Good News!
But the fights not over, it’s just begun!

Update From Jan Kelly
March 12, 2023
Saturday March 11, 2023: This Saturday was met with some interesting news about Knife River, Per the Columbian front-page article It appears that Knife River has placed a pause in the county’s process with the conditional use permit for the property located at 7511 NE 101 st. Street, Vancouver, WA. While that may seem like a victory, we must remember that it is only a pause, an intermission if you will. For sure a step in the right direction.

This news was also confirmed by Stephanie McClintock at the Town Hall Meeting at WSU on Saturday March 11, 2023.

We have shined a light on a broken zoning process that Clark County is currently using. We must forge ahead and continue our fight, continue with our plans, and our preparation. As I understand it, Knife River can pause this action for up to 3 years, without any penalties. Currently, they are looking elsewhere to see if they can find a more suitable location for the batch plant. After the search, they may move the site, they come back and fight for this space. The future is unknown right now. What is certain is that Knife River plans on expanding their
footprint in Vancouver.

The zoning error with the property located at 7511 NE 101 st Street, must be addressed, and we must find a way to get that property zoning reverted to “Light Industrial”. If we cannot get that done, then we shall be fighting with every heavy industrial company that put in an application for a conditional use. We have people at the county level and at state level looking into that task. They all know I am out of town on business this week. When I return, I will circle back with them all to find out where we are.

 

I am cautiously optimistic. As I told you all at the first, this fight this is going to be a long fight. Please do not get lulled into a false since of victory.

We have come a long way in a short amount of time. That is because we are united in our mission and focused on our duties. All of us have a firm resolve to get this finished correctly, and not leave the mission before the task is done.

What is next?
We need to build our coalition, that means flyers, knocking on doors and sharing information with neighbors. We have planned a training session to make sure we are all on the same page and telling the same story when we are knocking on doors. I encourage you to attend one of the training sessions. Thank you to Mark Krant, Angie Krant, Susan Hayes, and Charles Polacek for working so hard on this program. Again, a consistent message is the key to success. “Boots on the Ground” training session is March 14 th at 6:30 PM at the Cascade Presbyterian Church.

 

Building up our War Chest:
Donations! We must build our war chest for the legal fund! Send out the message to everyone you know on Facebook, send the flyer with the QR code on it. Preparing for the hearing Examiner’s hearing (Whenever it will be) is costly. Expert witnesses are essential in this process. Additionally, we must have excellent legal representation. That cost money.

That is the news for now!
— Jan