 What Changed

• The Board adopted a moratorium on data center development on August 18, by motion during meeting updates and again as Resolution 2026-22 at the end of the meeting.
• A five-year Motorola Flex subscription for the Sheriff's Office, $442,800 for 2027 through 2031, was workshopped August 25 and approved September 1.
• The Board appointed Paul Goins and Billy Wenz to the two vacant District 2 Planning Commission seats on September 1.
• Paid military leave for county employees went from 15 workdays a calendar year to 21 workdays a military fiscal year.
• The 2027-2029 labor agreements approved August 11 carry raises of 4, 3 and 3 percent and a smaller sick-leave bank for anyone hired from January 1, 2027.

⚠ What Escalated

• One commenter asked the county to formally endorse or sign on to a state-level effort to introduce statewide data-center moratorium legislation in 2027.
• A speaker told the Board on August 18 that the county had largely subsidized the cities' emergency management, and that as costs rose the county needed to talk to the cities about some buy-in.
• Three lightning fires were burning on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in mid-August, one of them, the High Lava Fire, in Skamania County.
• A judge upheld the state's wider stream buffers on August 21, a ruling against the side the Board voted in May to support in a friend-of-the-court brief. On September 3 she put the rule on hold pending appeal.

🧭 What's Next

• October 17, 2026: 60 days after August 18. State law requires a hearing within 60 days on a moratorium adopted without one. The Board heard on August 18 it would probably come October 13; its minutes through September 9 set no date.
• End of September 2026: the Board was told at its August 25 financial management presentation that county budget meetings would begin then.
• January 1, 2027: the new labor agreements and sick-leave rules take effect, and the Motorola Flex term begins.

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Skamania County Board of Commissioners

⏸ A Moratorium on Data Centers, Adopted Twice in One Day

• Motion, August 18, during meeting updates: Commissioner Robert Farris moved and Commissioner Asa Leckie seconded "to approve a Moratorium on data center development in the county." Unanimous.
• Resolution, same day, before adjournment: Farris moved and Leckie seconded "Resolution 2026-22 - Moratorium on Data Centers." Unanimous. The motion was to adopt it "for the data center moratorium that we voted on earlier."
• How it got on the table: data centers were not on the agenda. At agenda approval a speaker proposed "a discussion on having planning a look at data centers," and the Board took it up under meeting updates.
• The text: the county posted Resolution 2026-22 on its 2026 resolutions page.
• Applications on file as of August 25: none. "So just for the record, we have had zero applications for a data center," Public Works Director David Waymire told the Board that day.

Skamania County got to this question fast. Eight people came to public comment on August 18 to ask for a pause, and by the end of the meeting the Board had voted twice (Columbia Gorge News reported the vote on August 31). Later that day, Klickitat County took the other road and steered a moratorium request toward a policy statement. On August 25 a commissioner said, after fielding phone calls, that among county elected officials "that I know of," "nobody is involved in discussions with any corporation about data centers." The moratorium, the commissioner said, was "a response to other questions in the community that these data centers seem to pop out of nowhere at a rapid pace." On August 18 the Board heard the hearing would be "probably your october 13th meeting." Its minutes through September 9 record no hearing set.

🗣 Public Comment: Eight Voices for a Pause

Public comment opened with the Board's rule: "The Board will not answer questions or engage in discussion." Nine people spoke, in the room and online, under a three-minute limit. Eight of them came about data centers, and all eight supported a moratorium.

Their reasons overlapped. Speakers raised the electricity and water data centers use, noise and light, the county's limited land, and whether a small county has the resources to handle one. Several described a pause as time to get ready: to gather information and assess the impacts before an application arrives. One pointed to how long the West End adventure park proposal and the Storedahl quarry have taken as a reason to set rules first.

• Cindy Celese of the West End said a moratorium on accepting applications would give the county "breathing room to assess and get all the information we need."
• Keith asked for a moratorium until the county decides "if, where, and under what conditions" it would consider data centers.
• Doug Lovelace said the county does not have the resources to support them.
• Kristine of Underwood asked the county to formally endorse or sign on to a state-level effort to introduce statewide data-center moratorium legislation in 2027.
• Teresa Robin asked the Board to pause "long enough that we can assess it adequately."
• Alice Myers of Stabler and Mary Grode, online, said they supported a moratorium.
• Mary Repar of Stevenson, online, urged the Board to be "proactive in issuing a moratorium."

The Board also acknowledged written comment from Mitch Patton, which was not read aloud.

A different request, about the Assessor's Office. The first speaker, Traci Bowlby of Stevenson, came on her father's behalf about something else. She asked the Board to look at what safeguards apply when Assessor's Office staff change assessment records on property they own or have an interest in. She also said: "I'm not asking the board to assume these changes were improper. We are asking you to examine the county's own records and determine whether the appropriate safeguards are followed." She asked the Board "to determine who's authorized these changes, what controls were in place, was independent review required, did independent review occur, and what safeguards are being used to prevent conflicts of interest moving forward."

🧭 The Discussion Before the Vote

• Staff were already working on it. A speaker said Josh in Community Development had been "doing some research on what it would take to change our code to shore up the possibility of data centers coming in."
• Not a fit, but not immune. "I don't think it fits in our community, but at the same point I don't think that our community is immune to investors wanting to come in and explore," one speaker said. "I don't think we have the resources. I don't think we have the land."
• Beyond data centers. One speaker wanted to look past this one use, to "new technologies, battery storage and different things that way." The minutes record no direction to staff on other uses.
• The state, and the quarry. A speaker said "the state is having conversations with people we don't know about, about things that's coming in County, we're not involved," pointing to geothermal projects and the state siting process. The speaker went on: "I think we do something proactive that gives staff time to look at the impact of these issues. We get the facts first." The speaker tied it to the Storedahl quarry: once an application is in, "that binds us to certain procedures and processes. And I don't want to be in that situation. I would support a moratorium."
• The mechanics as the Board heard them. A speaker told the Board, "The RCW allows you to do a moratorium and you have 60 days. If you do it without public hearing, you have 60 days to schedule the public hearing. Same thing we did with the recreational code." Asked how long a moratorium lasts, the answer was six months, with another hearing to continue it. The Editor's Note below sets those statements beside the statute.

🔥 Three Fires and a Forest Update

Gifford Pinchot National Forest Supervisor Johanna Kovarik joined the August 18 meeting online and named three major fires on the forest: Skyo and Backbone, both near Packwood, and High Lava, northwest of Stabler, the one in Skamania County. Nevada Team 2, a Great Basin Type 3 incident team with personnel from Australia and New Zealand, took over the Backbone Fire on August 17 and was taking over High Lava on August 18.

Commissioner Leckie asked whether the fire work would delay project work on the forest. "No. Nope, not at this time," Kovarik said. On Mount St. Helens, WSDOT said in April that it expected to finish replacing the SR 504 bridge in fall 2026, and the Forest Service then has its own repairs to make before Johnston Ridge Observatory can reopen, possibly in 2027.

🚨 Emergency Management: Asking the Cities to Help

During meeting updates on August 18, a speaker reported going with the Sheriff to North Bonneville on August 11 "to discuss the emergency management contract." The speaker went on: "Some of the funding for emergency management has been decreased. The county has largely subsidized the cities on their emergency management services." With costs rising, the speaker said, "So we need to talk to the cities about there needs to be some buy-in on emergency management. I mean, always provide it, but there needs to be some help with that lift now."

🌲 Wind River Trust: Stacking Small Things

Jeff DeBell of the Wind River Trust, who told the Board he was moving from the Trust's board into a volunteer executive director role, led an August 18 workshop on the historic Wind River site. He said the Trust thinks about economic value to the county and community in three ways: direct revenue to the county, such as leases; more customers for local businesses; and jobs "that we can create up there."

• The old district ranger's residence was serving as a visitor information center, and a back bedroom was sublet to the Underwood Conservation District, which DeBell said earns the county a percentage under the Trust's lease.
• The old nursery office roof was worse than expected, a grant application for it had failed, and the Trust hoped to patch it before the rainy season.

DeBell also told a story about a cycling event across the creek. A Portland bike shop organized it, and the coffee shop there was from Portland too. "So I'm thinking, why can't this be from Carson or Stevenson? And the answer is just that they don't know each other, right?" "It's just stacking all these small things together that eventually has a larger impact," he said. A Clemson University landscape architecture group that has worked with the Trust before was set to visit September 17, the Board heard earlier in the meeting.

🧾 Motorola Flex: $442,800 Over Five Years

• What it is: the Sheriff's Office records and dispatch software, formerly called Spillman, moved to a five-year subscription.
• Price: $86,400 a year ($80,000 plus 8 percent tax). Year one is $97,200, adding a $10,000 Arc Pro migration plus tax. Total $442,800, January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2031.
• Approved: consent agenda, September 1, 2026.

At the August 25 workshop the Sheriff's Office presenter put the county's cost at "around $55,000 each year" and rising. The presenter said that after an arrest, deputies are "required to stand in booking for five to ten minutes in front of their custody and fill out an Excel spreadsheet." The new modules add mobile field reporting, barcode evidence tracking and dispatch backup during outages. A speaker asked: "only thirty thousand dollars more a year, correct?" A speaker suggested the county's budget process is a good time to decide which budget pays for it: the Sheriff's, E911's or IT's.

🗂 Planning Commission: Interviews and Two Appointments

The Board interviewed applicants in August for the Planning Commission's two vacant District 2 seats.

• Mary Repar, August 18. She said she had taken part in planning for the county comprehensive plan and two subarea plans. "The environment comes first to me," she said, and on housing: "Housing is policies. And if the policies are working against getting affordable housing, then we need to change those policies."
• Paul Goins, August 25. He said he retired after a 20-year military career and moved here in 2017, and he acknowledged "a learning curve" on planning. His framing question: "how do you build and develop to where we're able to move forward into the future, but still maintain that small town feel."
• Billy Wenz, August 25. He described himself as a lifelong county resident and Stevenson general contractor with almost 30 years in Portland commercial construction. "I think locals are really priced out of housing," he said, and he favored incentives for affordable housing, "to encourage it rather than force it."

On September 1 the Board interviewed a fourth applicant, Christy Parker. It then met for about 20 minutes in an executive session the minutes list under RCW 42.30.110(1)(g), "Qualifications of an Applicant for Public Employment." In open session, Leckie moved, Farris seconded, and the Board voted unanimously to appoint Paul Goins and Billy Wenz to the vacant positions.

🚧 Roads, Striping and the Launches

• Striping: Clark County's striping machine, which it normally brings to Skamania County's roads under an interlocal agreement, failed. On September 9 the Board approved a $34,528 contract with Specialized Pavement Marking of Tualatin, Oregon, the sole responsive bid of four contractors contacted. It covers 84 miles of centerline and 88.64 miles of fog line on arterials, major collectors and recently chip-sealed roads. The county supplies the paint and moved the $50,000 it normally budgets for the Clark County agreement to this contract.
• Wind River Road: on August 25 Waymire said pavement preservation was mobilizing just north of the slide repair, with the detour in use "through at least the middle of september if not longer."
• Grants (August 25): Rural Arterial Program applications for the Butler Eddy Bridge replacement and Wind River Road paving, and a prospectus amendment obligating the Washougal River Road construction phase, federally funded at $2,161,300.
• Boat launches: on August 25 Waymire said Public Works had made a map of passenger-car parking at Home Valley Park, shared through the Department of Fish and Wildlife with anglers and guides, so clients can park there and carpool to the launch. "Hopefully it helps, especially in Drano the way it shut down this year," he said.

🌳 Health, Forests and Housekeeping

Health officer. On August 25 Community Health Director Tamara Cissell told the Board that Dr. Brianna da Silva Bhatia was expected to be named Clark County's interim health officer. On August 26 the Clark County Board of Health appointed her, after Dr. Alan Melnick retired. Clark County Public Health began providing health officer services to Skamania County under contract in 2019, and The Columbian reported that her role extends to Skamania.

Stream buffers. On August 25 a commissioner updated the Board on the lawsuit over the state's wider buffers along streams without fish on Western Washington timberland. The Board voted in May to join a friend-of-the-court brief in that case (Resolution 2026-14). On August 21, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Schaller upheld the rule. In her remarks, the Chinook Observer reported, she called an amicus brief "pretty powerful to help the court understand the significant impact." She set a September 4 hearing on a stay, then on September 3 canceled it and put the rule on hold pending an appeal by the timber groups that brought the case.

The roadless rule. Repar was the only public commenter on August 25. She called the Forest Service's roadless proposal "unacceptable and very dangerous," cited a Saturday talk by forest ecologist Chad Hanson of the John Muir Project, and asked for "a community discussion about thinning projects in our community." The proposal, published August 20, 2026, would rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, with a September 21, 2026 comment deadline. Later, in reports, a commissioner said: "I would rather the fire be put out at an acre and not choke on smoke in my backyard through the summer. And that's why I think the roadless rule needs to go away."

Also on August 25: the Board added a letter appointing North Bonneville Mayor JB Tennison to the cities' seat on the Mid-Columbia Economic Development District board. It approved a senior transportation contract amendment ($90,595.50 plus a $1,453.32 county match) and revisions to the county's military leave and military spouse leave policies. The county described the changes as aligning the policies with current state and federal law. The policy cites RCW 38.40.060, which provides up to 21 days of paid military leave in each year running October 1 to September 30. Vouchers: $302,434.95. On August 18: the Board approved a prospectus amendment for the 2023 Regulatory Signs and Guardrail Project, whose construction phase is federally funded at $1,622,000. It also approved three 2026-2027 state contracts for Superior Court, covering volunteer advocates for children in dependency cases, public defense improvements, and appointed attorneys in guardianship cases, and a Hatchery Bridge easement from the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Vouchers: $249,359.96. Payroll: $779,817.78.

📎 From August 11: What the Contracts Say

We reported on August 20 that the Board approved three labor packages on August 11 without debate. Here is what they contain, along with consent items that did not run then.

• Raises: both OPEIU Local 11 agreements (the Public Works unit and the managers unit) run from 2027 through 2029, with general wage increases of 4 percent on January 1, 2027, 3 percent in 2028 and 3 percent in 2029. Non-represented employees get cost-of-living adjustments on the same schedule.
• Longevity: under the new schedule, longevity pay starts in the 61st month of service, in five tiers from $29.16 to $208.33 per pay period, capped at $700 to $5,000 a year.
• Sick leave, by hire date: employees hired before January 1, 2027 can bank up to 1,000 hours, plus the extra hours state law requires, and anyone already above 1,000 hours keeps them. They can cash out up to 1,000 hours at retirement or death, or when they leave after 20 years of service for a reason other than a layoff. Anyone hired on or after that date gets a 500-hour bank on the same state-law terms and a payout of half their balance, at most 250 hours.
• Northwestern Lake Park: a nonbinding letter of understanding with The Conservation Fund. The Fund would buy the 6.20-acre park on the White Salmon River from PacifiCorp and sell it to the county, with a state appropriation paying for it. The estimated closings were August 15 and September 15, 2026. The county commits to a deed restriction keeping it a public park, to working with the Yakama Nation and the Forest Service on agreements to guide management of the lower White Salmon River, and to a right of first offer to the Forest Service if the county ever sells. Public access and recreation would remain the park's purpose under any future owner. It puts in writing the plan commissioners described in June.
• Courthouse windows: Public Works has grant funding to replace all 150 window panels in 28 openings. Sealed bids were set to open September 10.
• North Bonneville interlocal: the city can ask county Public Works and Community Development for help project by project, paying actual costs plus 15 percent overhead, through 2029 with automatic renewals, and the county takes only work it has room for. The city adopted its side in July.
• Also approved: a Camp Wa-Ri-Ki lease change moving the Vancouver Kiwanis Club's rent from $100 a year to a three-year average of the county's actual costs, first due March 1, 2027; 16 Washington Conservation Corps weed crew days ($25,360); a $12,570.75 patrol-vehicle repair; a Washington Traffic Safety Commission agreement funding Sheriff's Office traffic safety emphasis patrols; a memorandum of understanding letting the Duggan Falls Water System place battery- and solar-powered monitoring equipment on a power pole at Camp Wa-Ri-Ki; an amendment extending a supported employment and community inclusion services contract with W.R. Business Directions for the developmental disabilities program; and vouchers of $176,897.67.

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⚠️ Editor's Notebook: Broader Context

• What state law says about a moratorium adopted before a hearing. Washington lets a county board adopt a moratorium without holding a hearing first. It must then hold a public hearing within 60 days of adoption, and adopt findings of fact justifying the moratorium, either before that hearing or immediately after it (RCW 36.70.795; the Growth Management Act's version, RCW 36.70A.390, says the same on these points). It can last up to six months, or up to a year if a work plan for related studies is developed, and can be renewed six months at a time, each time after a new hearing and findings of fact. On August 18 one speaker said the Board had 60 days "to schedule the public hearing," and other statements said the hearing itself had to happen within 60 days. None mentioned findings of fact or the one-year option. Sixty days from August 18 is Saturday, October 17, and October 13 is the last regular Tuesday meeting inside that window.
• The county has adopted a moratorium before. On October 24, 2023, the Board adopted Resolution 2023-37, a moratorium on recreational use permits, after West End residents objected to a proposed adventure park (Camas-Washougal Post-Record).

🛠 Jargon Buster

• Moratorium: a temporary stop on accepting or approving certain applications while a government writes rules. In Washington a county can adopt one before holding a hearing. It must hold a hearing within 60 days and adopt findings of fact justifying it, either before that hearing or immediately after it.
• Findings of fact: the written reasons a government adopts to justify a decision.
• Rural Arterial Program (RAP): a state County Road Administration Board grant program for rural roads.
• Friend-of-the-court (amicus) brief: a filing by someone who is not a party to a lawsuit, offering the court information or argument.

📅 How to Join & Learn More

• Meetings: the Board meets Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. in the Commissioners' Meeting Room, Skamania County Courthouse, 240 NW Vancouver Ave., lower level, Stevenson. Seating is limited. When a holiday falls on Monday, the regular meeting moves to Wednesday that week, as it did on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, for Labor Day.
• Remote access: Zoom at https://us04web.zoom.us/j/6276698258, or by phone at 1 346 248 7799, meeting ID 627 669 8258.
• Public comment: three minutes per speaker at the start of each meeting.
• Written comment: to appear on the posted agenda, send it to the Clerk of the Board by noon on the Wednesday before the meeting. To be acknowledged at the meeting, send it by noon the day before; later comments carry over to the following week. Clerk of the Board: P.O. Box 790, Stevenson, WA 98648; roni.emerson@skamaniacounty.gov; (509) 427-3706.
• Records: agendas, minutes and audio recordings are posted on the county's Board of Commissioners meeting page, and adopted resolutions on the Commissioners' resolutions page.
• This report was cross-checked against notes from Columbia Gorge Documenters, powered by Uplift Local, CC-BY-4.0.