LONGVIEW — The Cowlitz County commissioners Tuesday rescinded the state of emergency in housing and homelessness declared more than five years ago in part to avoid adopting stormwater regulations required by the state.
Commissioner Arne Mortensen said he proposed taking the declaration off the books because it has been in place for too long and the situation hasn’t improved.
“I want to step back and from a distance look and see, have we solved the problem, are we making headway?” he said. “We still have a problem. I’m not sure it’s been reduced in any way, shape or form, or we wouldn’t be struggling as we are struggling.”
Commissioner Dennis Weber said while he agrees it’s time to rescind the emergency, the county has made some progress in addressing housing and homelessness. In the last five years, the commissioners changed zoning requirements to encourage accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, and recently allocated funding to two affordable housing projects — the Campus Towers expansion and Sunrise Village, he said.
The county has also seen several new subdivisions and apartment complexes built over the years, Weber said.
“I think the times have shown what was an emergency five years ago, given policies to address those things … is not nearly the same problem,” he said.
Mortensen said although Weber is correct in what the county has done over the years, the commissioners didn’t need the emergency in place to take those actions.
Commissioner Rick Dahl said emergency declarations should be for major disasters and not based on economic factors.
Although the declaration is focused on homelessness and the lack of housing, the commissioners passed it in 2017 as part of an attempt to delay adopting state stormwater regulations, according to TDN archives.
In June 2017, the commissioners requested an exemption in adopting statewide stormwater regulations that required developments in urban areas adding 2,000 feet of hard surface to include measures to manage stormwater.
Weber was concerned that the regulations would increase building costs and limit housing construction, exacerbating the county’s homeless problem. Mortensen objected to the regulations as government overreach and a financial burden for developers.
The state Department of Ecology rejected the exemption request, so the following month, the commissioners passed the emergency declaration in a 2-1 vote, with former Commissioner Joe Gardner opposed.
The declaration directed staff to support efforts of the Homeless Housing Task Force to develop recommendations to address the emergency, including a review of the proposed stormwater regulations, and direct staff to request a delay in the adoption of the stormwater regulations.
A week later, the commissioners adopted the rules after Weber spoke with Ecology and learned the state’s requirements are eased in diked areas, landslide areas and locations with steep slopes, according to TDN archives. Most of the unincorporated county’s urbanized area falls under those categories.
The commissioners had to pass the ordinance by the end of July or face possible state fines. Cowlitz was the last county to adopt the rules.
Weber said Tuesday the amount of new apartments being built around the county shows developers are finding a way around past stormwater-related cost barriers.
“It’s been pretty amazing to watch all the construction going on,” Weber told TDN. “It will eventually provide more affordable housing as people who have the ability can move to more expensive housing.”
Along with the concerns about the stormwater rules, the emergency declaration also came about because of the lack of building permits issued at the time, especially for apartments, Weber said.
While rents remain high, the situation was worse when the county was not seeing any new housing following the recession in 2007 through 2009, Weber said.
