County Addresses Wind Farm Impact

DAYTON - Columbia County Planning Director Kim Lyonnais told county commissioners last week that his office may have to devote more than 2,000 additional hours in the next two years to planning and inspection efforts related to construction of Phase II of the Lower Snake River Wind Energy Project. He asked the commissioners to consider adding a full-time planning position to his office to cover the increased workload.

"I don't think of this as a 'part-time temporary' posi- tion," Lyonnais said. "We can't predict what's going to happen in four or five years, but we are sure going in a growth direction."

Last week, Portland General Electric Company an- nounced that it has agreed to purchase the development rights to a portion of the LSR project in Columbia County from Puget Sound Energy, with the deal ex- pected to close in August. In order to meet deadlines for federal production tax credits, which currently expire at year-end, construction is expected to begin before the end of August. The project is expected to include 116 new wind turbines, and be located north of Dayton and west of Highway 12.

Jeromy Phinney is cur- rently the only employee in the Columbia County Planning and Building Department, besides Lyonnais. Phinney not only provides planning support to Lyon- nais, but also is the building inspector for the county, as well as for the city of Dayton and the city of Waits- burg, through contracts between those cities and Columbia County.

Lyonnais said the ad- ditional position could be funded through income from Waitsburg and Dayton for inspections, plus permit fees from wind turbine installation. Each turbine tow- er requires its own building permit.

Lyonnais also pointed out that his office has a number of other projects underway that will take up considerable staff time. These include a three-year shoreline update plan for the county, as well as those for Dayton and Starbuck. He said a consultant may be needed to help with those updates. The county must also complete annual updates of its comprehensive plan, as well as zoning updates.

"I already have a laundry list of amendments to zoning that I will introduce to the Planning Commission," he said.

Lyonnais also outlined a number of other needs for his department to handle its upcoming increased work- load. These include:

Permit and planning project software

Upgrades for the department's computers, which are currently five years old.

An additional vehicle, to allow staff to make multiple wind project inspections, as well as travel to meetings and other inspections.

In an interview, Lyonnais said that he will discuss with PGE the possibility of that company providing funding assistance to help the county pay for the added workload during construction of the new wind project. "In the past, Columbia and Garfield counties received help from the developers," to cover costs, he said.

During the June 5 commissioner meeting, Lyonnais also presented three amendments to existing permits for the LSR project that PSE has asked for. These include:

A. A revision to the birdflight height analysis toallow increased turbineblade heights.

B. A change to the zoning

code regarding non-

conforming buildingsencroaching on an

existing turbine.

C. An amendment to a

resolution regarding tur-

bine decommissioning.

Would allow waiver ofbond requirements for

an investor-owned util-

ity regulated by a stateother than Washington.

Lyonnais told The Times that item A. can be addressed and approved by the plan- ning director. He also said that the zoning change in item B. will likely be de- layed and included in the county's regular code update in 2014.

Lyonnais said that he is waiting for a formal request from PGE to amend the decommissioning resolution. Since the original resolution was adopted in 2008 after a public hearing, the com- missioners may decide to hold a public hearing on the amendment, he said.