Commissioners approve short plat

Wahkiakum County commissioners voted preliminary approval of an Elochoman Valley subdivision when they met Tuesday.

Applicants Joan Connell and Allen Francisco are planning Hidden Creek I subdivision near the intersection of Elochoman Valley and Beaver Creek roads. The six-lot subdivision would be adjacent to another six-lot subdivision, Hidden Creek II, which was approved earlier this year.

Average lot size will be one acre. A private access road, Nature Loop, must be built to county standards.

In comments, a neighbor expressed concern over surface wells and septic systems.

Permit Coordinator Chuck Beyer said the county Health Department has found that the area will need engineered septic systems for each lot.

The county doesn't have jurisdiction over wells on developments of six lots or less, Beyer said, and the individual lot owners just need a state permit, but not a water right, to dig a well.

In other business, Public Works Director Pete Ringen said it appeared the Grays River was the only river to flood in last weekend's rains.

Ringen said National Weather Service staff in Portland had contacted him to ask for information because the gauging station at the Covered Bridge showed the river had reached flood level. Road department personnel inspected and confirmed water had flooded.

Ringen said he was told this was the only river to reach flood stage in western Washington and Northwest Orgeon during the rains.

--The board approved a request from Auditor Diane Tischer to fund a temporary extra help position to cover the absence of an employee who needs a surgical procedure.

Tischer estimated the cost to be $5,700 for the eight weeks it may take for the employee to have the procedure and recover. The funds will come from the Cumulative Reserve for Emergency Expenditures, which had $96,535 at the start of March.

--The board accepted both of the bids it received last week for asphalt and related products. Public Works Director Pete Ringen said the road department will check with each supplier at the start of a project to see which might be cheaper. Ringen noted that Lakeside Industries bid firm prices, but Naselle Rock and Asphalt bid base prices which could change, depending on oil prices. The base price for asphalt was $34 a ton in 2005, $40 in 2006, and now bid around $51 in 2007, a 50 percent increase in two years because of oil prices.

"That makes it difficult to provide services as we have in the past," he said.