Columbia Gorge Community College’s Institutional Master Plan is finished.  Chief Academic Officer Lori Ufford says staff, faculty, students, employers, and community members participated in developing the plan.  Ufford says the plan brought out a series of specific goals, including ensuring the class schedule meets the needs real-world needs of students, increasing Hispanic enrollment, better coordination of student services, instruction, facilities, the business office, information technologies, and the college’s foundation, and designing a comprehensive marketing plan to increase public awareness of the college’s abilities.  Ufford says the plan identifies many other goals and activities, but the one’s she outlined will be the top priorities for this year.  Keys to those efforts will be a “Student Success Team” to review internal processes and recommend improvements, and using a “guided pathways” model to identify for each student the most timely and cost-effective route to completion of a degree or certificate.

The White Salmon Valley School District will be asking for a slight increase in its replacement maintenance and operations levy on the February 14 ballot.  The district is asking for $2.78 million dollars in 2017-18, an increase of $150,000 from this year, and then increasing by $50,000 each of the following two years.  District Superintendent Jerry Lewis says the increase will cover a variety of funding needs, including hiring a full-time English Language Learners teacher to support students in kindergarten through eighth grade, providing professional district development, supporting sixth grade outdoor school and the K-12 after-school program, and funding the music program for instrument repair and replacements.  Property tax rates for the levy are projected at $2.52 per $1,000 dollars of assessed value for the life of the levy, up from $2.42 this year, but that number is down from the $2.61 projected when the current levy was approved three years ago.

Oregon Congressmen Greg Walden and Earl Blumenauer and Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley introduced legislation to get a long-discussed Mt. Hood land swap finalized.  Wyden and Merkley introduced the Mt. Hood Cooper Spur Land Exchange Clarification Act in the Senate to help resolve a decades-long dispute over proposed land development on the northeast side of Mt. Hood, while Walden and Blumenauer introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.  The bill would allow development of 107 acres of the mountain while protecting 770 acres – a land exchange that was approved eight years ago and should have been completed more than six years ago.  The Forest Service has taken steps to complete the exchange, including releasing a draft Environmental Impact Statement last November, but the legislators say this bill is still needed to ensure the process is completed without further delay.  In 2009 Congress passed a broad public lands bill that included the Mt. Hood land exchange as part of the Mt. Hood Wilderness designation.  The bill directed the U.S. Forest Service to complete the exchange within 16 months.  Multiple delays over the past several years have led to conservation and development uncertainty, community frustration, and a lawsuit against the Forest Service.

Boys Basketball Hermiston 75, The Dalles 52:  The Bulldogs won the Columbia River Conference season opener for both teams at Kurtz Gym.  Xavier Rambo led the Bulldogs effort with 25 points and eight rebounds.  Dakota Murr had a big game for the Riverhawks with 30 points and ten rebounds.  Hermiston had a big shooting night, making over 53 percent from the field.   Wrestling Pendleton 54, Hood River Valley 25:  Justin Lane and Justin Wilson recorded two of the four Eagle victories by fall.

The Port of Hood River Commission took some testimony at its Tuesday night meeting on a parking plan for the Waterfront and whether or not to included metered parking, but it will be a while before any decisions are made.  Hood River City Councilors had decided a couple of weeks ago to form a committee including Port and Waterfront business representatives to discuss the parking issues, and Port Executive Director Michael McElwee says that process will continue.  He added it will be several weeks before there is any kind of resolution.  In other business, the Port Commission approved design guidelines for development on the former Lower Hanel Mill property.

Making The Dalles a “Blue Zone” community will be the subject of a pair of informational meetings on Thursday.  A number of area organizations are working to making The Dalles one of only three Blue Zone project locations in the state.  Lauren Kraemer of OSU Extension says the Blue Zone concept stems from the work of Dan Buettner, a National Geographic fellow who studied areas of the world where people commonly live to be 100 or more to find common traits.  Those traits included a diet heavy in fruits and vegetables, getting plenty of physical movement, reducing stress, and having a solid network of friends and family.  The meetings will take place at noon and 4 p.m. on Thursday at One Community Health in The Dalles.

The deadline for non-profit organizations to apply for grant funds for projects and programs from the City of The Dalles is less than a week away.  Applicants must demonstrate how they would stimulate economic development or tourism in the community, or provide social benefit for the community.  Applications are available at the City Clerk’s Office on 313 Court Street in The Dalles until Tuesday, and at the City’s website thedalles.org on the home page under hot topics.  Applications must be turned in by Tuesday for review by the City Manager, who will make recommendations to the City Council.  Approved applications will be submitted for funding through the annual budget process, with funds being awarded after July 1.

Boys Basketball Castle Rock 55, Stevenson 52 South Wasco 54, Horizon Christian 39 Dufur 70, Mitchell-Spray 33 Naches Valley 54, Goldendale 48   Girls Basketball Stevenson 51, Castle Rock 49 LaCenter 79, Columbia 26 Horizon Christian 33, South Wasco 30 Dufur 51, Mitchell-Spray 41 Goldendale 57, Naches Valley 51   Wrestling Hermiston 59, Hood River Valley 11:  Jason Shaner, Chad Muenzer, and Ryan Zeller won matches for HRV.

The Hood River City Council has set times for joint meetings with the municipal planning commission on the Westside Area Concept plan.  City Manager Steve Wheeler says work has been on-going on planning for 400 acres, much of which is within the urban growth boundary but outside the city limits.  Mayor Paul Blackburn notes growth in Hood River tends to be developer driven, but in this case a big examination is being undertaken before individual parcels are built out.  Residential densities will be a big focus of the plan.  Wheeler says a consultant is working with the City on the plan along with a technical task force.  The City Council/Planning Commission joint meetings will take place with a briefing on March 13 and a worksession on May 22.

The Dalles City Council received a draft of a housing needs and residential buildable land needs analysis during their meeting Monday evening.  It’s one of three studies the City is having done, including the transportation systems plan that will be done in about a month and a parking study, that could lead to changes in the municipal comprehensive land use plan.  But Mayor Steve Lawrence noted that new City Planning Director Steven Harris advised the Council to be cautious and not move too fast on any changes.  Lawrence added the analysis shows 480 acres of buildable space in The Dalles under the state’s definitions, but that doesn’t mean the land is necessarily available for development for reasons ranging from zoning to ownership.