Citing safety concerns, the Klickitat County Board of Commissioners voted 2-0 in Goldendale on Tuesday to deny a rezoning application on a residential parcel in Dallesport.
Developer Bill Maley, a longtime resident of Klickitat County and The Dalles area, wanted a zoning change for the parcel known as “Block C” so he could switch it from suburban residential (SR) zoning with single-family 20,000-square-foot minimum lot sizes, to R2 multi-family zoning with 6,000-square-foot lot sizes for single family homes or 7,000-square-foot two-family lots. The rezoning would have allowed an additional 22 houses to be built on the parcel.
“We really felt there were significant public safety concerns, particularly by the fire department, for development at that density,” said County Commission Chair David Sauter. “We have no ability to modify the proposal; it was either an up or down vote, and we felt the safety concerns could not be adequately mitigated.”
Sauter and Commissioner Jim Sizemore voted against the proposal; Commissioner Rex Johnston was absent due to illness.
The proposal had sparked strong controversy in the community. In July, the Dallesport Community Council voted unanimously to oppose the rezoning, and last month the commissioners came to Dallesport to hear directly from the public regarding the proposed rezoning.
Fire safety became a primary concern, and the Dallesport Fire Department expressed opposition to the plan to build higher density housing in Block C, which is bordered by Third Avenue to the south, Sixth Avenue to the north, and Central Boulevard to the west.
“The problem we see here is, high density for us is a huge risk,” Darren Lacock, Dallesport’s assistant fire chief, told the commissioners at last month’s public hearing on the topic. “This is too much for our department to handle.”
“We don’t have sufficient fire coverage for this kind of density,” said Bill Morris, one of the leaders of the effort to stop the project.
“We refuse to put ourselves and other residents of Klickitat County in harm’s way.”
Sauter said Maley could appeal the commissioners’ decision to Klickitat County Superior Court if he believed the commissioners acted improperly in deciding the case.
“Or he could resubmit a new proposal to address the concerns,” Sauter added. “He always has that option.”
Sauter said he would like to see more residential housing built in Dallesport, citing the county’s infrastructure improvements and a recent study that showed the community would need another 30 housing units over the next 10 years to keep up with projected growth.
Morris said he believes the Dallesport community’s opposition to the plan was critical in the county’s decision to deny the rezoning plan.
“This has shown what a community can do, and how much we care about livability,” Morris said.
Maley declined to comment on the county’s decision to deny his rezoning proposal.
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