CAMAS — A group of Skamania County residents say they fear the county's moratorium on recreational applications won't be enough to stop construction of a proposed adventure park.
“I think a lot of people thought that because of the moratorium … (the project) had just disappeared,” said Keith Brown, treasurer of Preserving Washougal and West End Rural Character, a nonprofit organization created to contrast with the adventure park.
The Skamania County Board of Commissioners passed the moratorium on recreational facilities in October. The move follows outcry from the West End community over Washougal resident Derek Hoyte's efforts to build an adventure park featuring a “roller coaster,” a zipline course, a net park and a venue event on 150 acres of land at 4101 Canyon Creek. Road. Hoyte purchased the property in 2022.
After the county's decision, Hoyte said feedback from neighbors made him reconsider his adventure park plans. He said he was “still in the early stages” of deciding what he wanted to do with his property.
“My plans for the property are still in ‘draft mode’ and no buildings of any kind have yet been constructed on the property,” Hoyte said in November. “I do not have a specific timetable in mind as to when I might choose to file an application for a building or land use permit on the property in question.”
However, those who oppose Hoyte's development plans say the project still poses a threat to the community.
“We look at what people do, not what they say. His track record is very clear. If he can put that out there, he will,” Brown said.
This isn't the first time Hoyte has tried to build a recreational site in Washington — and he's run into land use issues before.
He was briefly imprisoned in 2009 after Skamania County officials found he was operating six zip lines without a license on 83 acres of land he owned in the National Scenic Area, according to a 2010 report by The Columbian.
In 2010, the U.S. Attorney's Office sued Hoyte in federal court in Tacoma, claiming that the U.S. Forest Service had confirmed reports that Hoyte had reinstalled zip lines on the property and built a suspension bridge without permission.
The PWWERC group has asked Skamania County Community Development Director David Waymire to review the county's definitions of “recreational facilities” and “recreational activities” in its zoning code. The group urged Skamania County to align its recreational facility zoning code with the West End Comprehensive Community Subzone Plan.
On March 5, Waymire proposed new terms and definitions for land use of large-scale recreational facilities; additional new land use planning standards for recreational facilities; and modifications to implement new land use conditions.
“We hope this is a good way forward.” We think that’s the case,” Waymire said at the March 5 meeting of the Skamania County Planning Commission.
New codes
Currently, Skamania County defines an outdoor recreation facility as a facility encompassing a range of activities such as physical exercise, general wellness, spiritual renewal, and education, including camping, hiking , fishing, horse riding, swimming, climbing, cycling, windsurfing and the outdoors. team sports.
Waymire’s proposal adds that “this designation does not include any large-scale applications that are generally, but not limited to, applications that may have a significant impact on traffic; a potential increase in noise levels, sustained or otherwise, which would likely impact the regular use of the area; or projects that cover a geographic footprint of more than 5 acres of land or that attempt to connect parcels with recreational activities.
Waymire's proposal also creates a definition for larger recreational facilities.
The March 3 PWWERC meeting attracted about 80 people, including two county commissioners.
Members of the group say they are not necessarily trying to stop the adventure park project, but want to ensure that whatever is built is consistent with the overall West End Community Subarea Plan adopted by Skamania County in 2007.
“West Skamania County will continue to be a primarily rural environment with large expanses of fields and forests, with limited small-scale residential and commercial development,” according to the plan.
But Sarah Perry, secretary of the nonprofit group, said Skamania County adopted zoning changes in 2021 that conflicted with the West End plan.
“Ordinance 21-04 added many conditional uses to zoning areas that specifically affect residents,” Perry said. “Before these ordinances were passed, outdoor recreational facilities were not permitted in zoning areas at all, and they are now permitted with conditions. This created a loophole for this adventure park proposal.
“Rescinding 21-04 would essentially put it back the way it was and remove the conditional uses from those zoning areas.”
Waymire said the group hopes county officials will approve its proposal.
“The moratorium would then be lifted and the proposed changes would come into force,” he said. “I cannot say how long this process will take, as it will require the support of both boards.”
A moratorium “removes property rights”
Not all Skamania County residents approved of the commissioners' moratorium enacted in October.
Skamania County resident Mitch Patton told The Post-Record that he believes the county's moratorium is taxing on property owners' rights.
“My biggest frustration is that the 2007 comprehensive plan needs to be revised in 2025. That’s less than nine months away,” Patton said. “You have less than 1 percent of the community protesting, and you're going to rewrite the entire compensation plan? It just doesn't make sense to me.
Patton said he thinks county officials should allow Hoyte to move forward with his project.
Patton said he owns about 200 acres of property in Skamania County that he would like to eventually develop.
“Twenty years ago, we couldn’t advertise here. There was no one here,” Patton said. “But now people are here and we need doctor's offices, optical centers, urgent care for children, maybe a playroom, maybe a little pizza place. I have 200 acres here, and I'm going to work hard to rezone it to commercial, industrial, multifamily, and affordable housing.
PWWERC members say they recognize that the moratorium “has created difficulties” for some residents.
“It is unfortunate that the moratorium could have such an impact on some people, but it is temporary, and it is a limited duration that will ultimately serve the common good,” Perry said. “We want to make sure that people understand that we are certainly not against developers, nor against development. What we want is development that is appropriate for the area, fits the residential community, and does not result in negative impacts on neighbors around the development.
