BINGEN — On July 5, the Bingen City Council convened to discuss housing, fire updates and the city’s water system plan. Among topics debated were proposed changes to Accessory Dwelling Units and short-term housing codes in city limits. The city council wants to update their housing code to better protect and diversify local housing.
Bingen Mayor Catherine Kiewit
Bingen Fire Department Chief Carl Spratt opened the meeting with an update of the Tunnel 5 Fire and how their department was involved with the first response. Chief Spratt explained that units from Bingen Fire were on the scene by 11:30 a.m. July 2 and the fire had already reached the top of the hill. At that point they were very limited in what they could manage due to the aggressive nature of the fire. Mayor Catherine Kiewit wanted to make sure that the Bingen Fire Department was duly recognized as one of the first responders to the fire.
Bingen Public Works Superintendent David Spratt finished the water testing and water use efficiency reports. Information on his reports were included in the June 2023 newsletter that can be found on the City of Bingen’s website. The newsletter details water conservation and how residents will be expected to save water in the case of a drought — which the city does not anticipate this summer.
The water efficiency report outlines two goals from 2015: Reduce lost water and reduce overall water consumption. The first goal is to “reduce the three year average of lost and unaccounted for water (distribution system leakage) to 10% or less of total source production by 2032.” Last year they reported a Designated System Loss (DSL) of 27.8% or 14.4 million gallons, which was down from the year prior. Since 2018, DSL has cost the city $140,008.96. According to Spratt’s report, to completely fix the city’s DSL problems it would need to replace all of the pipes and cost more than $100 million. The city also wants to lower the amount of water used by 10% over the 20 year planning period. Water consumption decreased by 15.8% between 2021 and 2022. Copies of the full City of White Salmon Water Quality Report for the Year 2022 are available at Bingen City Hall and on the City of Bingen’s web site www.bingenwashington.org.
City council has been working to update the City code for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) and Vacation Rental ordinances. In the June 20 city council meeting, Councilor Isolde “Izzy” Schroder asked Mayor Kiewit to outline goals and reasonings for updating the codes.
According to the June 20 meeting minutes, Kiewit stated that the purpose of changing the codes is to lower or eliminate the number of Conditional Use permits.
City Administrator Krista Loney announced the city was chosen for the Forth Zero-emission’s Access Program grant for the 2023-2025 biennium. The grant is a continuation funding for the Go Forth car share. The award amount was not disclosed to city officials, but the city will be notified when Forth has finished their beta test.
Forth will provide trainings and education opportunities for the public on how to use the car sharing program.
On June 20, the council adopted Resolution 2023-009 setting the charging rates at $0.30 per kilowatt hour.
