The Woodland City Council soundly rejected a resolution offering symbolic support to the Columbia River Crossing project during Monday night’s meeting.
The council voted 4-1 in opposition to a resolution supporting the proposed $3.6-billion bridge, highway and transit improvement project. Members cited financial concerns about the project. Council member Al Swindell supported the project because, he said, it is expected to bring jobs to Woodland.
Woodland’s council voted on the CRC project two weeks after state officials made a presentation on its benefits and more than a month after city officials met with Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, on Feb. 15 in his office. The meeting with Moeller was to discuss the Scott Avenue Overcrossing, a freight mobility project that is in its early planning stages.
During Monday’s meeting, council member Benjamin Fredericks said Moeller agreed to support the Scott Avenue construction if Woodland officials supported the CRC improvements. Otherwise, Woodland would not have voted on the matter, Fredericks added. Mayor Chuck Blum and Swindell were present at the meeting with Moeller.
“The reason why it’s coming to Woodland was, we needed help from the state to get our project done,” Fredericks said Tuesday morning, questioning why Ridgefield, La Center, Battle Ground, or other Clark County cities weren’t asked to vote.
During phone interviews Tuesday, Swindell, Blum and Moeller all disagreed with Fredericks’ recollection of the Feb. 15 meeting.
“It was not a trade,” Swindell said. “It was not a deal. (Moeller) said, ‘I’m willing to support your project. Will you support mine?’”
“There was no deal made, and I’m shocked Mr. Fredericks would stoop that low,” Blum said, adding the council member “owes Rep. Moeller a huge apology.”
Moeller did not demand an apology. He denied doing “quid pro quo” trade deals. He supports the CRC and asked Woodland to pass a resolution in support of it, but did not promise them anything on the Scott Avenue Overcrossing.
The likelihood of the project’s not receiving state money during this legislative session has nothing to do with Monday’s vote.
“The fact of the matter is, nobody is getting a new project because there is no new money,” Moeller said.
The Woodland council’s vote perplexed Moeller.
“I’m saddened to hear Woodland took a stand against the bridge, because they’re one of those cities that stand to gain the most from it,” he said.
Fredericks likened the risk associated with the CRC to that of Boston’s Big Dig tunnel project, which began in the early 1980s and will not be paid off until 2038. He also doubted the wisdom of making Clark County residents pay a toll to get to Portland for work or using their taxes to pay for a light-rail line.
“You can pay for this nice new train, but it won’t take you where you want to go,” Fredericks said. The train’s ineffectiveness is why so many Clark County residents drive to work in Portland despite facing massive traffic jams on Interstate 5, he asserted.
The reservations Fredericks and other council members have will only end up hurting Woodland, Swindell and Blum warned.
Blum described the council’s decision as letting an enormous opportunity slip.
“We could have had an impact on how the bridge was built,” he said. “We’re looking for a low-cost, efficient structure that would allow us to get goods and services across the river.”
Woodland needs more jobs and better infrastructure, Swindell said. The CRC would accomplish both, he believed. That Fredericks would compare the CRC to the Big Dig baffled him.
“It’s nothing like the Big Dig,” Swindell said. “That was a tunnel, for God’s sakes. It had never been done before.”
He paused then added, “people who think that are living in la-la land.”
Job creation is great, Fredericks said. But the CRC would also have large costs to taxpayers. The costs, and particularly those of a “third-bridge option,” need to be evaluated more, he said.
“This is a huge process,” Fredericks said. “Let’s make sure it’s cost-effective.”
In addition to Fredericks, council members John Burke, Darwin Rounds and Marilee McCall voted against the resolution. Council members Susan Humbyrd and Aaron Christopherson were absent from the meeting. Blum did not vote because of his mayoral post.
