HUSUM — “I drive this road at least twice a day, sometimes more,” said Steve Morrow, who lives on Oak Ridge Road in rural Klickitat County. Morrow has written to the county and spoken out about the two-mile gravel portion of the road’s sharp corners and 6-foot drop-offs.
“The curves demand the most attention, especially in the summer when the vegetation makes it hard to see oncoming traffic,” he said. “I personally slow considerably and might even crack my window to listen for oncoming traffic. If it’s a bus or logging truck, I’ll stop and let them round the corner.”
For four years, groups of Husum residents have opposed Montana-based Under Canvas and their plan to build a luxury “glamping” resort on a 119-acre former Weyerhaeuser site along Oak Ridge Road. At the forefront of this opposition are Dennis and Bonnie White, who live just southeast of the Under Canvas site. White estimates he’s spent about $80,000 on attorneys and expert witnesses in three years of litigation to block the resort’s conditional use permit.
“It’s unbelievable,” White said, laughing grimly.
White and his neighbors argue that their road, the only way in and out of the resort site, doesn’t meet the minimum safety standards required by Title 12 of the Klickitat County Code. While the county placed conditions on Under Canvas to meet the standard of a Fire Access Road, the diverging sides disagree over whether or not Oak Ridge Road already hits those benchmarks.
Under Canvas’s Vice President of Real Estate and Entitlements Caitlan Cullen said the company plans to make any and all improvements required by the county. “Conditions of approval for the project require minor improvements as seen fit by the reviewing parties, which Under Canvas will fulfill,” Cullen said in an emailed statement.
The concerned residents argue those improvements are anything but minor.
“Signs and extra gravel aren’t going to fix this,” Morrow said.
White believes the latest appeal might have a chance of gaining traction in court if the judge admits into evidence a detailed road survey conducted on behalf of the appellants by Tenneson Engineering, a division of AKS Engineering and Forestry.
He said, “The appellants hired a professional engineering and surveying firm, because we knew and we testified about the [inadequacy] of the road, but before that, there [was] never any engineering data that demonstrated the characteristics of the inadequacy of the road.”
Thus far, the Tenneson survey has not been admitted into evidence in court.
“It was my understanding that the Whites commissioned a study well after the time period had passed for admission of that evidence,” said Klickitat County Prosecuting Attorney David Quesnel, who is representing the county. “The hearing examiner made his determination. It was upheld by a superior court judge, it was upheld, again by the court of appeals.”
County used minimum road classification standard
Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn of the White Salmon Valley School district said the nearly two-mile gravel portion of Oak Ridge Road where school buses from his district travel “does not meet any road standard as defined by Klickitat County.”
Polkinghorn wrote to the Klickitat County Commissioners on Jan. 8, “The estimated increase in traffic on this section of Oak Ridge Road (from 47 average daily trips to an estimated 257 average daily trips) will create a safety hazard for our school buses. Our buses already have a difficult time navigating this section of road. With the added traffic, the safety of our students and staff is at risk.”
Clarifying that the school district does not support or oppose the advent of Under Canvas to Klickitat County, Polkinghorn asked the commissioners to consider improving the road to the standard of Local Access Road, a step up in classification from a Fire Access Road.
According to Klickitat County Code 12.30.020 2.F, a Fire Access Road is “a private road serving two to four lots,” requiring all horizontal curves to have a 55-foot center line radii and the capacity for 80,000-pound fire fighting apparatus in all weather, among other conditions.
A logging truck navigates a tight corner on Oak Ridge Road. The road is the only access to a proposed Under Canvas “glamping” site, and neighbors say it doesn’t meet Klickitat County’s minimum safety standards.
Contributed graphicLocal Access Roads “allow access to individual homes, shops, and similar traffic destinations,” states 12.20.020 E, requiring a minimum of 10 feet for travel lanes with 12 desirable (12.30.040 4), and 185 feet for horizontal curves with a 25 mph speed limit (12.30.030 2).
White argues the county “recognized that the road was inadequate, especially the curvature of the road, so they applied a Fire Access Road standard to it in order to get a Under Canvas their permit.”
Columbia Gorge News reached out to Klickitat County Public Works Director Jeff Hunter, who declined to comment. Planning Director Scott Edelman also declined to comment, but provided Columbia Gorge News with additional documents.
County officials testified in previous hearings that they found the road adequate for the resort’s projected traffic, affirming three traffic impact studies done by Under Canvas which were reviewed by an independent engineering firm.
In a 2021 SEPA hearing, Hunter testified that he would not issue final permits unless the road was widened to 20 feet in all areas, the minimum Fire Access Road standard. In his testimony, however, Hunter specifically referred to Oak Ridge Road as a “Local Access Road.”
The latest in series of appeals
After three years and three appeals, the Whites filed a Notice of Disqualification on April 11 to have a new judge hear their case. Under Canvas filed a reciprocal motion to quash this notice and keep Klickitat County Superior Court Judge Randall C. Krog.
In a previous ruling on April 25, 2022, Krog upheld a hearing examiner’s decision in favor of Under Canvas’s permit. After reviewing testimony from Under Canvas, county officials, Oak Ridge Road residents and expert witnesses, Krog ruled that Under Canvas had sufficiently proven its operations met county standards to receive their permit.
Appellants took the case all the way to the Washington State Court of Appeals, which ruled Oct. 11, 2023, to uphold Krog’s decision, with the exception of two of the appellants’ claims. The court said the hearing examiner failed to prove “… the property is suitable for the proposed use …” and whether “… public facilities and services are adequate for the proposed use,” according to court documents. The court ordered the appellants to pay Under Canvas’s legal fees.
After reviewing the briefing, the hearing examiner ordered not to reopen the record and admit the Tenneson survey into evidence. On Dec. 19, 2023, he issued a decision based on the July 29-30, 2023, public hearings to affirm Under Canvas’s conditional use permit. The Whites and Klickitat Land Protection Fund are appealing this decision.
The latest filings on April 29 aim to move the case to the Yakima Superior Court, arguing “the examiner effectively expanded the [Conditional Use Permit] record on remand, considering new evidence favorable to Under Canvas; but did not similarly expand the record to consider new evidence favorable to Petitioners.”
“The Whites have filed yet another lawsuit that we believe is frivolous and will be dismissed shortly,” Quesnel said.
Conflicting assessments of Oak Ridge Road
As part of Under Canvas’s permit application, a Portland-based engineering firm conducted a traffic impact study of Oak Ridge Road with a site visit on May 30, 2020. This report said, “The available roadway width can safely accommodate two vehicles (passenger vehicles, large commercial trucks and school buses) passing (one in each direction).”
In response to resident complaints later that year, the county hired Lacey-based engineering firm Skillings, Inc. to review DKS’s revised traffic impact study. Skillings found the general conditions of the road to be appropriate for its projected use.
However, the Skillings report notes, “One potential area that may [be] of further interest is consideration of the sight distances and geometric characteristics along segments of Oak Ridge Road where relatively tight radii currently exist, as well as potential sight distance issues at the skewed intersection of Oak Ridge Road and SR 141.”
The Tenneson survey focused on the turn radii of multiple tight curves in the gravel portion of the road.
According to the survey, approximately 5,000 feet of Oak Ridge Road is not wide enough to meet Klickitat County’s width requirements for a fire access road, the minimum standard of use. The survey also noted several issues with seeing around tight corners, and a lack of adequate turn radii for 80,000-pound firefighting vehicles.
“Measurements of the road width, whether the physical width or traveled width, in no way imply that the road will support the 80,000 pound design vehicle,” wrote Beseda in the survey documents. “I would find it unlikely that the entirety of the roadway meets the 80,000 pound design vehicle requirement, especially those areas that are outside of the traveled way.”
A major difference between the Tenneson survey and the DKS traffic impact studies is how road width was measured. While DKS measured road size at several points from the center of the road, the Tenneson survey measured width from the center of the traveled way. According to engineer Benjamin Beseda, who performed the survey, the “traveled way” is the visible roadway physically utilized by cars.
“I felt it was important, not just to measure the physical width of the gravel but find where the traffic truly drives on the road,” Beseda explained. “If you go out there and walk the road, you can see where the ground was more disturbed, because cars are on it frequently.”
Columbia Gorge News asked Beseda if this method is codified in survey engineering. “No, I don’t think so,” he replied. “To me, it didn’t make sense to just say, ‘I’m gonna map the middle of the gravel.’ I wanted to map the middle of where people drive. Another person may disagree with that, but that’s what seemed logical.”
Columbia Gorge News reached out to DKS to ask about the discrepancies between their 2020 traffic impact study and the Tenneson survey. DKS did not respond before print deadline.
Beseda explained that a traffic impact study is written by engineers to document traffic flows and identify potential vehicle flow problems, whereas a road survey does a detailed mapping of the road’s physical and geometric features.
“We’re mapping that entire width at regularly spaced intervals along the roadway; in curves somewhere like every 25 feet. If it’s a straight portion of a road, we’re doing it probably every 50 feet,” he said.
Neither the Klickitat County Planning Department nor the Public Works Department would clarify or comment on their methodology of road measurement for the purpose of designating a Fire Access Road. Quesnel brushed aside questions as to whether Under Canvas plans to make changes to the gravel portion of Oak Ridge Road in the future. “They are required to meet specifications of the Public Works Department on improvements of the road before final permits are issued,” he said.
Columbia Gorge News asked if the county had reviewed the Tenneson survey.
“I have no comment. I’m thoroughly aware of the record that was created during the litigation,” he said.
Morrow said if the county continues to treat Oak Ridge Road’s current condition as sufficient for 250 vehicles a day driven by out-of-town guests unfamiliar with the road, crashes are likely to happen.
“When the court cases are over and the lawyers go home, reasonable people are going to have to sit down and fix this or someone is going to get hurt,” he said. “And when that day comes, the lawyers will come back, the court cases will come back — and no one, including [Under Canvas] or my county, want that.”
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