County joins Residents’ lawsuit against USFS

Legislators set the deadline for the land swap at 16 months but six years later, the trade remains in stasis.

The Hood River County Board of Commissioners voted Monday, Aug. 17 to join HRVRC as a co-plaintiff in the case — previously, the County was filed as an “involuntary plaintiff.”

The decision, which commissioners arrived at following a closed executive session, allows the County to “lend our voice,” said Hood River County Administrator David Meriwether.

Meriwether described commissioners’ response to the slow land exchange as “frustrated.”

“The Act that was passed in 2009 had about a 16-month deadline … now it’s 2015,” said Meriwether. By officially joining the litigative process, commissioners hope to “spur some action” and “get resolution” on the land trade, he said.

The deal was born out of a 2005 settlement between Mt. Hood Meadows, HRVRC and USFS, which prevented development on the Cooper Spur acreage Meadows owns on the north side of the mountain.

Meadows agreed to swap its north side land with the Forest Service’s land in Government Camp, on the south side of the mountain. The land on the north side would be absorbed into Mt. Hood Wilderness Area, and shielded from commercial and residential expansion, but the south side would be open to new development.

Unlike Hood River County, Mt. Hood Meadows remains an “involuntary plaintiff” in the case.

Matthew Drake, President and CEO of Meadows, has described the company as neither a plaintiff nor a defendant because the company operates on U.S. Forest Service land through a special use permit.

Will Carey, the attorney representing Hood River County, said the plaintiffs are hoping for “an expedited settlement session” instead of a trial.

“In federal court, judges like it when all the parties can agree on a process for the case,” said HRVRC Executive Director Heather Staten. “We have proposed that the parties go into mediation and that the assigned court judge serve as the mediator.”

On behalf of the Hood River County Board of Commissioners, Carey filed their part of the legal complaint Thursday morning in federal court, he said. HRVRC originally submitted their complaint July 28 in the Portland Division of the U.S. District Court of Oregon.

The normal deadline for a reply to a legal complaint is 21 days, Carey said, but defendants can ask for extensions.