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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2015)
143rd YEAR, No. 15 TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2015 ONE DOLLAR Music Festival directors resign in dispute Artistic director disagrees with board’s statements organization’s direction ber board had been trying and leadership structure. to “professionalize” the Managing Director Car- festival, said Linda Ma- ol Shepherd has also re- gee, the former executive signed. director of Chamber Mu- The shakeup comes af- sic Northwest, a consul- By ERICK BENGEL ter the music festival had tant for the festival. The Daily Astorian its most successful year The board hired Magee with a series of critically to make the organization- The Astoria Music Festival’s acclaimed classical music al structure more like that board of directors has resigned en concerts in June. The festi- of other performing arts Keith Clark masse, citing “unresolved differenc- val hit the $100,000 mark QRQSUR¿WV 7KLV LQFOXG- es” of opinion with Artistic Direc- LQWLFNHWVDOHVIRUWKH¿UVWWLPH ed hiring Shepherd as a year-round WRU .HLWK &ODUN DERXW WKH QRQSUR¿W Over the past year, the eight-mem- managing director. After the board implemented these changes, Clark allegedly ex- pressed an intention to separate from the festival and form an alternative program for 2016 with a new board chosen by him and some of the mu- sicians. Clark, who co-founded the festi- val in 2003, informed the board in a letter he did not intend to make pub- lic that he would continue the festi- val “as a European-style artist-led company, rather than one dominated by a non-musician board.” Fire danger closes Ecola Creek reserve “This is not about who’s right and who’s wrong, and the board under- stands that Keith Clark wants to go a different direction,” Magee said in a statement Monday. “I think they made the best decision, after looking at the only options open to them.” Rather than see Clark jump ship, however, the board “felt instead it was time to step aside and allow the formation of a new team of leaders, rather than let the organization try to See MUSIC FEST, Page 10A Seaside aspires to boost boundaries New school may come with boundary expansion By KATHERINE LACAZE EO Media Group Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian The Ecola Creek Forest Reserve is closed to the public because of high fire risk in the area. Signs hang from gates located on the property. Cannon Beach isn’t taking chances with dry summer By DANI PALMER EO Media Group C ANNON BEACH — Wanting to escape the city, a hiker makes his way to Ecola Creek Forest Re- serve for a walk through the woods, but instead finds the entrance blocked. “Land closed to public entry due to high fire danger,” reads a posted sign, by order of the city manager. The Oregon Department of Forestry may have Clatsop County’s fire warning level set at moderate, but Cannon Beach isn’t taking any chances. “We’ve always closed it down at some point during the year be- cause there’s definitely points in time it gets dry,” City Manager Brant Kucera said. Cannon Beach purchased the first 120 acres of the reserve in 1999, and the rest in 2009, ac- cording to the North Coast Land Conservancy. This year, closure of the 1,040-acre forest reserve came early — right around Indepen- dence Day — following the ad- ‘In my opinion, we’re very lucky to not have had any forest fires yet.’ — Brant Kucera Cannon Beach city manager vice of the Oregon Department of Forestry and Cannon Beach Fire and Rescue. Also closed is Cannon Beach’s South Wind site, 58 acres reserved for “essential” city facilities east of Highway 101. Cannon Beach Fire Chief Mike Balzer said his depart- ment’s recommendation to close the reserve early this month was based on dry weather conditions and the influx of Fourth of July holiday visitors. Fireworks and dangers from campers or transients building campfires in commercial timber areas were also matters of con- cern, Kucera said. Typically, the Ecola Creek Forest Reserve closure occurs in August or September. “It’s been very dry, very ear- ly,” Kucera said. “It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Lack of rain According to Clinton Rock- ey, a meteorologist with the Na- tional Weather Service in Port- land, the Cannon Beach area has only received about .02 inches of rain this month, around .66 inches below normal. Rockey based his estimate on Astoria and Seaside data, and added that Astoria had .73 inches of rain in June, 1.82 inches below normal. All of Clatsop County has been dry. “The light showers we have don’t really do anything,” Balzer said, adding it would take signif- icant rain to reopen the reserve. “It could be awhile.” Last year, Ecola Creek closed for about three weeks, Public Works Director Dan Grassick said. Kucera said Cannon Beach would need at least half an inch of precipitation in one rain event to open Ecola Creek Forest Re- serve back up this year. “There’s not much chance of that happening soon,” Rockey said. In the meantime, Kucera said officials want to safeguard the public and protect forestlands and wildlife. There’s also the is- sue of liability. If a fire started in the city- owned Ecola Creek Forest Re- serve and spread to commercial timberlands, Cannon Beach could be held liable. The person who started the fire, even if ac- cidentally, could also be held ac- countable for firefighting costs. So any who pass that red sign and are discovered on the prop- erty will likely be fined for tres- passing, Kucera said. “In my opinion, we’re very lucky to not have had any forest fires yet,” he added. See SEASIDE, Page 10A ‘Blight’ begone Astoria council hears Heritage Square timeline By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian The chamber’s consultants have calculated there were 212 broadcast, print and online media stories on the See GOONIES, Page 3A See SQUARE, Page 3A 30th anniversary celebration brought attention, hassles By McKINLEY SMITH The Daily Astorian Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Participants bare their bellies and do the Truffle Shuffe during the Farewell to John Warren Field concert and film screening event June 6. Skip Hauke, the executive director of the Astoria-Warrenton Area Cham- ber of Commerce, told the City Coun- cil the anniversary celebration generat- ed worldwide media attention. Managing growth The process to expand Seaside’s Contaminated soil piled in a pit at Heritage Square should be hauled away after Labor Day, but the time- line for having the downtown prop- erty ready for redevelopment is wob- bly. City staff tried to reassure the Astoria City Council Monday night that the assessment and cleanup of the former Safeway lot is only a few months behind and could still be completed by the end of the year. New samples being taken starting today could decide how much soil has to be trucked to a special-purpose ODQG¿OOLQ+LOOVERURDQGDKD]DUGRXV waste disposal site in Arlington and KRZPXFKFDQEHXVHGDV¿OOORFDO- ly. The tests could also determine the extent of contamination under a parking lot in the northeast corner of the block. The city has tried to keep the assessment and cleanup under the $400,000 received in a U.S. En- vironmental Protection Agency EURZQ¿HOGVJUDQW “There’s still a lot of ifs and may- bes,” City Councilor Cindy Price said. Price called the hole off Duane Street a “tremendous blight” and Good, bad, Goonies The success of the 30th anniversary celebration of “The Goonies” in June contrasted sharply with the reality of liv- ing in the Uppertown neighborhood that is home to the Goonies house, the Astoria City Council heard Monday night. An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 peo- ple came to Astoria in June for the an- niversary of the 1985 adventure com- edy, a boon to brew pubs, restaurants, shops and hotels. SEASIDE — Adding four sites to grow Seaside’s urban-growth boundary by about 200 acres was a key topic of the July 7 Planning Commission meet- ing Along with the other potential sites, commissioners focused on the South East Hills area, south and east of Sea- side near Wahanna Road. The land is considered suitable for development because of easy access, potential for di- verse land use and a location near about 30 acres that is suitable for a school site. “We’re not ready to do that today, but I certainly want to acknowledge the idea of having school facilities and en- abling them to grow up into that area,” planner Don Hanson said. Hanson is a principal and director for HLB Otak, Inc., a Seaside-based HQJLQHHULQJ DQG FRQVXOWLQJ ¿UP KLUHG by Weyerhaeuser, which owns much of the land under consideration. “Our City Council is very interested in having that land,” City Planner Kev- in Cupples said. “If you wait until you run out and then you’re trying to scram- ble in order to do that, then that’s not good planning.”