WENATCHEE â It was a full house on Zoom Tuesday night for Chelan Countyâs public hearing on its draft short-term rental regulations.
More than 400 people attended the public hearing and 47 people gave testimony over a two-hour period, but the county got through less than half the people who wanted to speak.
The three-person Chelan County Commission is set to vote Dec. 29 on the draft regulations. Commissioners Bob Bugert and Kevin Overbay said they have not decided whether they would vote for the regulations as they stand.
âThis has not been a rushed process, it has gone on for quite a while,â Chelan County Commissioner Doug England said. âAnd the only thing I can guarantee from this process is that no one will be entirely happy.â
Courtesy Washington Dept. of Ecology
The environmental review of a 90-year-old dam in central Washington’s Alpine Lakes Wilderness will start soon. Eightmile Dam is considered a threat to people and property downstream near Leavenworth.
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Now, the public has an opportunity to comment on the environmental review of the aging Eightmile Dam.
The issue traces back to 2017 when the Jack Creek Fire burned. Subsequent flooding and erosion caused water to flow over the earthen top of the dam.
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The National Weather Service is predicting possible thunderstorms later this week around the Bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth, Washington. That could cause the Eightmile Lake Dam above the town to fail.
And a simmering dispute between the local irrigation district and the U.S. Forest Service isn’t helping.
Eightmile Lake Dam sits in a federal wilderness area. But a local irrigation district owns the dam, which helps water fruit trees, grapes, pastures and yards.
“Yes, it’s an old dam and is it’s deteriorating. But the problem is that the dam was never designed to handle the amount of outflow that the watershed can produce at this point,” said Tony Jantzer, who manages the Icicle & Peshastin Irrigation District.