When The Dalles Community Action Team will be headed to Washington, D.C. next week for its half-yearly visit, one of the topics will be the long-discussed issue of allowing for an expansion of The Dalles urban growth boundary within the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.  Wasco County Commissioner Scott Hege says the need for it is greater than ever, especially with a focus on buildable land to create employment.  He notes a 2013 study the City of The Dalles had done showed they were short of the state-required 20-year supply then, and Hege adds they are in a tighter squeeze now.  Hege says they will be asking the area’s representatives for help to move the issue through the Columbia River Gorge Commission.

The removal of a sunken tug boat on the Columbia River just downstream of Bonneville Dam will begin on Friday and continue through the weekend.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving will take part in the work.  A crane barge will be anchored and set-up on Friday, and divers will anchor the barge on the upstream side of the Tug DIANE and lower a current screen in place to protect divers from the high current.  Divers will remove any remaining fuel on the DIANE and install lifting chains on Saturday.  The crane will lift and remove the Tug DIANE on Sunday.  The Coast Guard will establish a safety zone around the operation and will have two boats on site during removal efforts to monitor operations.  The Bonneville Power Administration will be reducing daytime flows out of Bonneville Dam during the work.

Mid-Columbia Employment First is planning a community carnival next week for employers, future emploees, and agencies who support people with barriers to employment.  Mid-Columbia Employment First is made up of a group of agencies that partner with the state of Oregon to help individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities find employment in their communities.  Eastern Oregon Support Services Brokerage executive director Laura Noppenberger says they hope to bring together potential employers and employees in a fun environment with food, games, and music.  The event will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 19 in the Sorosis Park Pavilion.

Boys Soccer

Milwaukie 2, The Dalles 1

Volleyball

Goldendale def. Columbia 25-17, 25-18, 25-22

Echo def. Dufur 19-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 15-11

South Wasco def. Sherman 25-16, 25-14, 25-19

Hood River City Councilors approved street and pedestrian frameworks for the Westside Area Concept Plan along with municipal planning commission recommendations that would allow staff to begin an update of the city’s transportation systems plan.  City Planning Director Dustin Nilson says the next step is to take the recommendation list and go through a scoping process involving the City Council, Public Works, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and the Department of Land Conservation and Development.  For the Westside Concept Plan itself, the next framework to be addressed will be parks and open space, which Nilsen says is in line with the parks master plan process currently involving the City, County, and Hood River Valley Parks and Recreation District.  The land use aspects of the concept plan will come after that.

The Dalles Community Action Team will be headed to Washington, D.C. next week for its biannual visit to pitch local projects and issues to federal officials.  Wasco County Commissioner Scott Hege says one of the topics on this year’s trip will be to advocate for forest policies to allow for sustainable harvests.  Hege says that would help keep forests healthy along with bringing needed revenues to county governments and creating employment.   Another Community Action Team focus for this trip will be the long-discussed issue of allowing for an expansion of The Dalles urban growth boundary within the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

Hood River County is working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on the problem of elk coming onto orchard lands and damaging them.  County Commission Chair Mike Oates, who also operates an orchard, says elk numbers in the Hood River Valley have increased since controlled hunts of elk were discontinued in 2011, and trail development in the Riordan Hill area has also contributed to the elk coming onto the orchards.  Oates says the state plans to reinstate the controlled hunts in 2020, but they will be different than in the past by spreading it out from August to December in an effort to move the elk to find new range to graze in.  He adds some orchardists have tried to use audio “booms” to try to drive away the elk from their property, but that led to complaints from people being awakened at night by the noise.

Boys Soccer

Livingstone Adventist Academy 5, Horizon Christian 1

Volleyball

Mabton def. Lyle-Wishram 25-19, 25-19, 25-19

The Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency board will hold a special meeting Wednesday to consider bids for demolition of the westerly portion of the Recreation Building in downtown The Dalles.  Community Development Director Steve Harris gave an update to The Dalles City Council Monday evening on the situation involving a buckling of the roof and its supports, which came to light after heavy rains on August 9.  Harris says engineers report they’ve received indicate when the bowling alley was put in the building in 1958, some of the supporting columns were removed.  The roof has been failing in that portion of the building, and Councilor Russ Brown noted references in the reports that the rains were not the cause of the failure.  Harris said the cause is still under investigation, adding the engineers representing the URA’s insurance company wants to do a post-demolition investigation.  Harris says they have received three bids to demolish the building.

The Dalles City Council voted to amend the municipal Transportation Systems Plan to add a project to attempt to improve safety at the intersection of West 2^nd and Cherry Heights and have staff begin to design the project.  There have been nine traffic accidents at that intersection in the last five years, and traffic engineers found attempting left turns onto West 2^nd from Cherry Heights caused significant delays.  Public Works Director Dave Anderson says this project will involve channelization with raised concrete medians that will eliminate the left turns and straight-through movements from Cherry Heights and the Auto Zone business onto West 2^nd.  Cost is estimated at $295,000, and with the Council putting the project in the Transportation Systems Plan it can be paid for with funds from systems development charges the City already has.  Anderson said just painting stripes would not accomplish the safety improvements they want, installing signals would be more expensive and would actually increase the expectation of accidents, and there is not enough room for a roundabout.