At a hearing Wednesday the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners gave preliminary approval to a new set of findings for the consolidated land-use application from Oregon Pipeline Company LLC that, if adopted at an upcoming meeting, will result in the application’s denial.
The action followed a public hearing called to reconsider the application, which was originally approved by the board of commissioners in November 2010. In January, the board, with three new members, voted to withdraw that approval in order to conduct another review of the application, which seeks approval for construction of 41 miles of natural gas pipeline serving the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Warrenton.
On Wednesday the board reviewed the updated staff report from the Clatsop County Planning Division. The commissioners reviewed each of the 251 findings, which cover the application’s compliance with statewide planning goals, the county’s comprehensive plan, seven land-use zones, four overlay zones and various other review criteria.
The board largely concurred with the report, which finds that the Oregon Pipeline application does not satisfy several of the 42 relevant criteria and recommends the application’s denial. The board also decided that the application failed to meet the requirements in two additional areas ? the Agriculture-Forestry zone and Forestry-80 zone ? in part because of the concerns about an emergency response plan.
The board directed staff to draft new findings based on its deliberations. The findings will be presented to the board at a special meeting March 30 for the commissioners’ review and possible approval.
Planning staff originally recommended denial of the Oregon Pipeline application. Hearings officer Peter Livingston, however, approved the application last August following public hearings. The board of commissioners upheld Livingston’s decision and approved the application on Nov. 8.
That ruling was appealed to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals by project opponents led by Columbia Riverkeeper. The board’s decision in January to withdraw the approval was made under the LUBA review process.
Wednesday’s hearing was limited to testimony from the applicant and Columbia Riverkeeper, but no representative from Oregon Pipeline attended.
On Friday, March 4, attorneys for Oregon Pipeline filed a writ of mandamus motion in Clatsop County Circuit Court. The motion claims that the county, by withdrawing the November approval decision, failed to take final action on the company’s application within the timeframe mandated by state law.
Under the mandamus rule, if a jurisdiction fails to act on a land-use application by the required deadline, the applicant can seek to have the local circuit court order the application to be approved.
In a letter sent Monday, March 7, Oregon Pipeline contends that as a result of the mandamus filing, the application is solely within the court’s jurisdiction until the court rules on the mandamus issue, and that any action taken by the county in the meantime is invalid. The letter stated the applicant’s formal objection to Wednesday’s hearing.
The mandamus filing is scheduled to be heard in circuit court on March 18.
County Counsel Jeff Bennett told the commissioners Wednesday that if the court agrees with Oregon Pipeline on the jurisdictional issue, the board may need to conduct Wednesday’s hearing a second time.
The draft findings will be posted for public review on by March 21. Written comments on the findings will be accepted until 5 p.m. March 23.
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