The Hood River City Council approved code amendments that will require townhomes with four or more units attached to go through a site plan review process.  The City has been going through a months-long revision to its townhouse regulations to conform to state standards and change them from conditional use to a permitted use.  There was quite a bit of discussion about whether to make the number of units for a detailed site plan review four or five, but City Manager Steve Wheeler says the Council also wanted to get the amendments passed before the building season begins.  In other business, the Council agreed to approve the use of $240,000 in systems development charges collected with the City by the Hood River Valley Parks and Recreation District for the Golden Eagle Park renovation project adjacent to Hood River Valley High School.

The Army Corps of Engineers has dedicated up to one-point-five-six million dollars for a village development plan to replace housing that was lost during construction of The Dalles Dam, with plans to dedicate one-point-four-nine million dollars more depending on congressional funding for the rest of the current fiscal year.  Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden of Oregon, Patty Murray of Washington, and Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer made the announcement. Beginning in the 1930s, the construction of the three lower Columbia River dams displaced members of the four Columbia River Treaty tribes.  The Army Corps designed treaty fishing sites to be used primarily for daily, in-season fishing access and temporary camping; however, in many cases tribal members now use the areas as longer-term or even permanent residences.  A Fact-Finding Review on Tribal Housing prepared by the Army Corps found that as many as 85 tribal families who lived on the banks of the Columbia River prior to construction of the Bonneville and The Dalles dams did not receive relocation assistance, despite the fact that several non-tribal communities inundated by dam construction did receive such assistance.

Wasco County has unveiled its new website.  County Commissioner Scott Hege says they have been working on modernizing the look of the site for some time.  He says the goal is to make it easier for constituents to find information they want and need.  As an example, the Geographical Information System available on the site has more data on the various properties in the County.  The website address remains the same:  wascocounty.org.

Boys Basketball Pendleton 86, The Dalles 45 Horizon Christian 53, South Wasco 38:  The Hawks nail down the third seed in this weekend’s Big Sky Conference Tournament   Southwest Washington Class 1A Boys Basketball Tournament Stevenson 55, Elma 44:  The Bulldogs move on to a loser-out game with LaCenter Wednesday evening at Rochester.   Girls Basketball Horizon Christian 51, South Wasco 34:  The Hawks finish the regular season in a tie for first with Arlington atop the Big Sky Conference.

During their goal-setting session, Hood River County Commissioners received troubling projections about their long-term revenue picture.  County Commission Chair Ron Rivers says a ten-year analysis shows the County facing difficulty in maintaining services by year six.  Rivers says Measure 5 and 50 limitations on property tax increases are a big reason for the shortfall, adding Hood River County is in the bottom ten of property tax rates in the state.  He adds the Commission plans to look again at the concept of some kind of tax on tourist services to address the issue.  Continuing a study of the future of the Hood River County Courthouse, affordable housing creation, and revamping internal systems to increase efficiency were also on the goal list.

A recent court ruling has some area governmental agencies worried about being able to continue to offer free open areas for people to recreate, and asking the Oregon Legislature to do something about it.  The ruling by the state Supreme Court held that recreational immunity from tort liability in the state’s Public Lands Act was intended to only immunize the actual landowner, but not employees or volunteers acting on behalf of the landowner.  Port of The Dalles Executive Director Andrea Klaas is worried that would make it difficult for public and private landowners to offer their properties for recreational use, and to encourage volunteers to help maintain them.  A number of groups, including the League of Oregon Cities, Association of Oregon Counties, and Special Districts Association of Oregon, are pushing legislators to amend the Public Lands Act to extend recreational immunity to a landowner’s officers, employees, agents, or volunteers.

A Washington State House committee is considering a bill by Goldendale Representative Gina McCabe that would require seatbelts on school buses.  The bill would require every school bus in Washington be equipped with a shoulder-harness seat belt by September 2018, and McCabe told the House Education Committee kids are at risk if they’re on a bus with no seat belts.  McCabe also proposes in the bill to require automated cameras be installed to detect drivers who blow through the stop arm when kids are getting on and off buses, and using the fines to pay for the seatbelts.  The measure is awaiting action in the House Education Committee.

Reviewing the history of the Public Employees Retirement System has been the subject before the Oregon State Senate’s Workforce Committee, and one member of the panel feels there isn’t much that can be done with it in the short-term.  29th District Senator Bill Hansell says the courts have vetted the subject so thoroughly that there aren’t a whole lot of legislative options left to deal with the impact of PERS on the state budget at this time.  Hansell says there are steps that can be taken to reign in PERS costs down the road, but it would be many years before the relief would be felt.

There are four different levy measures on the ballot in Klickitat and Skamania counties in Tuesday’s election in Washington.  Ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday to be counted.  Three of the levies are maintenance and operations levies for schools.  Voters in the White Salmon Valley, Lyle, and Trout Lake school districts are being asked to approve those.  The other is in the Home Valley Water District, where a decision will be made on a maintenance and capital improvement fund levy.

Searchers early Monday morning found two hikers who became lost in the Eagle Creek Trail area.  Hood River County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Pete Hughes said the pair, a man and a woman from the Portland area, went out on the Eagle Creek Trail Sunday and became lost when descending the Ruckel Creek Trail.  The hikers made phone contact with the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office dispatch office around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.  A team from Crag Rats Mountain Search and Rescue located the pair shortly after 1 a.m. Monday, and escorted them off the trail.  Both were in good health.