Klickitat County officials told the Columbia River Gorge Commission they would be willing to assign a planner to guide National Scenic Area applicants within the County to submit complete applications to the Gorge Commission to help alleviate long wait times for permits.  The Gorge Commission had asked Klickitat County, which has never adopted Scenic Area ordinances, for financial help in processing those permits.  County Commissioner David Sauter said they won’t commit financial resources to the Gorge Commission or take over permitting authority themselves, but would like to try as a pilot to have their planners review the application based on scenic area guidelines, and submit a report that it would be up to the Gorge Commission whether to use or not.  The two agencies’ planning staff will get together to have further talks, and have legal counsels look into drafting an inter-governmental agreement.