Steven Harris has been tabbed as the new Planning Director for the City of The Dalles.  Harris will replace current planning director Dick Gassman, who is retiring on October 6.  City Manager Julie Krueger says Harris is a certified urban planner with over thirty-five years’ experience, most recently with the City of Yorba Linda, California.  Harris will be in office October 3, 4, and 5 and then return full time on October 17.  Gassman has been with the City of The Dalles since 2004, first as a senior planner and the last four years as Planning Director.

The Dalles City Council has scheduled the first reading of an ordinance to restructure the Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency board for September 12.  Currently the Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency is governed with a board made up of the Mayor and the City Council, backed by an advisory committee, and the proposal is to have a single nine person board with three Councilors, two members of the public, and one representative each from the Port of The Dalles, Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue, Wasco County, and Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation District.  There will be public comment taken.  The meeting on September 12 will be at 5:30 p.m. in The Dalles City Hall.

Hood River County Commissioners took testimony this week on a time, place, and manner ordinance for recreational marijuana businesses.  Testimony ranged from Commissioners being urged to treat marijuana like any other legal agricultural crop to being very restrictive, particularly in rural residential zones.  Commission Chair Ron Rivers says the residential zone issue is probably the biggest question they will be dealing with.  The marijuana ordinance will be discussed by Commissioners again at their October 17 meeting.

Volleyball North Marion def. The Dalles 16-25, 25-7, 13-25, 25-22, 15-10

Hood River County Commissioners took a second night of testimony on proposed regulations for short-term home rentals in unincorporated areas of the County, and will vote on them in two weeks.  Most of the discussion surrounds whether to allow STR’s on farm and forest resource lands in the county, and where to cap the number allowed.  Commissioners are considering allowing them with a conditional use permit process.  In addition, the owner would have to be living in the residence while providing the short-term rental.  Commissioners were given a petition from some farming community members who oppose any STR’s on resource lands.  The Commission is expected to vote on the subject at a meeting scheduled for September 12.

The Aging in the Gorge Alliance is getting ready to distribute 400 free copies of a book on aging in America to spark discussions about the topic throughout the Gorge.  The alliance’s Tina Castanares says the book is “The Age of Dignity:  Meeting the Challenge of the Elder Boom in an Aging America” by MacArthur Fellow Ai-Jen Poo.  The books will be distributed at libraries in Hood River, White Salmon, The Dalles, Stevenson, and Mosier.  Book discussions will then be planned throughout the area, with the biggest October 22 at 1:30 p.m. on the Indian Creek campus of Columbia Gorge Community College in Hood River.  The books will start to be distributed in two weeks.

The Dalles City Council signed off on a Federal Aviation Administration grant for the Columbia Gorge Regional Airport at a special meeting on Monday.  The grant is pay 90 percent of the one-point-six million dollar project to finish the center section of a taxiway that was required by the FAA when a runway was redone in 2012.  The airport’s Rolf Anderson told the Council they needed to get the application for the grant done on Monday due to a change in FAA timelines, and they will receive a letter from the FAA on Tuesday indicating acceptance of the grant.  The Klickitat County Commission will approve the grant on Tuesday.  The City and the County are the co-owners of the airport.  Construction of the taxiway should take place in the spring of 2017.

Two people were injured late Sunday evening in a motor vehicle accident after the car they were in ended up in Rowland Lake east of Bingen.  According to the Washington State Patrol, the car driven by 28-year-old Jose Chalico-Mosqueda of Yakima was eastbound on Highway 14 and attempted to pass in a no passing zone.  The driver of the vehicle lost control, and the car struck a dirt embankment and then came to rest in Rowland Lake.  Chalico-Mosqueda and his passenger, 21-year-old Isamar Ramirez-Aguilera of Yakima, were taken to Skyline Hospital in White Salmon for treatment of injuries, while the WSP says a three-month-old boy in the car was not injured.  The accident occurred just after 11 p.m. Sunday night.

A house in The Dalles burned on Saturday morning.  The two-story house at Lincoln and Fourth Streets near St. Peter’s Landmark contains three apartments.  Jay Wood of Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue District said the roof and the second story apartment was destroyed, while some of the first floor apartment was salvaged, and there was smoke and water damage in the third apartment that had been added on to the structure.  He adds no cause has been determined at this point.  One person was injured escaping the structure, and was transported to Mid-Columbia Medical Center.  The fire was reported around 9 a.m. Saturday.  Dallesport/Murdock Fire Department, The Dalles Police Department, and Northern Wasco PUD assisted MCFR crews in dealing with the fire.

A group of local residents is looking into the viability of establishing a cohousing community in the Gorge.  Cohousing advocates say such communities help people find and maintain elements of traditional views of neighborhoods, including family, community, and a sense of belonging.  Cohousing designer Katie McCamant is working with the Gorge Cohousing group, and says the concept can address affordability issues by providing common facilities ranging from a common house to shared green space.  Gorge Cohousing has set up a website, gorgecohousing.com, to outline the concept, with a presentation planned October 21 at 7 p.m. at Springhouse Cellars in Hood River.