A proposed change to Clark County’s code is causing some unrest in the development community.
As it stands, when the county requires an archeological predetermination for a development site, developers may choose to hire their own archeological consultant or pay the county, which contracts with Vancouver-based Archeological Services of Clark County.
The predetermination is essentially a shallow survey to determine whether a more in-depth archeological survey needs to take place.
For sites five acres or less, the county charges $540 plus $66 for every additional acre.
Of that, Archeological Services of Clark County sees $450 plus $55 for every additional acre more than five acres, said owner Alex Gall. The county has contracted with the company since 1996.
The proposed code change states that when archeological predeterminations are required, they “shall be performed by the county’s archeologist prior to the submittal of a development application.”
The results of the predetermination are binding, but they will be subject to the State Environmental Policy Act appeal process.
Development Services Manager Michael Butts said a concern had been raised in staff discussions that it may be too self-serving for a consultant to conduct a predetermination and decide a full study is needed, and then get to conduct that study.
“That is a little uncomfortable for us,” Butts said. “We’d be more comfortable if we did the predetermination and a consultant did a full study. The code proposal is in response to that dilemma for us.”
The goal is to have the option to have an archeologist on staff full-time to do the predeterminations in-house, but the department could have the option to contract out if needed, Butts said.
Development Services Planning Technician Todd Miles is an archeologist who currently processes and reviews archeological predeterminations when they are submitted to the county.
Miles is a former employee of Archeological Services of Clark County who was let go, according to Gall.
And Gall, who admittedly stands to lose a chunk of his business if the code change is adopted, takes issue with the proposal.
As it is written in the proposal, he said, it creates a new position of County Archeologist. Instead of merely reviewing the archeological predeterminations submitted to the county, this new position is a staff member taking on archeological initiative.
There are now four archeological consultants doing business in the county who all stand to lose significant business if the change is adopted, Gall said.
“The county is going to take business away from small businesses,” he said. “My clients, who I’ve developed a relationship with, won’t have a chance to use me.”
He also questioned what checks and balances would be in place to keep quality up and prices down, adding that the county will be positioned to take on massive liability if it is responsible for all of the predeterminations.
“This sets a precedent,” Gall said. “What keeps them from saying you have to use our geotechnical or our wetlands guys? I don’t think the county wants to be seen as taking jobs from small businesses and keeping them.”
However, county staff conducts wetlands, habitat and geological hazard predeterminations in-house. Archeological predeterminations are the only ones the county doesn’t conduct itself, Butts said.
Butts said Clark County and developers could both benefit from the code change because the county may be able to lower the fees by not having to contract out.
Archeological Services of Clark County wouldn’t go under without his contract work, but Gall said the code change certainly wouldn’t make his life easier.
In a year, he conducts hundreds of predeterminations – both for the county and his private clients – but only 10 or 11 surveys, which are much less common because the predeterminations seldom turn up a reason for further investigation.
Last year, the county contracted out 140 predeterminations, and Butts said the county has not received any complaints about the contracted work.
Mark Hinton, owner of Vancouver-based Hinton Development Corp., said the proposed code change is “somewhat horrifying.”
“When we buy property that needs an archeological predetermination, we hire our own consultants to do it,” he said. “They’re licensed professionals.”
Four or five years ago, it was relatively rare that the county required archeological predeterminations, but now virtually all sites require one, Hinton said.
Hinton said the county has never complained about the quality of his consultants’ predeterminations, adding that the change could be a slippery slope.
“I’m not a proponent for bigger government and they’re taking away choice,” he said.
Gall is also concerned about a lack of oversight if a county archeologist is in charge of predeterminations.
“There’s usually a built-in review process,” he said. “There doesn’t appear to be any recourse except to appeal the decision, which is another fee. The county is going to have to create more bureaucracy to handle it.”
The county does not charge to review predetermination reports, but charges $379 if a full archeological study of a site is needed, Butts said.
Planning Commission hearing
A public hearing on the matter is scheduled for the Oct. 18 planning commission meeting. Planning commissioners will make a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners, who will have the final say on the proposed change. Interested parties should go to the Board of Clark County Commissioners Hearing Room, 1300 Franklin St., Sixth Floor, in Vancouver at 6:30 p.m. Call 360-397-6057 or visit www.co.clark.wa.us.
