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In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
Clark County Councilor Tom Mielke’s recall petition against three fellow councilors will not go on.
A visiting Cowlitz County Superior Court judge, Stephen Warning, dismissed on Friday a series of allegations by Mielke, a Republican, against Council Chair Marc Boldt, no party preference, and Republican Councilors Julie Olson and Jeanne Stewart.
None of the allegations, he said, met the legal or factual requirements for a recall petition.
“I’m happy it was resolved,” Boldt said after the morning hearing. “I think it was very thorough, and it’s good that it’s final.”
Read more about the judge’s dismissal of Mielke’s recall petition.
Conservative political activist Christian Berrigan says he still wishes to withdraw a referendum petition he filed last month to Clark County’s 20-year Comprehensive Growth Management Plan, despite no longer facing the threat of attorneys’ fees.
During a hearing Friday, Berrigan told Superior Court Judge David Gregerson that he is confused as to why the case is going forward and would like to dismiss it.
Berrigan pulled his referendum petition after learning that the county would pursue attorneys’ fees against him. He hand-delivered a letter declaring he was withdrawing his petition to Elections Supervisor Cathie Garber on Wednesday. He also called Deputy Prosecutor Chris Horne, he said, and left a message asking that he move for a joint dismissal.
Horne told the court Friday that the county is no longer pursuing attorneys’ fees in the case. But that did not sway Berrigan’s decision. Horne said he is also unsure if the petition can simply be withdrawn, because there are 136 valid citizen signatures to take into account. Gregerson proposed setting the hearing over to 1:30 p.m. Aug. 5. If none of the signers oppose the petition being withdrawn, then it may be resolved at that time.
Read more about Berrigan’s attempt to withdraw his referendum petition.
A federal court on Friday affirmed the recognition of the Cowlitz Tribe, preserving its reservation near La Center and the $510 million casino resort being built there.
“The Cowlitz Indian Tribe scored another important victory today when the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed ‘in its entirety’ a court ruling that the Secretary of the Interior properly exercised her authority when she created the Cowlitz Indian Reservation,” Cowlitz tribal Chairman Bill Iyall said in a statement. “After 150 years of landlessness, the federal government and the federal courts have confirmed our right to this reservation.”
The case against the Cowlitz’s federal recognition and jurisdiction was initially launched by the city of Vancouver, Clark County, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, Citizens Against Reservation Shopping — a group that includes Columbian Publisher Scott Campbell — and owners and operators of La Center’s cardrooms. The groups sought to block the Cowlitz casino and resort by challenging the tribe’s status as well as its 152-acre reservation under the Indian Reorganization Act, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
On Friday, the appeals court upheld a 2014 ruling from the U.S. District Court dismissing their arguments.
“The Cowlitz are a ‘recognized Indian tribe now under federal jurisdiction,’ ” wrote Circuit Judge Robert L. Wilkins.
Read more about the ruling in the Cowlitz Tribe’s federal appeal.
Real estate agent Tracie DeMars pulled her car up to a small, one-level house set back from the street in the Fruit Valley neighborhood. When it was built in 1942, the two-bedroom, one-bath house with 828 square feet was an average-size new home.
“This is what many buyers want: a nuclear ranch with a little bit of yard,” said DeMars with Re/Max Equity Group. “If a house is decent and in good shape, it’s going to move fast.”
Lightning speed is more accurate.
Clark County’s real estate market for smaller homes is sizzling. Small pre-owned homes are receiving multiple offers and most often for more than the asking price. Those multiple offers are made within days of the house being listed, and sometimes within hours. This feeding frenzy happens not only in the gentrifying downtown neighborhoods, but also in some of Vancouver’s poorest neighborhoods: Fruit Valley, Rose Village and Harney.
There simply aren’t enough smaller, affordable homes on the market, DeMars said.
Read more about the demand for small homes in Clark County.
Also, see a related story: Developers start to think small in Clark County.
STARVATION CREEK STATE PARK, Ore. — Kelly Punteney has a keen eye for great rocks.
Most rocks don’t get the time of day from the Vancouver landscape architect, who points out irregularities and imperfections on chunks of rubble piled beside the freeway. Bumps and bulges have rendered these specimens 4-F. They’ll find some less-visible place in this project — but not this appealing wall near the trailhead.
Aesthetics aren’t the only problem. “Rockery” walls that don’t get mortared together need broad, flat slabs for stable stacking. Rules and regulations require it, Punteney noted, with specific weights and dimensions mandatory as you go from base to top — and with construction inspectors spot-checking the work almost daily.
“Keeping everybody happy is a challenge,” Punteney said. “You save yourself labor when you pick the right pieces up front.”
Punteney is the rock-project manager for Colf Construction, a storied Clark County firm and the general contractor now hurrying to complete a new, paved, 1.32-mile segment of the Historic Columbia River Highway and State Trail. That’s an ambitious, decadeslong, state-and-federal effort to reconnect and update the entire 74-mile length of the nation’s first scenic motorway, on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge, as a paved, all-access route for use by long-haul cyclists and pedestrians. (Some segments will also remain open to motor traffic.)
The work has been incremental, based on available funding and the complexity of the engineering. It will be years before the last interruption in the old highway, which runs all the way from Troutdale to The Dalles, has been removed. When that does happen, former Hood River Mayor Arthur Babitz has predicted (in a promotional video at http://bit.ly/29VGa5D), the route will be transformed from “a series of day trips” for local residents to “an international destination” for visitors.
Meanwhile, this $3 million, 1.32-mile slice of the sprawling project — Lindsey Creek to Starvation Creek — is expected to open in September, with a dedication ceremony set for Sept. 24.
Read more about the Columbia River Highway project.
