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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 2015)
A humpback whale makes an appearance on the Astoria waterfront Monday. The whales have been in the Columbia River since late September, lured by abundant food and possibly reacting to El Niño conditions. Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian 143rd YEAR, No. 70 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015 ONE DOLLAR Move the date or take Local developer reimagines the Astor Hotel a hike FROM THE GROUND UP T By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian his summer, local developer Paul Caruana became the sole owner of the John Jacob Astor Hotel, the pre-eminent architectural landmark in downtown Astoria. The building, mostly used for sub- sidized housing with businesses on the JURXQG ÀRRU LV LQ WKH PLGVW RI D VSUXFLQJ XS while Caruana imagines a future mixed-use hotel and apartment building, an- chored by a public gather- ing spot in the former hotel lobby. Caruana started in spring repainting and wa- WHUSURR¿QJ WKH EXLOGLQJ )RU WKH WRS VL[ ÀRRUV KH hired Pioneer Waterproof- ing Co. Inc., whose em- Paul ployees can be seen raising Caruana and lowering themselves on scaffolding, slowly painting the building’s fa- cade a creamy Navajo white. “We’re trying to keep the building from leak- ing, so we’re caulking the window perimeters,” said Mike Crawford, a project manager with the company. “And we’re doing some concrete patching on some areas that have deteriorated. And then we’re adding a waterproof coating to the walls.” Caruana estimated the project is already more WKDQ KDOIZD\ WKURXJK DQG ZLOO EH ¿QLVKHG QH[W summer. “I want it to look like a warm marshmallow sitting on top of a shining emerald,” Caruana said, explaining the dark green paint scheme he hopes to start putting on the base of the Astor Hotel next spring to make the building stand out from the streets and sidewalk. After the departures last year of Vintage Hard- ZDUHDQG.ODVV\.ORVHWWKHJURXQGÀRRURIWKH Astor Hotel was largely vacant. But Caruana has Hood to Coast: At a crossroads or an impasse? By KATHERINE LACAZE EO Media Group Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Since spring, owner Paul Caruana has been sprucing up the John Jacob Astor Hotel. bulb-ringed John Jacob Astor Hotel sign, crum- bling columns and a large staircase leading up to a mezzanine. &DUXDQDZKRVDLGKHVRPHWLPHVOLJKWVD¿UH and hangs out at night, hired an interior designer to turn the lobby into a public gathering place. The rendering includes a lounging area, desks, a coffee bar and a front desk for possible lodging in the hotel. “Everything from the columns in will be re- Common Space built,” Caruana said. “It’s all an idea right now, but $WWKHKHDUWRIWKH¿UVWÀRRULVWKHGLODSLGDWHG it seems like there’s a big need for common space.” yet still grandiose, lobby of the Astor Hotel, with See ASTOR, Page 10A RULJLQDO SRUFHODLQ WLOH ZRUNLQJ ¿UHSODFH OLJKW VLQFH¿OOHGDOOWKHVWRUHIURQWVLQFOXGLQJ&DUXDQD ,QF¶V RI¿FHV D FRZRUNLQJ RI¿FH VSDFH VWDUWHG by Street 14 Coffee owners Jennifer and Mi- cha Cameron-Lattek, Party Jesters party supply store and 4 Seasons Clothing. The most recent addition is Doe & Arrow, a men’s and women’s clothing boutique and vinyl record store opened two months ago by Chelsea Johnsen and Austen Conn. SEASIDE — Change the date or look for another place to hold your race, Seaside business owners told representatives of Hood to Coast at a city workshop Monday night. In response, Hood to Coast representatives may be ready to pull the popular fundraiser and internationally renowned race. “We’re not trying to be ad- Dan versarial,” Hood Floyd to Coast Chief 2SHUDWLQJ 2I¿FHU 'DQ )OR\G VDLG “We want this to work in Seaside. If it cannot work for us and Seaside, I think it’s fair to say we can move on. It’s OK. It’s not a threat. We’re not playing a poker game or anything. If it’s better for the community, we can move on.” A response to a petition Seaside City Council held its sec- ond public workshop regarding Hood to Coast on Monday night. A group of 87 business owners — up from about 70 two weeks ago — wrote a letter to See HOOD TO COAST, Page 10A Still time to get Oregon LNG comments to FERC Lawmakers, city had asked for extension on today’s deadline By ERICK BENGEL and DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian The Federal Energy Regula- tory Commission will not for- mally extend today’s deadline for public comment on the draft environmental review of the Oregon LNG project but will consider late comments. “For now, the deadline is still set for today,” Tamara Young-Allen, a commission spokeswoman, said this morn- ing. However, the commis- sion will accept and consider comments submitted after the deadline and urged the public to submit comments as soon as possible. “Our staff will look at com- ments submitted after the dead- line date,” Young-Allen said. “Our staff wants to hear from the public, and it’s very import- ant that you get your comments in as soon as you possibly can.” U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici asked the federal agency in September to extend the comment period by 60 days so residents would have more time to examine the lengthy document. The Astoria City Council agreed Monday night to also seek a 60-day extension, citing the experience of Jennifer Rou- da, an energy planner in Astoria ZKRKDVKDGGLI¿FXOW\LQREWDLQ- ing hard copes of the draft envi- ronmental impact statement and supporting documents. “Unfortunately, community members that were expecting to be able to get copies of these materials at the public meetings to take home to complete more detailed reviews of the technical information and FERC’s analy- sis were not able to do so,” Asto- ria Mayor Arline LaMear wrote in a letter to the federal agency. The draft environmental re- view, released in August, found that construction and operation of the $6 billion terminal and pipeline would adversely affect the environment. The draft statement con- cluded, however, that the proj- ect’s impacts to water quality, ¿VK DQG ZLOGOLIH KDELWDW DQG other areas of concern would be UHGXFHGWROHVVWKDQVLJQL¿FDQW levels if Oregon LNG takes the mitigation measures the energy company has proposed, and ad- ditional measures recommend- ed by commission staff. In September, the commis- sion’s environmental staff held two public comment meetings at the Clatsop County Fair & Expo Center where 77 concerned citi- zens spoke out against the proj- ect and three spoke in favor. The Astoria City Council voted in September to oppose the project as a potential threat to the environment and public safety. Oregon LNG wants to build a terminal on the Skipanon Peninsula and an 87-mile pipe- line that would link up with a natural gas pipeline in Wash- ington state. Warrenton is weighing de- velopment permits for the proj- ect, and several state and feder- al agencies are also conducting reviews.
