Pulp Plant CUP Okayed

DAYTON - Last week, Columbia County Hear­ings Examiner Andrew Kottkamp approved the conditional use permit ap­plication from Columbia Pulp LLC, for the straw pulp facility it is planning to build on State Highway 261 near Lyons Ferry. Kott­kamp, a Wenatchee attor­ney who serves as hearings examiner for several local governments, ruled that fa­cility met all county zoning requirements and that no undue adverse impact was found.

Columbia County Plan­ning Director Kim Ly­onnais said that the only remaining county permit­ting required by Columbia Pulp for the facility will be building permits for the structures to be built.

In an email to The Times, Columbia Pulp President John Begley said that the firm plans to begin site preparation for the new plant this fall. The facility is expected to begin opera­tion about a year later, at the close of the 2015 wheat harvest.

Earlier this year, Co­lumbia Pulp purchased 450 acres of land along State Highway 261 in northwest Columbia County, just south of the Lyons Ferry Marina. The plant will be built on a 40 acre tract along the highway. The company plans to produce more than 400 tons of pulp per day, once the plant is fully operational. It plans to hire more than 130 fulltime employees.

Columbia Pulp has also announced it will open an office in Downtown Day­ton in late summer. It will be located at 164 E. Main Street, in the former Criss Furniture building.