“My opinion at this juncture is that life is a true blessing,” Hoyte said. “And I’m blessed simply to be able to participate in the economic opportunities which can be found around just about any corner here in the good old U.S. of A.”
The yearslong battle started with zoning changes adopted by the county in 2021, which nonprofit members say conflicted with the West End Comprehensive Community Sub-Area Plan. The plan, created by West End residents and adopted by Skamania County in 2007, states “West Skamania County will continue to be a predominantly rural environment with large open tracts of field and forest lands, with residential and limited small scale commercial development.”
‘Complete alignment’
But Patrick Januszewski, the group’s director, said the new ordinance brings the county’s zoning regulations into “complete alignment” with the West End plan.
The new ordinance amends the code to include an updated definition of outdoor recreation facility, as well as a separate definition for a large-scale recreational facility.
The new ordinance states any outdoor recreational facility “shall not include any applications that have significant traffic impacts, increase noise levels, or which, for any other reason, are inconsistent with the vision statement of the related comprehensive or subarea plan.”
It defines a large-scale recreational facility as one “for outdoor activities that are likely … to have greater noise, traffic or other impacts on the surrounding community than an outdoor recreational facility.”
The code offers examples including zip lines, aerial canopies, aerial nets, bungee jumping, mountain coasters, challenge courses and motorsports tracks.
“The biggest key is separating out that definition so that it covers those uses that are different from normal, noninvasive outdoor recreation, things like hiking, sports, swimming, rock climbing, things that typically are not going to cause any sort of intrusion on your neighbors,” Perry said.
Large-scale recreational facilities will only be permitted in areas that are able to provide buffers from residential neighborhoods that will eliminate traffic, noise, lighting or other impacts.
“Across the county, there are nine zones where large-scale recreational facilities can be conditionally considered,” Perry said. “The West End is not one of those areas.”
David Waymire, Skamania County public works and community development director, said he and his planning staff had put a great deal of time into creating the new ordinance.
“Ultimately, the ordinance is what the largest portion of the public participation was asking for,” Waymire said. “In a situation like this, it’s difficult to get all perspectives, but we did our best with numerous public meetings.”
Skamania’s planning staff held nine workshops with the planning commission from November to April, to “discuss how the zoning code changes of 2021 could better support the comprehensive plan’s vision for recreation.”
Earlier this summer, the Skamania County commissioners approved proposals at a public hearing after listening to comments from more than 10 West End residents, who spoke in favor of the zoning changes.
“I think that last public hearing was truly the turning point where it all kind of came together. When the commission finally voted in the approach that we were pushing for, it really was a sigh of relief, a huge relief, to finally get that support from our leadership in the community,” Januszewski said.
