BG land will be offered for wetland enhancement
Developers may be able to buy credits
to replace damaged wetlands
An agreement with a Woodinville company could pave the way for land owned by the city of Battle Ground to be used by developers to mitigate damage done to wetlands elsewhere in the area.
And the city could gain money in the process.
In May 2006, Habitat Bank LLC, also named Clark County Mitigation Partners LLC, agreed with the city of Battle Ground to develop much of the city’s “Remy Farm” property into high quality wetlands which would then be used as mitigation credits by developers who fill or damage wetlands somewhere in the same watershed.
Once the Habitat Bank plan gains approval from both the U.S. Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Ecology, officials of Habitat Bank LLC are to grade and plant the northern 60 acres of the 80-acre Remy site, creating higher quality wetlands than now exist, according to Battle Ground city manager Eric Holmes.
Holmes estimated that the site might result in 40 wetlands credits at one credit per acre. Portions of the site might already be high quality wetlands, said Holmes, and therefore may not qualify for one full credit per acre.
Developers whose projects would damage wetlands elsewhere could gain approval from state and federal agencies to mitigate that damage by improving wetlands on their sites or somewhere in the same watershed, said Holmes. Rather than buying land and making the improvements themselves, developers could purchase the needed credits from Habitat Bank.
Tbe “land banking” would also allow developers to avoid using some of the land at their projects for wetlands mitigation purposes.
Mitigation credits could be priced at $150,000-$200,000 each, based on Habitat Bank experience in Snohomish County where the company has its initial project. Holmes said the city would received 20% of the proceeds from the sale of wetland credits. Proceeds from the program would go to into the city’s parks fund, said Holmes.
Holmes said the city retained first option on the purchase of the wetlands credits, and could acquire them at 20% less than market price.
Under the agreement, the city will grant a conservation easement at the Remy site to Habitat Bank. That easement would preclude the city, and anyone else, from engaging in activities that conflict with use of the site as a wetland bank.
Holmes said the site could contain trails as a passive recreational use. Habitat Bank is responsible for constructing trails at a cost of up to $200,000.
Holmes said the wetland bank plan has advantages over individual projects that developers might build themselves.
Regulatory officials may require a higher level of mitigation at individual projects, said Holmes, because they have higher risks of plant survival and long-term maintenance.
Holmes said rules governing wetland banks require a 10-year maintenance program, and then a plan for maintenance in perpetutity. Deed restrictions will prevent conversion of the property to other uses, said Holmes.
Habitat Bank LLC is reportedly the state’s first private company to offer developers a one-stop shop for land banking. While there are other land banking operations in the state, Habitat Bank is the first to meet local, state and federal requirements. The company is also reportedly the first to offer land credits to all public and private builders.
Developers may purchase mitigation credits from a Habitat Bank project in the same watershed as their project.
Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Ecology will determine the size of a mitigation area a developer would need to build or puchase . Mitigation easements may be sold only once.
Rules have changed
Holmes said federal, state and local rules governing wetlands have changed since the city purchased the Remy property in December 2000. Whereas city officials believed then that 46 acres of the 80-acre site were usable as upland properties and could be developed, with the remainder wetlands, the latest wetland delineation now shows about 60 of the 80 acres to be wetlands.
Similarly, said Holmes, the city’s seven acres on N 20th Ave., once destined to be site of a new city hall, now has 3.2 usable acres and the rest wetland, whereas the site previously had 5.1 usable acres until wetland rules changed.

Citizens favor, oppose pool in park
Woodland citizens took turns speaking for and against a plan to build an indoor swimming pool facility at Horseshoe Lake Park during a public meeting held Sept. 25 at the park.
Woodland mayor Doug Monge invited citizens to sound off after Benno Dobbe, chair of the volunteer swimming pool committee, explained the pool plan.
Members of the public continued to talk about the issue until after dark.
A yellow ribbon marked the edge of the proposed 30-foot high building.
Several opponents stressed their many years of living in Woodland as a prelude to their comments.
Dobbe said the pool project “ran into a complete dead end situation about 1995,” which he attributed to the acquisition of land at Glenwood and Columbia streets.
“Every expert we talked to came back with the very same conclusion: do not build a pool and recreational facility in an industrial area,” said Dobbe. “They told us to find a recreational location. We could not ignore such expert advice.”
Dobbe recounted the history of the park site selection, culminating in a March 2002 written agreement with the city for use of park land, and then followed by lawsuits against it.
Dobbe said his committee hopes to break ground in 2007 and have the facility in operation in 2008.
“There is no need for more discussions or debates as to where the pool site needs to be,” said Dobbe. “There is an agreement in place allowing a pool at the park. It is therefore the position of the pool committee to move forward in good faith.”
Walter Hansen Sr., an opponent of the Park location, said the proposed building would be 324 feet long and would ruin access to the park. “It would block the best access,” said Hansen.
“I donated money to the committee for the Glenwood site,” said Hansen. “It (the Glenwood site) is big enough for a pool, library, recreation facility, and off-street parking. All infrastructure is at Glenwood; there is none here.”
Hansen said the park access road would pass through the swimming pool parking lot. “The council needs to realize what Woodland really needs,” said Hansen, pointing to stakes toward the middle of the park that delineated the 1.44 acres promised by city officials for the pool project.
Dobbe said the plan has been changed to use little of the park. Instead of an “L” shaped building, said Dobbe, a different shape will allow the pool to be located “at the Park” instead of “in the Park.”
Keith Hirokawa, attorney for Dan and Carol Heermann who have sued to stop the pool from being built in the park, questioned why a pool should take up space in a park. “How would you access the park after the structure is built,” questioned Hirokawa.
Hirokawa said the “expert” information mentioned by Dobbe has never been produced or made part of the record. He referred to a possible back patio. “What’s left of the park? he questioned. “We don’t know how close this structure will be to the lake. What’s going to be left of the park?” He suggested pool organizers could not be trusted to stop at the yellow tape.
Dobbe later said experts from Denver, CO, Portland, and the YMCA, among others, spoke at past city council meetings to urge the park location.
Pete Coover said a pool is a destination and people will find it wherever it is built. He supported the Glenwood location. He questioned why the swimming pool committee would not sell the Glenwood site. He said he offered $500,000 for the property but was turned down. “Are they investors or what,” he questioned. The Glenwood site has more room, said Coover. “I don’t understand the motivation to have it in the park,” he said.
Dobbe later said equity in the Glenwood site could be used to help with pool operating expenses, or could be used to help pay for construction, with a decision to be made later.
Grace Bergstrom, 86, objected to the loss of trees that the pool building would require. “Woodland is known for its trees,” said Bergstrom, who noted that she had lived in Woodland all her life. “That line is the edge of the building. You given ‘em a foot and they’ll take a mile. They’ll need steps and then a porch.”
“You cut down all those trees and what do we have? A big cement or brick wall,” said Bergstrom.
Bergstrom said a swimming pool would not have to be as big as is planned.
Dobbe later said the several large trees that are in the path of construction could be moved to new locations.
Maxine Rodman said a report shows the city needs more parks. “Leave this park alone,” she said.
Tom Lehman questioned why anyone would be opposed to the pool in the park. He said he has lived in Woodland since 1955 and hopes his son, 11, will be able to use a pool one day.
Bob Nelson questioned how people would access the park with a pool structure at the proposed location.
Some speakers questioned the loss of open space at the park. Dobbe later said the volunteer committee had “done everything to retain open space.” He noted that the yellow ribbon was along the edge of the park and only a short distance into the grass. He said all park activities could continue, including an Easter egg hunt and Planters Days festivities.
One woman questioned the involvement of the YMCA when the existing Recreation District could run it themselves. “They are not going to take over,” said Dobbe of the YMCA, stating that the Swimming Pool District would manage the pool and use the YMCA as operators.
Ben Dobbe said the pool would be an important amenity to the community, gifted largely by his family. He questioned why people would turn that down.
Benno and Klazina Dobbe have offered to donate land contiguous to the park if the pool is built at that location.
“This has been a long, hard fight,” said Carol Heermann in opposing the park location. She also raised issues about state approvals to move the boat launch road. Monge said applications have been made to move the road and boat ramp whether or not the pool is built at the park.
Another person said the proposed pool could result in more efficient parking than is presently available at the park. Another said the pool could make the park better and that pools in Portland are often located in parks.
Benno Dobbe said the pool building would be located more than 200 feet from Horseshoe Lake, as evidenced by the yellow ribbon which, he said, which is about 210 feet from the shoreline. City officials have authorized the pool to be constructed closer to the lake than is presently planned, he said.
Dobbe suggested he would enter into a legal agreement regarding building no closer than 200 feet from the lake “if they drop everything and allow the pool at the park.”
Hirokawa discounted such an agreement. “We don’t really know what he is intending to do there,” said Hirokawa, who said his clients remain opposed to a pool at the park location. “I have a lot of questions about it.
Dobbe questioned why pool opponents did not object to the construction of a skateboard facility in the park which, he said, takes up more park space than the pool would.
Hansen said the skateboard facility is actually located on property owned by the state Department of Natural Resources, not land owed by the city of Woodland.
Dobbe said another public meeting on the subject would be held this fall. Monge also announced that further meetings would be held.
“We’ve done everything we can to prove that we are sincere,” said Dobbe.
Thousands of ballots not counted
It may not be as bad as previously estimated, but the fact remains: thousands of ballots in the Sept. 19 Clark County primary election were not counted because voters failed to check a party preference.
Based on a sampling of ballots examined by officials of the Clark County Elections Department on Sept. 29 and Oct. 2, an estimated 3,290 primary election ballots were not counted even though voters correctly voted for candidates of just one political party.
And of those 3,290 ballots, about 70 percent were cast for Republican candidates, but not counted.
Clark County auditor Greg Kimsey said that further sampling is underway as the evaluation of the election results continues.
The sampling was done at the request of the office of the state auditor, said Kimsey.
Kimsey said officials plan to sample about 1,100 ballots. Estimates of election results and non-counted ballots available Oct. 2 were based on a sample of 802 ballots. Kimsey said the sampling work could be completed later that day.
The issue under study is a requirement in state law that voters select a political party in the primary election, and then vote only for candidates of that party. Until recently, Washington voters were not required to select a political party in primary elections. Court decisions, combined with legislative actions, have created the current process.
In the Sept. 19 primary election, the party selection box was located on one side of the 11 x 17 ballot. That side also contained the Democrat candidates.
Kimsey said that of the 802 ballots sampled so far, 82 (10.2%) did not show a political party selection. And of those 82, 39 voters went on to vote a straight party ticket, either Democrat or Republican.
Kimsey said reasons for the voting failures can’t be known. One could surmise, said Kimsey, that either voters failed to understand that they needed to select a party for their partisan votes to count, or they had some other reason for voting as they did. Some people suggest, said Kimsey, that some voters were protesting the requirement for a party selection. Such a protest, noted Kimsey, results in a ballot that is not counted.
Kimsey said 67,149 voters cast ballots in the Sept. 19 primary election, a turnout of about 36 percent of registered voters. Of those, 33,483 voted for Democrat candidates and 25,831 voted for Republicans. Another 7,835 ballots were either cast solely for non-partisan candidates, or were cast for Democrats or Republicans but were not counted because they failed to pick a political party.
Kimsey noted that more Republican voters than Democrats failed to pick a party, possibly because the party selection box was on the Democrat side of the ballot.
Kimsey also reported that seven blank ballots were cast in the all-mail election.

Cowlitz candidates differ on crime solutions, school impact fees
Bill Myers
staff reporter
Candidates for Cowlitz County District 3 commissioner posts at a Woodland Chamber of Commerce luncheon Sept. 26 aired different views on reducing crime and assessing school impact fees.
Republican incumbent Jeff Rasmussen, running for reelection to a third four-year term, said more Cowlitz County sheriff’s deputies and other police officers are needed on the streets to make certain that those who “do the crime do the time.”
A better approach would be to provide more living-wage jobs, intervention programs and more investment in infrastructure, said Democrat challenger Axel Swanson.
Rasmussen, 38, said he and other commissioners recently approved a resolution known as the “Safe Street Initiative.” The resolution will give November voters a chance to add a two-tenths of one percent sales and use tax to beef up law enforcement both in and out of incorporated areas.
Motor vehicles, including leased vehicles for up to the first 36 months of a lease, would be exempt from the added sales tax.
With voter approval, the measure would provide eight years of funding for more law enforcement officers, expanded drug courts, and enhanced substance abuse treatment and prevention and education programs.
The measure would also set up a Citizens Oversight Committee to establish accountability.
Swanson, 27, said “we can’t just warehouse offenders.” People are saying their government is unresponsive and we owe them something different,” he said.
“If they are warehoused, they are not breaking into homes or stealing property,” said Rasmussen.
On some days, only four deputies are on patrol in the entire County, said Rasmussen. “The meth problem is real.” He said 60 percent of lawbreakers entering jail admit using the drug.
Swanson said he opposes the Safe Street Initiative. Voters have rejected similar funding proposals before, he said. “People are asking why commissioners are not listening,” said Swanson. “We need to attack the problem from inside the jail.”
Longview resident Grant Sawyer asked Rasmussen if he voted against construction of a recently completed new jail.
Rasmussen said he voted against the jail project because he pledged during a reelection campaign four years ago to do his best to give the public a chance to vote on funding the facility. He said that after his election, when the other commissioners decided to forego a public vote, he voted against the jail project rather than go back on his word.
The candidates also differed on school impact fees sought in recent years by the Woodland School District.
Cowlitz County is not a Growth Management County, and school impact fees therefore could be charged only under the State Environment Protection Act, said Rasmussen. Rasmussen said his lawyer says such fees would be unfair and successfully challenged in court.
He compared two properties, a new home with no occupants of school age near a river that could be charged school impact fees, with another new property occupied by several school-age children and clear of any environmental issues. The school impact fee would be unfairly collected on the home near the river, but not on the home with several children, said Rasmussen. Taxpayers would foot the bills for legal challenges that would surely come, he said.
Swanson said other legal opinions, including those sought by the school district, say school impact fees under SEPA may be charged, but there must be a link between the development and schools.
Swanson said developers are “funneling money to my opponent.”
Rasmussen said his campaign sources are public, open to anyone who would care to look.
Woodland School District community development manager Kathy Griffin asked, “Would you support school impact fees right now?”
“Not under SEPA,” said Rasmussen.
“Yes,” said Swanson.

Cowlitz restores planning post
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
Cowlitz County officials have restored the top planning position that was discontinued three years ago.
“It’s time to move the building and planning department forward, and we feel this can only be done with a full-time director,” said Jeff Rasmussen, chairman of the board of commissioners.
The position of director of building and planning was one of 45 county jobs lost after the state ended $1.6 million earmarked for criminal justice positions.
County officials decided to retain law-enforcement strength and cut other positions that the commissioners considered less critical.
Rasmussen said that revenues earned from building permits have reached a level that will support a full-time director. This year the county has collected $2.2 million in permit fees, up from $1.7 million for the same period in 2005.
County officials have hired the Prothman Company, a Seattle firm that specializes in executive searches. Rasmussen said he hopes to hire a new director by December.
The new position will pay a top salary of $7,000 a month, Rasmussen said.
Although county officials have restored some of the other 45 lost jobs, it has not reinstituted the position of county administrator. Rasmussen said the county commissioners are the administrators, with various department heads reporting directly to elected officials.
The county’s growth, especially in Woodland and in the unincorporated community of Toutle, was a factor in the decision to restore the top building and planning job. In addition, a building inspector has been added, bringing the total to six. An inspector will spend two days each week in Woodland.
“Building projects will have the same inspector all the way through, improving consistency” Rasmussen said.
Commissioners are expected to begin discussions on regional comprehensive land use plans. Rasmussen said that a countywide comprehensive plan probably won’t be in the works.
“Our goal is to put money into the building and planning budget to begin developing regional comp plans to see what the citizens would like,” he said.
Rasmussen’s idea is for residents of unincorporated areas to discuss how they want their communities to grow and present their ideas to the planning commission.
“We had a nice process in Toutle,” he said. “We attempted to get a group of citizens to say what kind of growth they wanted, and take the whole thing to the planning commission. It kind of stopped after the fifth meeting.”
Most of Cowlitz County is not zoned, but the areas adjacent to the road along the Lewis River are zoned for two-acre minimum, he said.

Port of Kalama adds building
The Port of Kalama has recently completed a 30,000 square-foot building and will begin construction on a fourth building before the end of the year.
Five Rivers Construction of Longview is the contractor for the $1.8 million project. Completion is scheduled for late spring.
The Port’s newest building, identical to the proposed structure, houses one tenant, Best Built Product, a company that manufactures light weight campers, ATV haulers and construction/utility units, designed for half-ton and domestic compact and import pickups.
No tenants have been signed for the new building, said Merry Swanberg, marketing and communications manager for the Port.
Design of a fifth building for Port property has begun. No date for construction of the 40,0000 square-foot building has been set, Swanberg said.
In a separate plan, Cameron Family Glass has signed an agreement for Port property and is expected to build a 250,000 square-foot structure maybe as early as next year, although no date has been set, Swanberg said.
The 75-acre Port contains three industrial companies, the Northwest Division of ViaTech Publishing; a Mile Marker distribution center, and NacCom Networks Inc.