Clark County has decided to withdraw determinations for two surface mining overlays on about 376 acres of land.
On April 5, the county announced it withdrew a “determination of non-significance” for both the Chelatchie Bluffs and Cardai Hill surface mining overlays. That determination meant the county found the addition of the overlays was “not likely to have a significant adverse environmental impact,” according to state law. The determination meant an in-depth environmental review was not required.
The Chelatchie Bluff property is 330 acres southeast of the intersection of Northeast Healy Road and Northeast 424th Street. The Cardai Hill property is 46 acres near Cardai Hill Road across the Lewis River from Woodland.
The Chelatchie Bluff surface mining overlay received its determination on Dec. 1, 2021. The prior year, Granite Construction Company and BRP Minerals LLC applied for an expansion of the county’s overlay onto property adjacent to a roughly 43-acre parcel that already had the designation.
In July 2022, the Clark County Council approved the overlay expansion. Two months later, a local land use group named Friends of Clark County appealed the decision to the state’s Growth Management Hearings Board.
On March 22, the board struck down the overlay expansion because the county did not provide an environmental impact statement. Not completing that environmental review “places at risk 330 acres of environmentally sensitive lands by authorizing mineral extraction without an adequate analysis and consideration of the potential adverse environmental impacts of this action,” the ruling stated.
The determination of non-significance for the Cardai Hill overlay came Nov. 28, 2022. The following month, the Clark County Planning Commission voted to recommend the denial of the overlay expansion during a meeting where concerned neighbors and Woodland’s community development director spoke in opposition of the move.
Though the planning commission voted against its approval, the final decision would have been in the hands of the Clark County Council.
It was the Growth Management Hearings Board’s ruling on the Chelatchie Bluff overlay expansion that led to the determination of non-significance to be dropped for both Chelatchie and Cardai Hill.
“Clark County has determined that the proposal is likely to have a significant adverse impact on the environment,” a county webpage on the Cardai Hill overlay project stated.
The withdrawal of the determinations doesn’t end the possibility of surface mining overlays at the locations. The projects need to go through the environmental review process before the county can make a decision.
That process requires a review of impacts to geological hazards, noise, vibration, traffic, air and water quality, among others, according to the request for comments for each of the projects.
The deadline for the comment period is April 26.
