Inform Hood River

Inform Hood River Inform Hood River is a news page maintained by Tracey Tomashpol, a resident in Hood River (Oregon). It's not part of any of those governmental agencies. Thanks.

I believed we needed information about local government activities. It is a non-partisan site, and not connected to any local
government agency. This is a site maintained by a Hood River resident (Tracey Tomashpol) to provide information in ONE place about city, county, CAT, urban renewal, city and county planning, and occasionally Port proceedings. If you want to know immediate details about t

hose agencies, visit their websites and get the schedule of meetings, and if you're REALLY interested, sign up for those that have newsletters informing you about the topics up for debate. If you REALLY dislike a decision, the best way to "vent" is to email your city councilors or county commissioners - someone voted for them, after all. Inform Hood River is just the messenger... Also, be polite and don't engage in name calling, or your post may be removed. The intent is to INFORM, not to attack.

Meetings for the week of June 8June 82pm: Hood River-White Salmon Bridge AuthorityMain items on tap: Regular updates o...
06/08/2026

Meetings for the week of June 8

June 8

2pm: Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority
Main items on tap: Regular updates on progress, including monitoring the existing bridge; adopting the budget for 2026-2027

6pm: City of Hood River – Urban Renewal Agency and City Council
Both Urban Renewal and City Council will adopt the 2026-2027 budgets; City Council will also get an update on the progress of the changes to the city’s development code.

June 10 3:30pm to 6:30pm

HR City Landmarks Review board hears a request for exterior modifications to the Lightwell Hotel

June 11 – 6pm
Mayor’s Equity Advisory Group will get a tour of the police station (if an officer is available). The city is still considering whether bond measures for a new police station and affordable housing will move forward to the November ballot.

The packet has info and slides on those two issues: https://cityofhoodriver.gov/wp-content/uploads/Meetings/6.11.2026-MEAG-Packet.pdf

Members of the public welcome at this public meeting

There will also be 2 events later in the month:
June 23, 6 to 7:30pm at City Hall: Town Hall & Discussion About Housing
June 29th: 5 to 7pm - drop in to see the current Police Facility (open house)

Congrats to all the Hood River Vally grads graduating this month. It's a big achievement and we're proud of you!A speci...
06/07/2026

Congrats to all the Hood River Vally grads graduating this month. It's a big achievement and we're proud of you!

A special shout out to the kids who've been attending the Hood River Options Academy too! They'll be celebrating their wrap-up of work on Monday, achieving their GED's and looking ahead to the future.

For those not familiar with HROA, it's a limited enrollment program within the HRC school district, providing students with "personalized web­-based learning" focused on college and career readiness. Students there range from 6th to 12th graders.

Last month's Columbia Gorge News featured a story about the work some of the stuscdents have done at Waucoma Park as part of their science work: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/free_news/hroa-students-create-run-community-earth-lab/article_f946ab86-f2e7-44d0-8803-4505010775ad.html

06/06/2026

No good answers - Hood River County Budget 2026-2027

The final budget committee meeting (May 21) heard about:
—> Realigning the use of the timber interest fund
—> Positions that would be open (or not filled) for part or all of 2026-2027, resulting in lower personnel expenses
—> What a hiring freeze means for departments & the ending balance for county reserves

Despite best efforts, the county budget will still end the year with only $2.8 million in reserves, so the county remains on an unsustainable path

A few optimists hope that the final report from the consultants (Baker-Tilly) will produce more revenue ideas, though the consultants have previously said the county can no longer “efficiency “ its way to sustainability.

Watch the clips and you’ll get a sense of the frustration among commissioners,and the county District Attorney.

The budget approved leaving open 3 patrol deputy positions, one legal secretary, a public health nurse, and seasonal P&B employee (Parks and Bldg?).

In the first clip, you’ll hear:
- Chris Robuck: Frustrated because of no clear understanding of the forecast. She wondered how each year the county “underspends” some part of the budget.
- Robuck can’t see how the county can give raises at 6% with property tax increases limited to 3% …
- Commissioner Weathers expressed concern over how the county can both hire competitively yet also be asking employees to take lower increases.

As that discussion wound on, Commissioner Babitz countered Robuck’s remarks describing the personnel plans as “slashing and burning.”

He reminded the committee that over the years, the county has hired at competitive levels and NOT asked employees to do the work needed in vacant spots. Past county budget decisions required a lower level of services when the county could not afford to hire the personnel needed.

County Administrator Williams reminded the budget committee that the Baker-Tilly report expected to describe structural options for how the county could deliver services.

Commissioner Babitz countered, describing the only 3 paths forward he saw:
- [ ] Finding out if there were new revenue sources;
- [ ] Finding a way to organize that’s “sufficiently more efficient” that it solves a big chunk of the financial problem; or
- [ ] Delivering fewer services because the County doesn’t have the funds to provide them.

Second Clip
Staffing Shortages & The District Attorney’s Office

One of the specific discussions involved the County’s District Attorney Matt Ellis & the shortage of staff in his office (this was a regular theme also reported by the prior DA).

Commissioner Moretti spoke on behalf of the DA’s office, urging the county to allow the DA to hire a llegal secretary to fill a vacancy.

Then DA Ellis described his staffing shortages, including the loss of a DDA (Deputy District A); 2 legal secretaries who do the work of 3; one person likely leaving soon.

He stated that he has 7.5 positions, which will go down to 5. He cannot run his office with 5 employees.

There seemed to be disagreement between DA Ellis and County Administrator Williams over how to handle funding that position. Williams suggested it could be filled via a contracted employee. Using a contracted/temp employee doesn’t create a long-term permanent position; Ellis described an urgent need.

At that point, Commissioners were trying to make on the spot administrative decisions, with Commissioners talking about the difficulty of moving backwards with these service losses. ��Commissioner Muenzer characterized the choices as “brutal.”

Chair Euwer urged the board to stay focused on policy decision, not on administrative details. The administrative team has the ability to make decision and can bring back hiring requests to the full board.

The County Board’s June 15th meeting will likely approve this budget, but we’ll have to hear how that plays out.

Remember the Zorro? We had a bridge closure for it back in May...Zorro is back, this time closing the bridge from 11am ...
06/03/2026

Remember the Zorro? We had a bridge closure for it back in May...

Zorro is back, this time closing the bridge from 11am to noon on Tuesday, June 9th. If you have a doctor's appointment or something else that morning where you need to cross, plan accordingly.

To see the Zorro on its May sailing, see https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1SgSCqBXgb/ (I can confirm that watching it was pretty boring).

05/29/2026

Hotel Parking Pass Change, Water Rate Increase, Tables for Food Trucks….

All a part of the 3-hour session for HR City Council on May 26.

- Hotel Parking Passes: City Council adopted the “most restrictive” option for passes. Hotel parking passes will restrict guest parking to the Columbia Lot (the city’s largest off-street parking lot). The pass will be valid only between 5pm and 11am.

The city will see how that works with the summer tourist season, getting feedback from local businesses and residents.

- Water Rates: Finance Director Chris Longinetti laid out the work done to come up with rate and usage changes via several studies. The revenues from water, stormwater, and sewer rates help maintain infrastructure for those services, and vary based on the location of the user (inside and outside city limits) as well as user type (multi-family, commercial, residential, industrial, irrigation, etc).

Currently, City water customers receive a 5,000 gallon monthly base allowance, with water used above that rate charged at a commodity rate,

The new adopted fees reduce the monthly base allowance to 3,000 gallons. The studies showed that 50% of residents only use that 3,000 gallon allowance monthly. 80% of users ONLY exceed the 3,000 gallon/month amount during the irrigation months.

City water customers outside city limits will now be charged higher rates based on the additional costs in infrastructure and servicing for those customers.

Watch the reel for the info and see also the rate chart from a few posts ago.

No public comments or testimony presented any concerns; rates adopted for the 2026-2027 year.

Other items:
- A great presentation on the fire mitigation work and other fire awareness issues (including establishing Firewise communities)

- A request from food truck operators to be allowed to put in tables near food trucks to allow customers to enjoy food there.

That issue was discussed by prior city council during the pandemic, when “brick and mortar” restaurants were allowed to set up the outside tables (parklets) to facilitate distancing and increase capacity.

Council members were willing to hear from staff what changes to city codes and what health code requirements would need to be met; they also mentioned that in the past, brick and mortar restaurants had concerns about that change. More to come in the form of additional info on the topic at a later meeting.

News Flash: Thrive appeal upheld, Amazon warehouse denied.(Or “unnamed Fortune 500 company warehouse”…)Hood River Count...
05/28/2026

News Flash: Thrive appeal upheld, Amazon warehouse denied.

(Or “unnamed Fortune 500 company warehouse”…)

Hood River County Planning Commission votes 5 to 2 to DENY the Warehouse application for the old Hanel Mill Property (i.e. ,.. future Amazon sorting/distribution site)

I was and am traveling, so limited bandwidth for details.

The denial of the application eventually centered around the commissioners who argued that the traffic studies presented (both the originals, and the ones offered in response to public concerns) didn’t meet the requirements set forth in the HR County Zoning ordinance (possibly section 31.6?)

At one point it looked as though Commissioners would consider offering the applicant a chance to present new studies more focused on peak periods and also on a variety of intersections and stretches of Hwy 35.

However, the applicant’s attorney said that although the applicant has complied with every request for more info, the County would need to describe which intersections were of concern, and what the standard of safety would be.

At that point, Commissioners (led by Commissioner Gehrig) decided it was safer to deny the application.

The applicant can now decide to appeal the decision to the full County Board, walk away … not sure what else. I think prior to an appeal to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA), they’d need a County Commissioner decision.

There is also an issue of whether a 150-day period for processing this is ending or not.

Video should be up on the Community Development YouTube channel in a day or so.

If I missed critical points, I’m sure someone who watched will chime in!

05/27/2026

Hotel Parking ... with Free Parking for Locals at the Port?

Don’t hold your breath just yet … let’s see where this goes.

The May 19th port meeting included a discussion about a request from a hotel to lease 20 spots for a year, to include overnight parking.

The hotel isn’t named (maybe there’s another non-disclosure agreement?) but think about which hotel the city reported uses 200 hotel parking passes a month already. Got it?

The 3 Commissioners present (Chapman, Thomas, and Bieker) first heard from Megan Channell (director of Capital Planning), who outlined the hotel’s request and her proposal for work.

Waterfront Manager Daryl Stafford confirmed the revenue opportunities at the new parking spots at Anchor Way with 59 spots available. Megan may suggest how a pilot program for leased spots could work and how much revenue might come in.

Commissioner discussion main points:

· Commissioner Thomas expressed support for a pilot program, but also her concern over the costs and barriers to waterfront recreation access for local residents. She asked that the pilot program consider how locals might have spots for free parking, or how the hotel’s parking fee might help subsidize some local parking. She recognized the need for revenues too.
· Commissioner Chapman said she had mixed feelings but suggested that if hotel guests were parking in the lot, those cars may draw other people to notice that parking there is available. She also thinks a pilot program for the hotel seems reasonable to try.
· Commissioner Bieker supported what a pilot program could do. But he suggested that the discussion about parking costs being either free or reduced for local residents should be separated from the review of leased hotel spots as a separate issue. He also was concerned about the impact on parking revenue.
· Finance director Smith-Wagar pointed out that the Port just paid $1.2 million for the two lots (Anchor Way and Maritime Way); Kevin Greenwood pointed out that waterfront properties cost $500,000 to maintain (no more toll revenues for subsidies on waterfront recreation; Marina Green needs irrigation to stay green).
· Kristi Chapman supported having staff consider a pilot program and its revenues, etc.

Staff has no official projected income for the 59 spots at the new Anchor Way parking lot. It’s the furthest lot from the waterfront, and it’s unclear how the public will use those lots.

Greenwood said that Port staff had studied parking revenues, and that the average revenue across all paid parking spots was $800 per parking spot per year (net, after costs and expenses).

Note: The 2 new lots added at the port provide 131 spaces in total; if their net contribution to revenue is also $800 per spot, that yields a net $104,000 annually.

Also note that overnight parking isn’t currently allowed at the Port properties, but at lots that DO allow overnight parking in other cities, the vehicle is charged for those additional hours. Let’s hope Ms. Channell considers that too.

Earlier there were mentions that gas prices may be discouraging some travel that could also impact parking revenue this year.

Waterfront manager Stafford said that the parking rates for passes and daily rates are low compared to other places with that kind of recreational parking, based on reviews of parking rates.

Commissioner Chapman mentioned that other property owners in the waterfront area added paid parking to help cover the costs of trash (this relates to parking behind Ferment and Solstice; not quite sure how that was relevant but it’s a reminder that you may not be using a Port parking lot when you’re at the waterfront).

Next steps: Staff directed to consider the options & revenue tradeoffs with leasing some spaces to an unnamed hotel, providing some amout of parking for locals for free, etc, all in th form of an initial one-year pilot program.

Commissioners Gehring and Sheppard were absent, so there will be more discussion when the pilot program comes back for a review.

Meanwhile, we’ll learn tonight which hotel parking pass option the City of Hood River may consider for city hotels.

𝗛𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: May 26 Hood River City Council The May 26th Hood River City Council meeting will let counci...
05/26/2026

𝗛𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: May 26 Hood River City Council

The May 26th Hood River City Council meeting will let council members choose an option for handling hotel passes. Meeting begins at 6pm.

Written comments about agenda or other city concerns can be sent to t [email protected]

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝘀 “𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺 𝗛𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀."

Translation “Which hotel parking pass option do City Council members want to choose now?”

The options presented (to be modified after another parking study in 2027) are below. This is what the hotel guest pass would allow:

 Option 1: Most Restrictive – Limit use to the Columbia Lot between 5pm and 11am; no on-street option.

 Option 2: Moderate – 2 types of passes
One pass would be a full day pass for the Columbia Lot only, all hours
One pass would be on-street, 5pm to 11am

 Option 3: Most Permissive – 2 passes
Full day pass: Columbia Lot, all hours
Off-peak, on-street, anywhere but Oak Street, 5pm to 11am

NOTE: I’ll be posting video from the Port of Hood River discussion about hotel parking later today.

Other agenda items:
- 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝘀𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 (𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟭.𝟮% 𝘁𝗼 𝟮𝟭.𝟰%)

- Fire risk reduction on Indian Trail and fire issues presentation
- Mid-Columbia Economic District update

- Transfer of OR-281 from ODOT to City of Hood River, with compensation from the state to pay for certain road work, ADA ramps, etc. 𝗔𝗻 𝗢𝗗𝗢𝗧 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 $𝟴.𝟮 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 “𝗮𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀.”

But the city wants the control for the road’s value to its Heights Streetscape & Urban Renewal vision. 𝗢𝗗𝗢𝗧 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝘆 $𝟮.𝟯 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿.

See page 96 to 145 for full details.

Agenda on city website – cityofhoodriver.gov
Meeting begins at 6pm

05/22/2026

More Parking Questions ... and Tiny Homes?

I’ll save you another 35+ minutes of listening/watching time from the City Council’s May 11 parking discussions – this one on the parking-in-lieu fee. And you’ll get a bonus because you’ll get the tiny house news too.

Parking First…

The clip here will give you a 7 minute history of parking-in-lieu fees in the city. (You can skip ahead to the tiny homes discussion if you prefer).

The parking-in-lieu fee is a fee that the City of Hood River allows a developer of residential or commercial property to pay in lieu of (i.e. in place of) providing the number of parking spaces that their development would otherwise require under the city’s building codes.

Final decision after 35+ minutes of discussion: Council voted to add a study of the existing parking-in-lieu fees into the parking study already budgeted, as long as the cost doesn’t exceed an additional $50,000.

We’ll hear about that parking study results in a few months.

Main points in the discussion (including things councilors didn’t know but I’ll point out):

- Over the years, sometimes fees were really high and that seemed to inhibit development projects in the downtown corridor.
- Also... sometimes the in-lieu fees were really low but there wasn’t development either.
- The fees in place now seemed to have encouraged development that takes advantage of those fees to avoid building parking, creating other problems.
- Multiple councilors admitted to having heard the concerns about the parking problems that would have come with the Marriott hotel (had it been approved). That’s why public comments make a difference!

Councilors considered hosting an extended work session members of the public who could share thoughts about parking fee strategies. This didn’t go anywhere out of concerns that there’d be insufficient real info to actually come to any conclusions.

Councilor Cavaleri was concerned about whether it was appropriate to use the fees held in the Reserve Funds for In-Lieu Parking to fund a traffic study. She thought the fees were to be reserved for a parking garage.

Councilor Stepina responded "I think it CAN, it doesn't have to" (i.e. the fees don't HAVE to go towards buildng more parking). Timestamp around 2:36:48 on the full video.

My take: In fall 2020, the city council passed resolution 2020-18. That’s on the City’s website (under “Resolutions”) and includes this sentence:

“Fees collected pursuant to this resolution shall be deposited into a dedicated fund to be used for the development and provision of public parking facilities, consistent with HRMC 17.24.010(b)"

HRMC (Hood River Municipal Code reads: “Use of Fees. In-lieu parking fees shall be deposited in a dedicated fund for the development and provision of public parking facilities. The collected fees may be applied ONLY to development and provision of public parking that serves the Central Business District, Heights Business District or Waterfront, or the development of City-owned parking lots located in nonresidential zones. Development and provision of parking to which the fees are applied MUST be consistent with the City’s adopted parking management plan. Development and provision of parking includes, but is not limited to, paving, striping, sidewalks, acquisition of real property, payment of administrative costs, and construction. (Ord. 2056 §2 (Exh. 😎, 2020)” (ONLY and MUST capitalized by ME)

SO ... in my amateur reading of this ... YES, the in-lieu fees are reserved for things like building parking garages. But NO, the wording doesn’t suggest funding parking STUDIES.

I suggest the City pay for its parking studies out of the fees it’s collecting from the transient lodging taxes (from hotels) or from parking passes.

Tiny Homes

The upshot? There isn’t enough housing at price points where middle and lower income households can find housing they can afford. City Council asked staff to look into what is involved in allowing RVs, trailers, and tiny homes (the ones with wheels) to be placed long-term on private property like someone’s driveway or parking lot.

Discussion – everyone wants to help with the housing shortage. Planning Director Nilsen said that the city can’t just copy the code used in Portland – this would be a land-use rule, require exensive public engagement and hearings, and significant staff work.

Council members then talked about what a tiny home is, different building standards for a manufactured home versus an RV or tiny home, the choice of tiny homes for lifestyle, etc.. .

Nilsen explained the extensive work required to actually move forward with creating the code – again saying that the rules set in Portland may not be the same that Hood River residents would want.

City Manager Elder pointed out that the City Council has added multiple new priorities to the work staff already has, and suggested that it may be time to assess what is underway and to update the work plan.

Meanwhile, remember that there are also unintended consequences that code changes will need to consider (fees, safety, compliance, enforcement costs, penalties for non-compliance).
The Oregonian’s May 19th story on a tiny home’s toxic fumes from an unconnected toilet shows just one example of a problem and how it affected the neighbors who had lived next door for 40 years. ... https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2026/05/a-tiny-home-moved-in-next-door-and-this-couple-says-they-now-wears-gas-masks-because-of-its-toilets-odors.html

More to come on this too.

Link if you or family/friends prefer YouTube: https://youtu.be/kw1nMLUWuJI?si=JeCRZotlQtivZ8hZ

A big thank you to the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge team and a LOT of community partners - including schools in Hood R...
05/22/2026

A big thank you to the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge team and a LOT of community partners - including schools in Hood River, White Salmon, The Dalles, Trout Lake, and Carson - for an excellent turnout at today's Career Day.

More than 200 students had an opportunity to learn about careers in the trades, the opportunities and career paths through apprenticeship and journeyman status, and more. Commissioners from the HRWS Bridge commission talked to students, sharing their own work experience in engineering, building, business management, and more.

Supporting businesses that helped with raffle gifts and water and ice included Home Depot, Tum-a-Lum, Rosauers, Walmart, and others.

I was late to the event (car issues) but drove by early and saw the tremendous effort it took to set up - this also took close to a year of coordinating with schools, unions, businesses, the Port, and more.

I'm sure we'll hear more about the event at the May 27th HRWSBA meeting. Any participants who want to share stories, chime in.

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