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A2 Hood River News, Wednesday, January 28, 2015 G REATER G ORGE www.hoodrivernews.com Walmart site in The Dalles appealed again BY NEITA CECIL The Dalles Chronicle A local citizens group op- posing a proposed Walmart superstore in The Dalles has appealed for a second time a wetlands permit issued to the retail giant. Citizens for Responsible De- velopment in The Dalles filed an appeal Dec. 5 with the Ore- gon Court of Appeals of a final order by the Oregon De- partment of State Lands granting Walmart a permit to fill and remove wetlands. The citizens group first ap- pealed the permit after it was granted in May 2013. The ap- peal was heard in June 2014 before an administrative law judge, who ruled the permit could stand. In October, the department of state lands is- sued its final order imple- menting the judge’s ruling, and the citizens group filed its appeal of the final order two months later. Walmart spokesperson Delia Garcia said, “Our plans for the new store in The Dalles have weathered extensive review and legal scrutiny — and been ap- proved at each and every step. The community has been very suppor tive throughout this prolonged process and we appreciate their patience. We look for- ward to the day we can pro- vide our customers in the Gorge with an affordable op- tion for the items that they need and use every day.” John Nelson, a lead mem- ber of the citizen group, said that, “As we have challenged it, Walmart has changed their solution, making it better and better and better.” The group still opposes the placement of the 18.1-acre Walmart site, near the junc- tion of Interstate 84 and exit 82, which has some 49 rare wetlands called vernal pools scattered around it. Walmart plans to build a 147,782 square-foot super- store on the property com- prising retail, grocery and garden center, with 8.2 acres of parking lot, two acres of service area, and two acres of landscaping. In all, it would cover some 16.1 acres of land with buildings and parking lots, all impervious surfaces which would cause runoff when it rains. Walmart is proposing a se- ries of bioswales — densely vegetated shallow ditches — that will collect and naturally filter the runoff before it is sent to either wetlands or the storm sewer system. The storm runoff system will fil- ter out pollutants and sedi- ments before discharging treated runoff into a wide rocky area upland of Chenoweth Creek. Karl Anuta, a Portland at- torney representing the citi- zen group, said several points will be raised on appeal. The first, he said, is whether the department of state lands is required to find a public bene- fit for a project in order to allow wetlands to be filled. The department argued – and the judge agreed – that such findings are only re- quired for projects affecting estuaries. Anuta contends the relevant case law is broader than that and is meant to in- clude all wetlands. Following the June 2014 hearing, the judge determined it was “inconclusive” whether a public benefit existed. He said this project will be built on top of vernal pools, shallow depressions that are wet in the rainy season but dry the rest of the year. The October final order said ver- nal pools are among the rarest wetlands in the state and are “exceptionally difficult” to re- create. “We felt filling them with- out a public benefit finding did not make sense,” Anuta said. Anuta said the second major issue is “the failure of the department to require Walmart to consider a smaller store as an alternative to the big superstore that Walmart wanted to do.” The judge found Walmart’s analysis of nine other sites — which Anuta claimed was an insincere attempt to find an alternate — was thorough and reasonable. The citizens group pro- posed a two-story store with parking garage that would’ve taken up less space on the site. Walmart said such a build- ing would be too costly to build in a rural area, because it doesn’t have a large enough customer base to recoup costs, and the judge agreed, saying the company had a right to make a profit. In 2010, Walmart did shrink its parking lot 12 percent, eliminating 92 spaces, to re- duce impacts on wetlands. It also moved the storm sewer outfall pipe well inland, away from its original outfall direct- ly into Chenoweth Creek, which could have eroded the creekbed. One change that came out of the June hearing was adding a device to the stormwater drainage system that will control whether storm runoff goes into the stormwater system or into wetlands. The dam-like structure will send high and low amounts of storm runoff into the storm system, but send mid-range amounts into wetlands. The goal is to mimic as much as possible the natural water cycle of the site. Anuta said the citizens group believes the dam-like structures will not be self-sus- taining, as the law requires. Walmart will have to moni- tor the dams for two years to make needed adjustments, and from then on, they would be self-sustaining, according to the final order. Bioswales will naturally fil- ter runoff, and filters will me- chanically filter them. Other methods of preventing water pollution from runoff will in- clude regularly sweeping the parking lot. While the citizens group contended the system would improperly require too much maintenance, contrary to the notion of being self-sustain- ing, the department’s final order, written by its director, said, “I find that spending four hours per year on mowing the bioswales is not a regular or frequent activity.” The final order also notes the land deed has restrictions requiring the maintenance be done in perpetuity. The per- mit will require seven years of monitoring of the wetlands and the property’s storm drainage system. During the hearing, Anuta said Walmart’s plan is “based on a ‘trust me’ approach.” He said, “This lack of regular monitoring is astonishing.” Under the permit, Walmart will be allowed to permanent- ly impact 2.174 acres of wet- lands, and about .52 acres of that was occupied by a non- threatened species of fairy shrimp, according to a 2009 federal survey of the site. State law requires projects that impact wetlands to miti- gate the damage by several methods, including either cre- ating new wetlands onsite or elsewhere. May Street Elementary hosts Battle of Books May Street Elementary is hosting the second annual Gorge OBOB Invitational Sunday, noon to 3 p.m. This is a fun day for kids to practice battle against teams from other schools in ad- vance of their school and Re- gional competitions (which happen in late Febr u- ary/early March). Fifteen teams from Parkdale, West- side, Mosier Community School and May Street Ele- mentary will attend, with over 60 kids expected to join the fun. These kids have been working hard to pre- pare; as a team, they must read 16 books and be ready to answer questions in only 15 seconds. Walmart chose to recreate them on-site. It plans to create 1.33 acres of new wetlands, re- store .64 acres of damaged wetlands, enhance .58 acres of wetlands, and preserve 2.42 acres of wetlands. It will also preserve 7.75 acres of uplands that feed into the wetlands. The project is 250 feet from Chenoweth Creek, which has a number of species of pro- tected fish in it, and is 3,500 feet from the Columbia River. Walmart experts argued the drainage system on the site uses the most restrictive rules in the state for treating stormwater pollutants. A department of state lands employee testified that “the permit conditions are some of the most comprehensive and robust ever required by the de- partment,” the final order stated. WEEKLY SUDOKU This week’s Sudoku presented by: Y OUR B USINESS N AME Answers on Page A9 Fill in all 81 squares on the puzzle with numbers 1 to 9. You can use each number 1-9 only once in each nine square section, in each horizontal line of nine squares, and in each vertical column of nine squares. The puzzle is completed when you correctly fill every square. 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