Columbia River Gorge Commission working to expedite rebuilding process by making National Scenic Area Management Plan more 'victim-friendly' after fires
THE GORGE — The Columbia River Gorge Commission held an information session at the Lyle Community Center on Oct. 2 for people who lost their homes in the Burdoin and Rowena fires, all of which were located in the National Scenic Area.
This is the first fire with major home loss in the National Scenic Area since the Management Plan was adopted in 1991. The plan's provisions for rebuilding a home in the Scenic Area after a disaster were prohibitively strict and the commission is now going through the process to change the plan to be more victim-friendly.
Gorge Commission Executive Director Krystyna Wolniakowski outlined one of the major changes planned: "If you want to build pretty much the type of home you had, the square footage, we allow some extra square footage," she said, "maybe 10 to 20 percent — and that would go through what we call an expedited review. A normal review can be anywhere from 4-6 months, but an expedited review can be as short as 1-2 months."
Other changes include extending the period to apply for a permit to rebuild from 2 years to 10; allowing people to live on their property in temporary quarters, such as an RV, manufactured home or yurt, until they can rebuild; and putting in temporary accessory structures such as sheds for storage while they are in the rebuilding process.
The commission also acknowledged that many of the houses lost were manufactured homes and that design standards have changed to the point where it would be difficult to find replacements of the same design; another proposed change would allow some flexibility on such standards as wall height.
The detailed proposals are available on the Gorge Commission's website and will be voted on by the commission at its Nov. 12 meeting. Comments or questions on the draft changes will be accepted until that meeting, but people are urged to make them by Oct. 22, which will give the staff time to process and respond to some of the questions.
Comments or questions may be emailed to publiccomment@gorgecommission.org or mailed to the Gorge Commission at Post Office Box 730, White Salmon, WA 98672.
Once the commission votes its approval, there are still some more hoops to jump through on the federal level and local counties will have to adopt matching ordinances. At this point, they're estimating the new rules will be fully in place in five to seven months.
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