> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 🏛️ Skamania BOCC & Planning Commission Meeting Recap – July 15, 2025 - URL: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/skamania-bocc-planning-commission-meeting-recap-july-15-2025/ - Published: 2025-07-21T20:59:46.000Z - Updated: 2025-07-21T20:59:46.000Z - Description: Commissioners advanced bridge repairs, housing, and health efforts, while planners held a key hearing to zone 2,000+ acres in Underwood—ending years of legal limbo over unzoned land. Catch up on land use, infrastructure, and rural development updates. - Author: Dispatch Squatch - Tags: Skamania County Board of Commissioners, Skamania County Planning Commission, Skamania County County commissioners met on Tuesday to address a wide range of infrastructure, health, and administrative topics. Highlights include bridge projects, housing updates, and long-range planning efforts. Skamania Planning Commission met to decide on some unzoned parcels in Underwood. ### 🔹 Consent Agenda Approvals Commissioners approved several contracts and resolutions, including: - A **GIS software agreement** with ESRI - A contract for **litter cleanup** with the Dept. of Ecology - A new **Community Action Plan update** - A prospectus for a **2026 high-cost bridge inspection** - An agreement to share **public works services** with the City of Stevenson - A contract for **Medicare outreach** with the Area Agency on Aging & Disabilities ### 🏗 Public Works & Development Public Works Director David Waymire gave detailed updates on dozens of ongoing projects: - Road construction and slide stabilization on **Wind River Road**, **Washougal River Road**, and **Baker Road** - **Bridge inspections**, guardrail upgrades, and speed limit studies - Continued **building inspections**, **code enforcement**, and **septic system** monitoring - Fire Marshal’s **recreation burn ban** on the east side of the county - Progress on **fairgrounds WiFi upgrades** and **equipment deliveries** for Solid Waste ### 🏥 Community Health Updates Community Health Director Tamara Cissell reported on: - Regional meetings related to **behavioral health**, **emergency preparedness**, and **developmental disabilities** - Ongoing outreach to expand the **Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board** - Participation in homelessness and housing strategy discussions ### 🏠 Housing & Land Use The Board heard from the **Columbia Cascade Housing Corporation** on the Carson Community Land Trust project, which aims to develop permanently affordable housing. Planning staff also noted that **zoning updates in Underwood** are underway, with a public hearing scheduled the same evening (July 15) to address previously unmapped parcels. ### 🏛 Executive & Financial Sessions Several executive sessions were held regarding **employee performance evaluations**. Commissioners also held a **workshop with Skamania EMS, the Prosecutor’s Office, and the Treasurer** to explore using Encumbered Lands funds to support **Hospital District #1**. Full meeting packet: [https://www.skamaniacounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/16641/638877559739100000](https://www.skamaniacounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/16641/638877559739100000?ref=skamania-dispatch.ghost.io) --- ## 🗺️ Planning Commission Zoning Hearing – Underwood Parcels On the evening of July 15, the Skamania County Planning Commission held a public hearing to review zoning proposals for **over 2,000 acres of previously unmapped land** in Underwood. These parcels had gone unzoned for years due to the now-cancelled Whistling Ridge Energy Project, and were effectively without land use restrictions. ### ⚖️ Legal Background: The zoning of Underwood’s unmapped lands has been a **point of legal contention for nearly a decade**. Since **2015**, **Friends of the Columbia Gorge** has sued Skamania County multiple times for failing to zone these parcels, arguing it created loopholes for development inconsistent with the Gorge’s management plan. One of their lawsuits resulted in a 2020 appeals court ruling requiring the county to adopt protective zoning for these lands. 🔗 Columbian coverage of the legal case (2020) ### 🧭 Zoning Recommendations: Staff proposed rezoning the affected parcels as follows: - **426 acres** designated *Residential 10* (Broughton Lumber and State of WA) - **1,662 acres** designated *Commercial Resource Lands 40* (including holdings by TCT Columbia) This plan, which balances residential with commercial zoning at about a 20/80 split, would bring the final portion of Underwood’s privately owned lands under zoning oversight, aligning with the **Conservancy** designation in the county’s Comprehensive Plan—focused on protecting natural resources, forests, and rural working lands. ### 🌲 Background: The zoning effort began in 2016 and was mostly completed by 2019, but these last parcels remained exempt under state energy siting rules. With the Whistling Ridge project officially terminated in 2024, the county is now finalizing its long-running land-use mapping. ### 🗳️ Results: The recommended 20/80 split between R10 Residential and CRL-40 Commercial Resource Lands recommended by staff for these unzoned acres was passed in a 3-2 vote. Full meeting packet: [https://www.skamaniacounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/16643/638880799239630000](https://www.skamaniacounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/16643/638880799239630000?ref=skamania-dispatch.ghost.io) --- ### 📅 Next BOCC Meeting The next regular meeting of the **Skamania County Board of Commissioners** is scheduled for: 🗓 **Tuesday, July 22, 2025** 🕘 **9:30 AM** 📍 Skamania County Courthouse – Room 18 (Lower Level), 240 NW Vancouver Ave, Stevenson, WA 💻 Join via Zoom: [https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88906321210](https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88906321210?ref=skamania-dispatch.ghost.io) 📞 Dial-in: 1 (346) 248-7799 | Meeting ID: 889 0632 1210 📬 Submit written comments by **Monday at noon** to: sackos@co.skamania.wa.us