County approves legal action against Columbia Development Authority
By Terry Murry on Friday, May 3rd, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
UMATILLA COUNTY – The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners has voted unanimously to take legal action against the Columbia Development Authority. CDA Chairman Kim Puzey refused a motion to rescind a 3-2 vote by the board that took economic development property from the county and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation at last week’s CDA board meeting.
The county has been a partner in taking local control of the Umatilla Chemical Weapons Depot land for more than 30 years and has invested in improving the land to use portions of it for economic development. The controversial vote would allow only the Port of Morrow and the Port of Umatilla to use land for that purpose.
Umatilla County Commissioner John Shafer is the county’s representative on the CDA Board of Directors. Ideally, he doesn’t want to battle it out in the courts even though he says he’s confident the county will prevail. He said it’s vital that the CDA remain five members strong if they hope to attract businesses that are right for all involved.
“Let’s have a united front going forward,” he said. “Let’s show the developers that, as all families do, we had a disagreement but we came together in the end.”
Shafer said that as things stand now, the county will withdraw its financial support in bringing infrastructure to the land that used to house the depot. He talked about the history of the agreement, the financial investment the county has made over decades, and what the future could hold on the KUMA Coffee Hour Thursday. A podcast of that interview is available at https://omny.fm/shows/coffee-hour-podcast.
