142nd YEAR, No. 250
TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
Signs
BREAKING GROUND of life
at old
YMCA
Creative design
agency and art
center planned
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Photo courtesy of Clatsop Community College
Community leaders from Clatsop Community College, Clatsop County, city of Astoria and state Rep. Deborah Boone, second from left,
broke ground on the Patriot Hall Redevelopment project Saturday.
College’s Patriot Hall will be turned
into modern gym, academic hall
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
B
y the end of this month, construction crews will
start dismantling Clatsop Community College’s
Patriot Hall.
Community leaders gathered
at the college Saturday to break
ground on the 15-month project to
redevelop the 94-year-old relic into
a modern gym and academic hall
by fall term 2016.
Members of the college’s gov-
erning board, college President
Lawrence Galizio, Astoria Mayor
Arline LaMear, Seaside Mayor
Don Larson, Clatsop County Com-
missioner Lianne Thompson and
state Rep. Deborah Boone donned
their hardhats and dug in. Look-
ing on were architects from SRG
Partnership and general contractors
from P&C Construction.
Steve Anderson, the project
manager with P&C Construction,
said demolition begins later this
month on Patriot Hall and lasts
throughout the summer.
“We’ll try to get it ‘dried in’
by the end of this year,” Anderson
said.
The goal, he said, is to have a
steel frame up and the exterior work
done by October, and the entire
building done by September 2016.
Anderson said there will be a Web
camera placed on Columbia Hall to
provide a time lapse of construction,
similar to the company’s project at
the Astoria Sports Complex.
The former YMCA at the corner
of 12th and Exchange streets will
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Noel Weber, who runs Classic
Design Studio in Boise, Idaho, pur-
chased the building in May from
James K. Russell and will turn it into
a creative design agency and art cen-
ter.
Weber said he heard about the
building from artist friends in Asto-
ria and saw it was available when
he and his sister, Anna, who makes
signage for local businesses through
Astoria Design Studio, were on
their way to the Blue Scorcher Bak-
ery Cafe. “The awareness of it just
kind of organically happened,” he
said.
The new storefront, he said,
would be an expansion of what
he does in Boise, including small
production runs of posters, books,
printed clothing, accessories, light-
ing, furniture, textiles and other
housewares. He and his sister will
also do sign work out of the loca-
tion.
“We will also offer our diverse
facilities to artists, designers and in-
dividuals, helping them realize and
produce small and large-scale proj-
ects,” Weber said in a release about
the project.
See OLD YMCA, Page 10A
Oregon pot
regulation
bill moves
to vote
See PATRIOT HALL, Page 10A
Photo/rendering courtesy of Clatsop Community College
The Patriot Hall Redevelopment will keep some of the exterior ele-
ments of the building while creating a new academic building inside.
Labeling,
packaging and
testing standards
outlined
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
“At one time in Astoria, not too long
ago, there was a great fear that there
would be a wall of condos on the water-
front,” City Councilor Zetty Nemlowill
said. “And I feel very proud that, after to-
night, that’s never going to happen.”
The City Council’s 4-1 vote was an
acknowledgment the development re-
strictions in Bridge Vista are an improve-
ment over previous land use and zoning
rules, which were more permissive.
But the sentiment among residents who
spoke before the council and the Plan-
ning Commission over the past several
months was uniformly in favor of greater
restrictions.
“I feel it’s very important — and the
people are very clear on their will — that
we listen to them and respect their wish-
es,” said Councilor Drew Herzig, the only
councilor to vote against Bridge Vista.
SALEM — A legislative commit-
tee working to implement Oregon’s
new legal pot system voted unani-
mously Monday to send a key bill to
the full Legislature for a vote.
The legislation spells out how the
state will set standards for labeling,
packaging and testing of marijuana,
and gives the Oregon Liquor Control
Commission authority to enforce
regulations on the legal pot indus-
try. It would also regulate Oregon’s
existing medical marijuana program
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and counties that voted against Mea-
sure 91, the November initiative to
legalize marijuana for adults, to pass
bans on recreational and medical
marijuana businesses.
The bill would not restrict the
ability of adults to grow recreation-
al marijuana for their own use, nor
would it prohibit medical marijuana
cardholders from growing marijua-
na for themselves or other patients
whom they supply directly.
Lawmakers on the House-Sen-
ate committee that produced the
bill worked for months to reach a
compromise, and more than once
it appeared their work might be de-
railed by disagreements. The latest
hurdle arose last week, when Senate
Minority Leader Sen. Ted Ferrioli,
R-John Day, sent an email to oth-
er lawmakers saying that he would
not support the bill under consider-
ation unless it allowed city councils
and county commissions to prohibit
medical and recreational retailers.
See BRIDGE VISTA, Page 10A
See POT, Page 10A
Photos courtesy of the Clatsop County Historical Society
ABOVE: A historical photo shows the former Astoria High School
below a quarry on Jerome Avenue, where Clatsop Community Col-
lege was established in 1958. RIGHT: A historic photo of the Patriot
Hall gym shows its elevated running track, since covered by wood-
en paneling. The redeveloped Patriot Hall will once again feature an
elevated indoor running track.
Astoria council OKs Bridge Vista
Some had sought
greater development
restrictions
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
The second part of Astoria’s new plan-
ning blueprint along the Columbia River
is complete.
The City Council voted Monday night
to adopt the Bridge Vista phase of the Riv-
erfront Vision Plan, a balance that protects
iconic views of the Astoria Bridge and the
old White Star Cannery boiler while rec-
ognizing Uniontown’s history as a work-
ing waterfront.
Bridge Vista — from Portway Street
to Second Street — is the second leg of
a four-pronged plan to guide future de-
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Drew
Herzig
Zetty
Nemlowill
approved in 2009, is the city’s response to
development pressures before the reces-
sion that had alarmed many residents.
Last year, the City Council endorsed
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ered 16th Street to 41st Street. The Urban
Core — from Second Street to 16th —
and Neighborhood Greenway — from
41st to Alderbrook Lagoon — are still on
the drawing board.