Stormwater dispersal plans delay final approval of Columbia Heights plat

ILWACO – At Monday’s Ilwaco City Council meeting, Pacific County Commissioner Jon Kaino asked that the council approve a memorandum of understanding for a proposed 50-cent criminal justice levy that will be on the September ballot.

“We went to the Legislature to ask authorization for a six-year levy for criminal justice,” Kaino said, citing the loss of nearly $1 million from county coffers mainly because of passage of a bill eliminating motor vehicle exice tax three years ago. The levy would need a 60 percent majority to pass, he said.

The proposed $250,000 levy would institute a drug task force.

“We don’t have the personnel or the money to attack the drug problem,” Kaino said, and cited a four-month undercover operation two years ago that nabbed 58 chargeable felonies, one of them a “drive-through” drug dealer in Ilwaco.

“We want an agreement from the four cities in the county. The money comes back to each city except for the first 15 cents,” he said. Ilwaco will receive $32,000 for criminal justice with $10,000 of that going to a drug task force fund.

He said Raymond and South Bend had signed on to the proposal and he would be going to the Long Beach City Council meeting next week. “This is an opportunity to offer people an option in tough times,” he said. “We want to hire a full-time detective for each end of the county. We will see a reduction in the drug crime rate that will free up jail space.”

The council approved the memorandum of understanding.

Kaino then presented a proposal for an interlocal agreement for administration of surcharge funds to provide low-income housing. Prompting the proposal was the condemnation of the Lumber Exchange Building in South Bend where 14 low-income families had been living. An emergency was declared to vacate the deteriorating historic building and relocate the families that had been living there.

The council approved the agreement and asked for an Ilwaco resident to step forward to serve on the housing committee.

“The city needs a representative on this committee,” Mayor Ed Leonard said and asked for someone to volunteer.

Kaino said funds are from a portion of a $10 surcharge on documents recorded at the county auditor’s office and can be used for assistance for low-income people, including construction of emergency housing, battered women’s housing, housing assistance vouchers and operating costs of low-income housing units.

Next on Monday’s agenda was a lengthy discussion by the council of approval of the final plat for Phase 1 of MSW’s Discovery Heights development.

Because of a problem with an e-mail transmission late Monday afternoon, information necessary to the decision on the plat wasn’t available to council members, Leonard said. A discussion ensued, however, regarding plans for stormwater dispersal at the development. Randy Printz, MSW’s attorney, told the council the development has complied with all the city’s conditions except for the stormwater condition.

“There has been a fundamental misunderstanding on what standards apply here,” he said, claiming that because the city’s engineers, Gray and Osborne, are based in Seattle and are mainly concerned with urban areas, their standards don’t apply in the relatively rural Discovery Heights setting.

Council member Shirley Burt objected to Printz’s allegation, saying G&O “have the best interests of the city in their requirements.”

Printz said G&O wants the development to use the Western Washington Department of Ecology manual, which he said hasn’t been adopted by any county in southwest Washington. He said plans by HLB, the engineering firm hired to perform the stormwater analysis for the 14-acre project, met the code.

“The weather is good, people want to build houses in Phase 1, the standards are clear,” Printz said. “We want to get going.”

The council eventually tabled approval of the plat and the discussion will continue Monday at 6 p.m. in city council chambers.

Leonard’s report to the council included praise for the Loyalty Day children’s parade. “It was a great success,” Leonard said. “It was twice the size of last year’s.”