A Clark County Superior Court judge has blocked the rezoning of more than 1,000 acres of land along the White Salmon River, handing a victory to environmental groups who had challenged the move because they say it threatened a sensitive watershed.
Judge Barbara Johnson ruled late last month that Klickitat County did not follow required rules and proper review when it converted broad swaths of farm and forestland to residential use, clearing the way for new developments at Husum and BZ Corner. Petitioners led by Friends of the White Salmon River, supported by Friends of the Columbia Gorge, argued the change could have prompted “unchecked sprawl” in the form of hundreds of new homes along the river on lots as small as 2 acres.
The change was first proposed in 2007. Subsequent legal wrangling eventually led to the court challenge filed in Clark County last year.
Johnson’s decision effectively voids the county’s plan on constitutional grounds, said Ralph Bloemers, a staff attorney for Portland-based Crag Law Center who argued the case on behalf of the plaintiffs. The county didn’t consider a reasonable range of alternatives, and illegally gave the right to individual landowners to up-zone their land to a level that constitutes invalid “spot zoning,” according to Johnson’s ruling.
