Gorge Commission denies motion to dismiss appeal, keeps dispute over drainage ditch and consent decree alive

The Columbia River Gorge Commission voted 8-3 on Jan. 11 to deny a motion to dismiss an appeal challenging Clark County’s denial of a mining-related land-use application, keeping the case alive and allowing commissioners to consider whether the commission should apply a public‑interest exception to mootness.

The action matters because the appeal raises two recurring issues in the Gorge: whether an unpermitted drainage ditch and associated stormwater facilities must be treated as a “structure” in the county’s content requirements for site plans, and whether a 1997 consent decree concerning earlier work on the property keeps the dispute from becoming moot.

Commissioner Patrick Liberty, who moved to deny the motion to dismiss, argued the commission should decide the legal question about the meaning of “structure” and said the record, including a 1997 consent decree, shows a long‑running dispute that could recur in future permitting. “The record has our consent decree from 1997, and its relevance was debated,” Liberty said, and later argued the hearing examiner “erred in interpreting the code in finding that the…