HOOD RIVER — The Port of Hood River is considering an amendment to the 1996 ordinance that restricts development at the Port Marina Park. Executive Director Kevin Greenwood gave a presentation to commissioners at the March 18 meeting and said they must revisit the ordinance or risk shutting down the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge replacement project.
In the early 1970s, the port received $300,000 in federal Land & Water Conservation Funds to build the boat ramp, docks and bring utilities to the marina. The National Parks Service and Oregon Parks and Recreation Department set boundaries which restrict that space for recreation use only; however, an exclusion area exists directly east of the Marina Green that would allow for commercial development in the 2.3 acre Marina Basin. Greenwood suggested the bridge replacement project could use this exclusion as a mitigation site for the new bridge approach.
The ordinance being discussed was initially adopted via petition in 1994, and a lawsuit in 1995 amended the language. It was again adopted in 1996, according to the port’s legal counsel, Ashleigh Dougill from Beery Elsner & Hammond, LLC, who attended the meeting via Zoom. The ordinance states that undeveloped land must remain for public recreation, but any development already standing is allowed to be “maintained and renovated.”
Port staff recommends the ordinance be amended to clarify the intent of the recreational uses and development restrictions.
In order to develop the land, as Dougill explained, the regulations state they must find non-recreational land that could be converted to recreational land — and must be comparable in dollar value.
Commissioners Tor Beiker and Ben Sheppard agreed that the ordinance should be amended, not rescinded. Greenwood said that Dougill is working on a draft amendment that she will present to the commission at their April 18 spring planning session. Greenwood said it could be a two-month process.
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