I went to the Annual Growth update meeting to hear what was going on and came away with some good information. I took some notes on what I found interesting so here they are:

First up was Bernard Seegar the planner for the city of Cascade Locks (CL). Having grown up in Stevenson I know Cascade Locks and its history pretty well. That town has been barren for ever! I was impressed though with what they have been up to for a few years. It sounds like they have two large opportunities that may come to fruition? The first being the Bridge of the Gods Resort & Casino and the second being Nestle’ Waters a bottling plant for spring water that happens to be abundant in Cascade Locks.

The Casino has been a hotly debated subject now for a long time. The EIS (environmental impact statement) has been completed but not yet released. The city of Cascade Locks is highly optimistic that the Casino will happen though. It would bring plenty of jobs to the area but at what cost? I am not sure about that but for the most part think it is the first good thing that has happened to Cascade Locks maybe ever? In addition to that the city is courting the Nestle’ company or maybe the Nestle’ company is courting Cascade Locks. Apparently the Nestle’ conglomerate is continually looking for places to get good spring water and also to fill a void in their map of the USA that shows no plants in the northwest? Go figure!! Evidently CL has everything going for it and it may happen. Here are a few things that both sides have had to do so far:

Water well fish test – they need to find out whether fish can live in well (ground) water and to do that the Feds are requiring a 12 month test that will get the fish through the 4 season cycle. If they stay alive and healthy then that part is good. There also needs to be a water rights exchange between the Oxbox National Fish Hatchery and the city of CL which is looking like a great possibility. Nestle’ would be investing $50 million to build the plant! This plant would create about 50 jobs and a projected 25 to 50 spin-off jobs. That is good for the area but with a low impact on the environment which will help us all maintain our lifestyle in the Gorge!

The second speaker was Don Stevens, mayor of North Bonneville (NB). He did not have much time bit he wanted to share some of the things that NB has been up to. The big item was that they will be replacing their water treatment plant. They have their funding and will be breaking ground this coming week with a target completion date on October 2010. This will give them more capacity which means more businesses which means more jobs HOPEFULLY! NB has lots going for it these days and I hope that good things continue to happen for the community!

The Port of Skamania County was up next – the Port General Manager is John McSherry. I have net with John before and think he is a good person and has a great style about him. I think that everyone enjoyed his presentation because of that style. The Port’s focus is to create private investment through infrastructure. That means they have developed land and built buildings to provoke business to get involved. A good indicator of that is the Bingen based company Insitu has leased the largest space in the Tichenor building at Stevenson. The Port also has a focus to create jobs, create a larger tax base, which helps our county be less reliant on those almighty timber dollars and improve the quality of life. A pretty good organization to have in the area! Of course Ports were originally created for these activities but it appears that we have a good group working down there for our benefit.

Skamania County PUD’s Manager Bob Wittenberg spoke next – he explained some interesting facts that we should be aware of and it covers why rates and fees go up. There is a BPA line that comes off the Bonneville dam and splits one going west to Vancouver and one going east. The line going west ends at the White Salmon River, that line and fasteners is old and will need to be replaced someday soon. He mentioned that if it does fail we would be in the dark for 2 to 3 days and that is a long time for today’s residents! He stated that if the Whistling Ridge Wind Farm was operational that we could basically flip a switch and be back on quickly which means very little discomfort for us. Bob also spoke about Carson’s aging water system and recent water rate and hook up increase had to be made to pay for the upgrade of that system. I happen to know a little about that system and he is correct. The folks that are in charge of that system have been doing a bang up job and really know there stuff lucky for all those residents that are able to turn the tap on and have good water come out! One other point to make is the electrical rates we all pay today are very low compared to many other areas not in just our state but the country. So consider ourselves fortunate for that!!

The City of Stevenson gave us information about the aging roads inside the city limits and that a roads life span after paving is approximately 12-15 years. They budget for these things and it obviously take good planning, etc. to get it done. One issue that was lightly touched on is the amount of finished lots that the city of Stevenson has. I am a Realtor with a background in new construction sales, marketing and development which means I know about sales velocity and absorption – this town has too many lots, too close together in an area that historically has low absorption which means considering price point could take many years to take those lots down. It will be interesting to see how the banks and developers price these lots, it should be pretty low or at least when they finally sell those prices will be low. All in all the city of Stevenson people have done a good job and at least for the Washington side of the Gorge seems to be the most popular destination and place to live for outsiders coming in.

The Skamania County Economic Development Council spoke shortly as time was getting late about their agenda which is a very good one in my opinion. Their assistance with grant applications for small businesses, etc. is something that more should take advantage of. Please contact Peggy Bryan at the EDC for more information – 509.427.5110.

Skamania County was up next with District 3 Commissioner Jamie Tolfree giving the presentation. Jamie gave us some numbers for building permits and what areas in the county were those permits being used, locations of new homes and commercial buildings. Also she said that the population of the county in 2009 was 10,800. I always like to know that it is interesting to me. Gosh I think that back in the 1970’s before the second powerhouse construction began I think it was 2,400 +/-? I could be wrong so do not hold me to it. Building permit activity went down in 2009 which of course would have been expected and it should not increase in 2010.

Again I think this was a great event and one that I will attend next year and maybe I will see you there? Take care, Bob