Evan Evangelopoulos, long term planner for Klickitat County, leads a group discussion at the Pioneer Center in White Salmon about desired changes to the county comprehensive plan on March 20.
Evan Evangelopoulos, long term planner for Klickitat County, leads a group discussion at the Pioneer Center in White Salmon about desired changes to the county comprehensive plan on March 20.
WHITE SALMON — More than 100 people attended the second of five community meetings for the Klickitat County Comprehensive Plan at the Pioneer Center last Thursday, eager to provide input on the document that directs future zoning, development and growth.
“The county will grow in the future, and it has to grow based on what the community wants,” said Evan Evangelopoulos, long term planner for the county. “Of course, nobody will want the same thing, but we need to take your opinions, your ideas, your wishes, your concerns.”
Completed in 1979, the existing comprehensive plan determines what can be built where, and has seven main focus areas: environment, natural resources, economy, housing and residential development, transportation, public services and government. At the meeting, participants wrote down what they’d like to see happen under each category and then voted on their favorite suggestions at the end.
“A typical way of doing a project like this would be for staff to pull together examples from other communities, do a draft ourselves based on our ideas, maybe work the planning commission, [and] then bring it out to the public,” said Klickitat County Planning Director Scott Edelman. “We’re trying to get public input first.”
Under economy, for instance, one popular idea was establishing trade schools to create more job opportunities for youth who aren’t college-bound, while broadband access was a favorite for public services. Some other suggestions included a county-wide newsletter, limiting the number of short-term rentals and maintaining local ownership of water rights.
The county planning team must complete a draft of the comprehensive plan by the end of June, using public input to devise its goals and objectives. Afterward, the county will initiate another round of outreach to form the specific policies for each category, aiming to finish the plan in 2027.
Since not everyone can attend a meeting, Edelman noted they’re working on an online option that will allow people to comment on the comprehensive plan. The remaining meetings, all of which begin at 6 p.m., are:
• April 10 in Trout Lake at the Grange Hall
• April 17 in Bickleton, the location has yet to be determined
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