And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: BAIRD, GORTON TO PROPOSE SHOALWATER LEGISLATION http://www.columbian.com/06201999/clark_co/63570.html Sunday, June 20, 1999 By LORI BETTINESKI, Columbian staff writer RIDGEFIELD - U.S. Congressmen Brian Baird and Slade Gorton are proposing legislation to get local officials directly involved in the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe's housing proposal. Rep. Baird, D-Vancouver, and Sen. Gorton, R-Bellevue, are holding a news conference Monday to discuss a legislative measure they are proposing in response to the tribe's plans to build 1,580 townhouses east of Ridgefield. A new release issued Friday states the joint proposal would ensure that the tribe and Bureau of Indian Affairs work with the local community to address the financial impact of the tribe's proposal. Officials from Baird's and Gorton's offices in Washington, D.C. declined to discuss any further details last week. Representatives from the city of Ridgefield, Clark County commissioners office, Columbia River Economic Development Council, Ridgefield School District and others have been invited. The Shoalwaters apparently have not been informed of the meeting. "It's not our intention right now to invite them," Joe Shoemaker, chief of staff for Baird, said on Friday. The BIA office in Portland is reviewing an application from the tribe to convert 170 acres to trust status. Officials are waiting to receive engineering drawings and more specificiations on the project before moving ahead any further. It's been about three months now since the tribe's plans were unveiled to the public. Tribal officials have repeatedly stated they have no intentions of building a casino. By gaining trust status, the Shoalwaters could build the townhomes without following zoning and building code regulations, which county and city officials say would profoundly change the makeup of the community. Bob Levin, president of the Columbia River Economic Development Council, is one of many who are concerned about high-density homes going in at the Ridgefield Junction. With its prime location next to Interstate 5, the area was expected to attract a flurry of light industrial developments, not homes. BAIRD, GORTON WANT TRIBE TO GET COUNTY OK FOR PLAN Tuesday, June 22, 1999 By GREGG HERRINGTON, Columbian staff writer http://www.columbian.com/06221999/front_pa/63902.html RIDGEFIELD -- They often are political foes, but U.S. Rep. Brian Baird and U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton are allies in a bid to block the Shoalwater Bay Indians' proposed housing development at Ridgefield Junction if it doesn't meet local land-use restrictions. Under the proposal Baird and Gorton unveiled Monday, Clark County commissioners would have to approve the project before the tribe-owned land could be placed in trust status, under which Indian property would be exempt from local zoning regulations and taxes on the land itself. Tribal Chairman Herb Whitish responded quickly and sharply, calling the move offensive and unnecessary because the tribe already had said it would work with local governments in developing the property. He said the Baird-Gorton effort jeopardizes the Shoalwaters' willingness to join an upcoming meeting with local officials aimed at ironing out details of the proposed development. "They've definitely tried to tip the tables in their favor as far as this issue goes," Whitish said Monday afternoon by phone from the Shoalwater Bay reservation at Tokeland, Wash. "What they are trying to do is give the county veto power over the project we are proposing. That isn't written in federal law. "Our relationship is with the federal government, and there are rules already laid out," Whitish said. "We'll continue down that path. I find it very disturbing that they would take this tack." At a news conference at View Ridge Middle School, Baird, a Democrat from Vancouver, said he and Gorton, R-Bellevue, simply want to ensure that the proposed 170-acre, 1,580-home development on the east side of Interstate 5 meets county land-use regulations. They also want to be sure other local governments, such as Ridgefield city and local port, school and fire districts participate in the process. Gorton will attempt to add the restriction to the Bureau of Indian Affairs budget during a meeting this week of the Interior subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Baird said. Gorton is a senior member of the committee and his party controls the Senate. With the three Clark County commissioners looking on, Baird said, "We are concerned about the potential impact of trust status. This is a reasonable, fair and constructive way" to approach the situation. Baird repeatedly stressed that the proposed legislation is intended to ensure that any development on Indian trust land be satisfactory to the tribe and the established local governments, which must deal with schools, roads, fire protection, environmental concerns and such. "In no conceivable way is this anti-Shoalwater or anti-Indian," he said. "The community says it would welcome them if it was beneficial to the community. Clearly here's a tribe that needs help. The purpose is to get a win-win, not a win-lose" project. We want it to be mutually beneficial to all parties and not be detrimental to either." Stan Speaks, area director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Portland, which ultimately will rule on the tribe's application to put the land into trust, had no comment Monday on the Gorton-Baird proposal, noting he hadn't seen the entire text. He did say, however, that even without the effort, "We've been encouraging the tribes to accomplish the same task" of working out issues with various local governments. Speaks said his office "is not rushing" the tribe's application and he doesn't expect a ruling soon. He would not speculate whether there might be a determination before the end of the year. The proposed amendment to the BIA appropriation would essentially nullify the exemption from local zoning laws that goes with trust status by requiring the county's approval. But the amendment wouldn't change the tax-free status of the land. Buildings and other improvements on trust land are taxable. Responding to Whitish's criticism, Joe Shoemaker, Baird's chief of staff, said, "It seemed to us for this process to go forward there had to be negotiations. We wanted to take a rifle-shot approach and force those negotiations to happen in a reasonable time frame. The best way to do that is to apply some leverage with the funding mechanism of the BIA. That's what this does." As for the planned July 7 meeting of the Indians, Baird and local government officials, Whitish said, "Now I'm not even sure it's worth doing." Whitish called the Baird-Gorton move "a pre-emptive strike" and added, "They didn't have the common courtesy to let me know what they are doing." He said he also is upset that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is "making us jump through hoops ... giving us the bum's rush" in the application process for trust status. BIA has indicated that consideration of the tribe's application for trust status on the land won't move forward until the Shoalwaters produce expensive engineering plans and specification and other data. Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
