Clark County and the operator of the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad have agreed to mediation after weeks of acrimony and uncertainty surrounding a key legal agreement.
Eric Temple, the president of the Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad, said in an email on Tuesday that he would agree to mediation with Clark County regarding the lease he holds to operate the 33-mile Chelatchie Prairie Railroad, which is owned by the county.
Since last year, the county has been applying Senate Bill 5517, a revision to state land-use law that was signed into law last year and allows for freight-dependent industrial development along the railroad. During the process, the validity of the lease, which Temple’s company has held since 2012, has come under scrutiny. Earlier this month, Temple blocked a nonprofit from using a stretch of the railroad for a holiday ride out of concerns that he would be exposed to liability if the lease was invalid.
The county has maintained an ambiguous position on the lease after David McDonald, a lawyer for environmental group Friends of Clark County, questioned if it had been properly authorized by the county’s legislative authority. Council Chair Marc Boldt has publicly questioned the lease’s validity, but the county has indicated it would treat it as valid unless a proper legal authority found otherwise.
On Dec. 12, the Clark County Council quietly authorized county Manager Shawn Henessee to enter into mediation with Temple. Under the agreement, both parties agree to “abide by and honor” the terms of the lease for 90 days while they undergo mediation.
The council’s action came after emerging from executive session, when it can close the door to the public to discuss sensitive matters, at the end of a two-hour council time meeting. These meetings are less formal than hearings and are held in a conference room in the back of the county building. They are not broadcast, and the public is not given an opportunity to comment. Although the agreement was on the council’s agenda, it did not signal that it would be taking action on it.
As a condition of going into mediation, Temple has asked the Clark County Assessor’s Office to analyze the total amount of property tax receipts for approximately 1,500 acres of property near the railroad and contrast them with possible revenues from a fully built-out area with new construction, which is expected to happen once the county finishes implementing the new law.
“Even if the current average in taxes is as high as $200 per acre, and the fully built-out total is close to $20,000 an acre, the difference in revenue to the county and others could mean going from $300,000 per year to $30 million,” reads the condition submitted by Temple.
Future industrial development
At its Tuesday council meeting, the council voted for an emergency interim ordinance that suspends applications for development on land designated as a rural industrial land bank.
In 2016, the Washington Growth Management Hearings Board, a quasi-judicial land-use panel, ruled that the county’s move to convert 600 acres of farmland to a rural industrial land bank use was invalid. The county has appealed the ruling.
Christine Cook, senior deputy prosecuting attorney, explained that the growth board has suggested that the county repeal the rural industrial land bank in whole, which she said would make the appeal moot. She said that the county has received no applications for development on the rural industrial land bank.
“Rather than doing that, both the growth board and other parties have suggested the county could possibly establish a moratorium on rural industrial land bank actions,” she said. “That is certainly less of a surrender than repealing the land bank.”
Much of the land in the rural industrial land bank is next to the county-owned railroad. If the county moves ahead with implementing Senate Bill 5517, industrial development could occur on the land.
