WASHOUGAL — Months after denying a proposal from a Ridgefield-based mining company to designate a private road in rural Washougal as a public thoroughfare, the Clark County Council gave the request a second look.
But after nearly three hours of public testimony and discussion Dec. 2, the council stuck with its original decision.
In July, the county council unanimously voted against the request from ZP#5 LLC, a company controlled by Judith Zimmerly. The council’s vote kept private Southeast 356th Avenue — which begins at Southeast Evergreen Highway and runs north for about 2,220 feet before ending at the surface mine often referred to as the Washougal Pit.
The paved, private road east of the Washougal city limits provides access to the Washougal Pit, along with eight residential properties.
Council Chair Gary Medvigy had asked the council to revisit the road dedication request Oct. 30, after expressing misgivings about his original vote.
At the end of the Dec. 2 hearing, Councilor Sue Marshall recommended letting the previous decision stand.
“I think there are a number of questions that just can’t be answered now because fundamentally, this is premature in coming to the council,” she said.
“The repeated efforts to pawn this road off on Clark County like a bad penny are shocking but not surprising, given (the company’s) past track record of illegal mining, brazen land-use violations, and disregard for the community and the National Scenic Area,” said attorney Nathan Baker, who represents the advocacy group Friends of the Columbia Gorge. “The county engineer and the rest of the county staff have astutely recommended that the county should not consider making this a public road until after any mining and reclamation at the site are completed, and the county council unanimously adopted that position in July. That should remain the county’s position.”
Zimmerly filed a proposal with the county in 2021 to designate Southeast 356th Avenue a public mining-haul road in an effort to resume mining operations at the Washougal Pit, which was illegally mined by the Nutter Corporation from late summer 2017 until the summer of 2020.
The original road-change proposal received more than 80 public comments from residents, who voiced strong concerns about the impact of the redesignation.
“Acceptance of the dedication of this private road for establishment of a public road is premature,” Public Works Director Ken Lader told the council during its July 16 meeting. “The appropriate time for this process is post-reclamation of the Washougal Pit. Conversion of the road will require a full land-use review, and due to current land ownership, successful establishment of the public road is unlikely without condemnation.”
The county did not include the road in its six-year Transportation Improvement Program and has no plans to further develop the road.
Baker said he believes the proposal has numerous issues, including the fact that ZLP#5 does not own the entire road.
Washougal resident Allan Johnston said the county is not facing a road issue, but rather an “are we going to open the mine again?” issue.
“The legal ramifications of that mine are horrendous,” Johnston said. “The environmental ramifications are horrendous. The tourist impact is horrendous. You put another 100 trucks on that road with the new roundabouts, and you’ve got a mess.”
