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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2016)
12A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016 Center: Councilors were receptive to the proposal Continued from Page 1A ³:H KDYH D \HDUROG EXLOGLQJEXLOWLQDQGLW¶V DOLWWOHWLUHG´9DQGHQEHUJVDLG “But she’s done her job, pro- YLGHGHFRQRPLFLPSDFWIRU \HDUV´ The majority of convention centers renovate or increase VL]H DERXW HYHU\ \HDUV DFFRUGLQJ WR 9DQGHQEHUJ ³:H¶UHQRZJRLQJRQ\HDUV VLQFHWKDWWLPH´ Vandenberg and Jon Rahl of the Seaside Visitors Cen- ter said the renovated center ZRXOG VLJQL¿FDQWO\ LQFUHDVH Steele Associates Architects LLC capacity, urgently needed to Proposed renovation plans for the main floor of the Sea- DFFRPPRGDWHUHJLRQDOHYHQWV side Civic and Convention Center. “We need this renovation in order to stay competitive ‘We have a 45-year-old in order to satisfy our clients needs and maintain our contri- building, built in 1971, bution to the economic stabil- and it’s a little tired. ity of our community,” Van- GHQEHUJVDLG Meeting the need Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Salmon come up to the surface to feed in the Warrenton High School fish hatchery Monday. Salmon: Fisheries programs DW:DUUHQWRQGDWHWRWKHV Continued from Page 1A students, who have since moved up to management positions, prepare the hatch- ery for the eggs and arrange IRUWKH¿VKIRRG Senior Brenton Davis, a hatchery manager, said stu- dents aim to grow their salmon ¿QJHUOLQJV WR DURXQG RI a pound each — big enough to handle the journey to sea, but not so big that the animals return to spawn before they are VH[XDOO\PDWXUH Ashleigh Rowles clips the fin of a salmon at the Warrenton “Around this time is when High School fish hatchery Monday. it gets scary,” senior Hunter Wilson said about the increase in temperatures, which helps both the salmon and poten- WLDOO\IDWDOEDFWHULDJURZIDVWHU The hatchery pulls water from rain runoff on the high school’s gym and from the 6NLSDQRQVHQGLQJLWWRDÀXPH FDSDEOHRIKROGLQJJDO- ORQV 7KH ZDWHU UXQV WKURXJK DQRQVLWHVDQGDQG89¿OWUD- tion system, before being grav- LW\IHGLQWRWKHKDWFKHU\ The Necanicum Room ZRXOGJHWSHUFHQWDGGLWLRQDO space, and room for meal func- WLRQVZRXOGEHXSSHUFHQW The Riverview rooms to the HDVWZRXOGLQFUHDVHIURP VTXDUHIHHWWR Architect Scott Steele, who SUHSDUHG WKH SDJH UHQR- vation and expansion plan, showed councilors proposed enlarged meeting rooms, addi- tional storage, administra- tive area, lobby and staircase DOWHUDWLRQV Goals are to bump out the existing Necanicum Room, support larger events, improve meeting spaces and bring in UHQRYDWLRQVXQGHUPLOOLRQ According to Vandenberg, “a lot of groups try to squeeze into the center and they try WRPDNHLW¿WEXWUHDOLW\LVLW GRHVQ¶W¿W,WGRHVQ¶WVDWLVI\WKH QHHGVRIWKHVHJURXSV´ But she’s done her job, provided economic impact for 45 years.’ Russell Vandenberg Seaside Civic and Convention Center general manager ³7KLVLVDPD]LQJ´/DUVRQVDLG ³8QEHOLHYDEOH´ Last year, a request for a VTXDUHIRRW UHQRYD- tion from Vandenberg and the convention center stalled when business owners objected to tax LQFUHDVHV WR IXQG UHQRYDWLRQV That project would have dou- bled the size of the convention center and added a multistory VSDFHSDUNLQJVWUXFWXUH Steele said the building would remain functional and operational during construc- tion, “a little tricky, but it can EHGRQH´ side’s Business Improvement 'LVWULFW Next steps, Vandenberg said, will be to “take the project on the road,” with residents and FLYLFJURXSV “I’m not asking you to approve the project tonight,” 9DQGHQEHUJVDLG³,¶GOLNH\RX WRFRQVLGHUWKHSURMHFW7RWDNH it on the road, the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary, the hotel owners, giving it some public opinion and hear and VHH ,W¶V WKHLU GRZQWRZQ DV ZHOO´ A workshop with the City Council and the convention center could take place in two No sales tax The preliminary design months, at which time the cen- HVWLPDWH VWDQGV DW PLO- WHU FRXOG SURYLGH D ¿QDO SUR- lion, with “healthy contingen- SRVDOZLWKLQGD\V³$WWKDW Councilors upbeat point I would come back to you Councilors proved recep- FLHV´KHDGGHG He said it was “prema- DQGDVNIRU\RXWR¿QDQFHWKLV WLYHWRWKHSURSRVDO Randy Frank praised it as ture” to discuss how the proj- SURMHFW´9DQGHQEHUJVDLG He and the team at the Vis- HFW ZRXOG EH SDLG IRU /DVW ³YHU\ZHOOGRQH´ Mayor Don Larson described year’s proposal sought a com- itors Bureau hope to attract it as one of the best presenta- bination of lodging and sales “generations of people to come WLRQVEURXJKWEHIRUHWKHFRXQFLO taxes, including a tax in Sea- LQWR6HDVLGH´KHDGGHG Student built Fisheries programs at War- UHQWRQGDWHWRWKHVZKHQ VWXGHQWV ZHUH UDLVLQJ ¿VK LQ buckets under teacher Larry %DOOPDQ EXW FHDVHG LQ GXHWRODFNRIIXQGV But a modernized Fisheries Research and Rearing Facil- LW\ ZDV D VWXGHQW SURM- ect led by Henry Balensifer, now a Warrenton city commis- sioner and graduate of Warren- WRQ+LJK6FKRRO Balensifer brought the pro- gram back as a student man- ager, albeit in a deteriorating facility with a pump he esti- PDWHG ZRUNHG DERXW SHU- FHQW RI WKH WLPH :LWK H[WHQ- sive community support, the new facility — with new water Brandon Williamson, a sophomore at Warrenton High School, shows a prototype of the “Salmon Cannon 3000” slide that will be used to release the salmon into the Skipanon River. pumps, a backup generator and the ability to rear more than VDOPRQ DW D WLPH ² ZDV EXLOW EHIRUH WKH VFKRRO\HDU 6WDUWLQJ ZLWK ¿YH VWX- GHQWV LQ 3RUWHU¶V ¿VK- ery program is now a compet- itive draw for students seeking KDQGVRQVFLHQFHH[SHULHQFH And next month, the hatch- ery will provide the commu- nity a chance to get close to VDOPRQ Outside the center Mon- day, sophomore Brandon Wil- liamson was busy arrang- ing painted gutters and tubing XQGHUQHDWK D ¿VK WDQN RXW- side the hatchery, where from WRSP0D\DUHD youths will have the opportu- nity to release a cup of salmon ¿QJHUOLQJVLQWRWKHZLOGKRSH- fully with a donation to War- UHQWRQ+LJK)LVKHULHV “It’ll be like a gumball machine,” Williamson said, describing the Marbleworks- or Mousetrap-like set of chutes down which salmon will slide into the Skipanon River sev- HUDOIHHWEHORZ+HGXEEHGWKH GHYLFH³6DOPRQ&DQQRQ´ KAYA SURVIVED! Born 4 months early and spent more than 5 months in the hospital. Register at marchforbabies.org March for Babies Lower Columbia - Astoria May 7, 2016 Time: 9am Location: Pier 39 Parking Warrenton High School students including, Christopher Elkins, right, feed salmon in the fish hatchery on Monday. More photos online at DailyAstorian.com
