143rd YEAR, No. 51
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
Warrenton walks warily on LNG; Astoria pounces
Two cities navigate
contentious project
By ERICK BENGEL
and DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
While Warrenton city commis-
sioners are carefully taking steps
to insulate themselves from public
opinion on Oregon LNG so they can
remain unbiased, the Astoria City
Council has come out against the $6
billion project.
City commissioners have been
advised by legal counsel not to open
or read LNG-related emails and, if
they do, to forward the messages to
City Manager Kurt Fritsch so staff
can collect them.
Warrenton Mayor Mark Kuja-
la said Tuesday night that he has
ignored the emails so far , and has
politely told people when they ap-
proach him in person that he wants
to remain objective.
Warrenton’s planning staff has
recommended that Oregon LNG’s
permit applications be approved
with conditions to offset the impact
of the terminal and pipeline project
on traf¿ c and public works. Public
hearings wrapped up last week, and
the decision by Daniel Kearns, a
Portland land use attorney appointed
by the city to review the applications,
is widely expected to be appealed to
the City Commission.
“We know this is something that
might come to us, and more than
likely will come to us,” Kujala said.
“We can anticipate an appeal in this,
regardless of the decision that the
hearings of¿ cer makes.”
The commissioners’ “ultra-con-
servative approach,” as Kujala put
it, is in contrast to the Astoria City
Council, which had been silent on
LNG for the past decade.
Sending a message
The Astoria City Council, which
has no regulatory role over Oregon
LNG, voted 4-1 Tuesday night to op-
pose the project and urge local, state
and federal decision-makers to deny
the terminal and pipeline.
See LNG, Page 10A
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Warrenton sees uptick in students
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Clatsop Community
College requested
zoning change
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Kids line up to load on buses at Warrenton Grade School, which has grown by 154 students between 2006-07 and last school year.
Schools face
ebb and À ow
of enrollment
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
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P
rincipal Lynn Jackson and
the staff of Astoria High
School greeted students
Tuesday morning, as school started
back up across Clatsop County.
Jackson has about 20 percent
fewer kids to greet than when he
started as vice principal at Astoria
seven years ago.
Over the last nine years, Astoria
School District has shrunk by more
than 10 percent, while Warren-
ton-Hammond School District has
grown by 16 percent.
Countywide, all districts be-
sides Warrenton have experienced
a drop in enrollment, from a nearly
20 percent drop in Jewell over the
past nine years, more than 9 percent
in Knappa and a 2 percent decline
in Seaside. The trends might point
to a movement of families to cities.
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creasing enrollment been more

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stark than at Astoria High School,
which has lost 176 students be-
tween counts in 2007 and last year,
nearly a quarter of its student pop-
ulation.
Much of the change in enroll-
ment, Jackson and Superintendent
Craig Hoppes said, can be ex-
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plained by the ebb and À ow of larg-
er and smaller class sizes moving
through school. Last year’s seniors
numbered 158, while juniors were
at 131, and sophomores numbered
165.
Jackson, vice principal since
2007 and principal since 2012, said
he expects an even further drop, as
middle -school classes numbering
between 130 and 150 work their
way into high school. Then come
last year’s second- and third-grad-
ers, who numbered 161 and 152,
respectively.
“I think some of that is ebb and
À ow, but there is also a decrease
in enrollment” over time, Jackson
said.
When looking at economic data,
Jackson said, he looks at how it af-
fects the opportunities of impov-
erished Title X students who face
homelessness, transiency, rather
than how it affects enrollment.
“I know the demand for afford-
able housing in Astoria is really
high,” said Jackson, a former land-
lord in Astoria. A teacher he recent-
ly hired, Jackson said, had to ¿ nd
a place in Seaside because of how
tight the housing market is.
“We have a lot of teachers who
live in Warrenton,” Jackson said,
adding a lot of homes in Astoria are
often being purchased by retirees
who can afford increasing prices.
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Warrenton Grade School Princi-
pal Tom Rogozinski oversees kids
leaving late Tuesday afternoon. He
has four new classrooms to watch
See STUDENTS, Page 10A
‘David and Goliath’ on the beach
Al fresco dining
experience leads
to neighbor clash
By DANI PALMER
EO Media Group
Drawing an unusually sharp line,
the Astoria City Council Tuesday
night rejected a zoning change that
would have allowed a new vacation
rental at 16th Street and Franklin Av-
enue.
Clatsop Community College
asked to amend the land use and
zoning map to help sell the Josie
Peper Building to a prospective buy-
er who wanted to use the property as
a second home and vacation rental.
The rezoning from high -density resi-
dential to general commercial would
have also applied to the college’s
Performing Arts Center next door.
Some neighbors objected to the
change, arguing a vacation rental
would be out of character for the
historic Shively-McClure neigh-
borhood, and city councilors seized
on the opportunity to make a larger
point about the city’s housing short-
age.
With Astoria a tourist draw, and
websites such as Airbnb helping
to drive the vacation rental market,
many worry that more of the city’s
already lean housing stock will cater
to tourists and second-home buyers.
A draft affordable housing study
prepared by city planners recom-
mends that the city continue to dis-
courage vacation rentals that are
not owner occupied in residential
neighborhoods . The City Council
will hold a work session on the study
Monday.
“We are really lucky in Astoria
to have our neighborhoods protect-
ed from vacation rentals,” said City
Councilor Zetty Nemlowill, who
has been an advocate for workforce
housing. “All over Oregon — Bend
and Yachats, Cannon Beach — there
are examples of nightmare scenarios
where vacation rentals are destroy-
ing the character of those communi-
ties.”
Vacation rentals, she said, also
make “it easier for people to own
second homes there. And less af-
fordable for the people who live and
work in those cities.”
Mayor Arline LaMear said, given
the city’s de¿ cit of residential prop-
erty, that “it doesn’t make any sense
to me to change this zone to com-
mercial.”
The City Council voted unani-
mously to direct staff to come back
with ¿ ndings later this month that
support a denial of the zoning change
of the Josie Peper Building and the
Performing Arts Center.
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CANNON BEACH — Wayfar-
er Restaurant’s new outdoor patio is
crowded with diners despite a Cannon
Beach order to stop serving outside.
Cannon Beach City Planner Mark
Barnes sent a letter revoking the Way-
farer Restaurant and Lounge’s outdoor
dining approval on July 2, informing
the restaurant that it “should not seat
diners on the lower porch area.”
,n subseTuent letters, of¿ cials
levied a per day ¿ ne on
Submitted Photo
Like many land-use questions,
however, the issue is complex, and
like most proposals for commercial
uses near residential neighborhoods,
emotional.
Built as a single-family home in
1923, the Josie Peper Building has
been used as a day care center, of¿ c-
es and a law ¿ rm. The historic build-
ing is named for a former student,
who now lives in Alderbook, who
had pressed the college for the day
care center.
See CLASH, Page 10A
A view of the Wayfarer Restaurant and Lounge’s new patio from neighbor-
ing property owner Nick Sears’ duplex.
See RENTALS, Page 10A