WHITE SALMON — Prior to the regularly scheduled 6 p.m. White Salmon City Council meeting June 5, housing consultant Michael Mehaffy gave the White Salmon City Council a list of potential amendments to the housing code. Mehaffy opened with summarizing the needs of White Salmon and it’s constituents.
“Some folks want to go slower and some folks want to go faster. So there’s a process of deliberating and understanding how we’re going to move forward together,” Mehaffy said. “We want quality and liquidity in the approach that’s what we’ve been talking about all along.”
In December, the housing code was amended to reduce minimum lot size, width and depth, the allowable accessory dwellings and more. Currently, Mehaffy said they are working to create a Middle Housing Guide which will illustrate how the code could apply to typical lots.
On May 8, the Planning Commission held a public hearing and Mehaffy said along with feedback received during his office hours, they have received “strong support” for small infill development — the development of underused or vacant land in existing urban areas — and affordable housing. The commission recommended three of the 12 amendments to council.
In a memo to Mayor Marla Keethler, Mehaffy wrote that the planning commission, along with input from community members, provided recommendations to amend the short-term zoning codes. Potential changes include density provisions, refining terminology and possible changes to residential parking.
Proposed changes would reduce the number of parking spaces for any dwelling under 1,000 square feet from two to one. These changes would impact Residential Districts 1 and 2. According to the memo, “The purpose of this change is to incentivize smaller and more affordable residential units that are likely to have lower parking demand.” The memo also recommended the spaces be reduced to nine by 18 feet, down from 10-by-20.
Mehaffy, Keethler and council agreed that a traffic and parking study would be beneficial to determine parking regulations moving forward.
Regular session
Councilor Jim Ransier opened the regular meeting with an acknowledgment of June as Pride Month.
“The city recognizes pride month which celebrates and acknowledges our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual and two spirit citizens,” Ransier said.
Keethler thanked Councilor and Mayor Pro Tempore Jason Hartmann for covering for her as she was in Washington, D.C., advocating for federal funds. She was part of a delegation speaking about the work being done in White Salmon. With the help of federal funds Keethler said the city is working to implement a free mail delivery option for all residents.
“The direction for that has seemed most likely is working through the USPS [United States Postal Service] approval systems to get no fee postal boxes for our city residents,” Keethler said. “We do have cluster boxes that are in storage waiting to get installed.”
Keethler added that an official announcement is forthcoming and advised residents to sign up for six-month renewals.
Keethler reminded Klickitat County constituents that the burn ban went into effect on June 17.
She provided an update on another hot topic: Childcare. In coordinating with the school and parks districts, they are hopeful to open the youth center in the parks building. A new “subgroup” has been created with the community to try and schedule a stakeholder meeting and public workshop sometime in August.
“Between now and then there will be more concentrated outreach along some of these goals, which is potential public private partnerships to find space for a larger facility, but also engaging employers on how they might be able to participate,” Keethler said.
In recognition of Juneteenth on Wednesday, June 19, the White Salmon city council is rescheduling their meeting for Thursday, June 20 at 6 p.m.
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