Work to implement a 2017 law allowing for industrial development along short-line rail lines such as the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad is back in discussion locally, though the major concerns about urban infrastructure in rural lands and the impacts such development will have on existing property owners remain.
During an Aug. 16 “council time” meeting, the Clark County Council discussed the latest information regarding implementing the law. The county has been considering allowing industrial development along part of the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad for years, encountering pushback from residents on the impacts such development would have.
A major consideration in front of the council is on whether or not urban sewer service can be extended to proposed development along the railroad.
When the county changed its comprehensive plan map to add an overlay where rail-dependent uses were allowed, it pulled from language in the state legislation that permitted those uses, Jose Alvarez, a planner for Clark County, said. County staff did not believe the language was clear enough to allow for sewer infrastructure, if that was the council’s intent.
“We would want to make an explicit exception to our policy to state that clearly, that this is an exception,” Alvarez said.
In general, the state’s Growth Management Act prevents extending sewer outside of cities, towns and their urban growth areas. Those areas are what cities may eventually annex and are intended for urban development.
The statewide act was amended in 2017, explicitly allowing extension of public utilities to serve schools sited in rural areas, Alvarez said. The county updated its own code in 2020, which permitted extension of sewer to two Battle Ground Public Schools buildings, Glenwood Heights Primary and Laurin Middle schools.
Those schools are close to what the county has already approved for where industrial uses would be allowed. In 2018, the County Council approved a roughly 300-acre area west of state Route 503 roughly between Northeast 149th and 119th streets along the rail line.
Although schools were allowed to have utility extensions, the question of allowances for uses such as the industrial development sought was still unclear, according to county staff.
Clark County Councilor Gary Medvigy said he wanted to see the proposal provided by an advisory group created back in 2018 when the county was first considering implementation.
“It went through a pretty public process. It had all the stakeholders in it,” Medvigy said.
That group proposed expanding the area where rail-dependent industrial uses would be allowed. That included properties to the east of the current overlay, eventually becoming adjacent with the railroad south of Northeast 159th Street in the northernmost area.
Clark County Community Planning Director Oliver Orjiako noted going back to the advisory group’s recommendation would require more work to see if the proposed changes would be allowed. County staff based their latest analysis over direction they received from the council in May.
Councilor Sue Marshall mentioned the possibility of a legal challenge on any major change to the county’s growth plan due to the rail-dependent uses implementation.
“I think there’s no question, there’s going to be a challenge no matter what,” Medvigy replied.
As to what projects may come, the uncertainty over the ability to extend sewer service remained a major factor. Clark County Manager Kathleen Otto said she learned through Columbia River Economic Development Council President and CEO Jennifer Baker that, of the roughly two dozen businesses that were initially eyeing development along the railroad, all required wastewater treatment facilities on some level.
Marshall said the issue with sewer allowance reinforced her opinion that the legislation as passed needed to go back to Olympia for a fix before it could be properly used.
“This is just basically flawed,” Marshall said.
Councilor Glen Yung’s major concern was over mitigating impacts that any potential industry would have on those living in the area.
“I think we need to have that fleshed out and really dialed in to figure out how that mitigation is going to be [monitored],” he said.
Yung said he has not seen anything on how property owners near the railroad will be affected by increased train traffic. He believed the rail-dependent uses could be implemented, but he didn’t want to move too fast on the project. He also was concerned over the revelation that all potential industry so far would need sewer utilities.
“From what it sounds like … we could move forward, give this whole thing a green light, and not have any industry come in because sewer is not allowed,” Yung said.
Unlike Yung, Medvigy wanted to proceed as quickly as the county could to implement work that first began roughly six years ago.
“I want to move on the fastest-possible schedule because this has been languishing for so many years,” Medvigy said.
The progress that the majority of the council wanted to see will likely still take a while. Doing the work that adjusted the existing area where rail-dependent uses were allowed, and allowing for sewer infrastructure were changes only able to happen with the ongoing periodic update to the county’s comprehensive growth plan, which is set to be approved in 2025, county attorney Christine Cook said.
“Development regulations can be amended before then, but just not the plan,” Cook said.
