12A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
Center: Councilors were
receptive to the proposal
Continued from Page 1A
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“But she’s done her job, pro-
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The majority of convention
centers renovate or increase
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Vandenberg and Jon Rahl
of the Seaside Visitors Cen-
ter said the renovated center
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Steele Associates Architects LLC
capacity, urgently needed to Proposed renovation plans for the main floor of the Sea-
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“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-
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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
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Continued from Page 1A
students, who have since
moved up to management
positions, prepare the hatch-
ery for the eggs and arrange
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Senior Brenton Davis, a
hatchery manager, said stu-
dents aim to grow their salmon
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a pound each — big enough
to handle the journey to sea,
but not so big that the animals
return to spawn before they are
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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-
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The hatchery pulls water
from rain runoff on the high
school’s gym and from the
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tion system, before being grav-
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The Necanicum Room
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space, and room for meal func-
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The Riverview rooms to the
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Architect Scott Steele, who
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vation and expansion plan,
showed councilors proposed
enlarged meeting rooms, addi-
tional storage, administra-
tive area, lobby and staircase
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Goals are to bump out the
existing Necanicum Room,
support larger events, improve
meeting spaces and bring in
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According to Vandenberg,
“a lot of groups try to squeeze
into the center and they try
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But she’s done her job,
provided economic
impact for 45 years.’
Russell Vandenberg
Seaside Civic and Convention Center general manager
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Last year, a request for a
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tion from Vandenberg and the
convention center stalled when
business owners objected to tax
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That project would have dou-
bled the size of the convention
center and added a multistory
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Steele said the building
would remain functional and
operational during construc-
tion, “a little tricky, but it can
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side’s Business Improvement
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Next steps, Vandenberg
said, will be to “take the project
on the road,” with residents and
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“I’m not asking you to
approve the project tonight,”
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it on the road, the Chamber
of Commerce, the Rotary, the
hotel owners, giving it some
public opinion and hear and
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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-
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lion, with “healthy contingen- SRVDOZLWKLQGD\V³$WWKDW
Councilors upbeat
point I would come back to you
Councilors proved recep- FLHV´KHDGGHG
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Randy Frank praised it as ture” to discuss how the proj- SURMHFW´9DQGHQEHUJVDLG
He and the team at the Vis-
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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
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Student built
Fisheries programs at War-
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buckets under teacher Larry
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But a modernized Fisheries
Research and Rearing Facil-
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ect led by Henry Balensifer,
now a Warrenton city commis-
sioner and graduate of Warren-
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Balensifer brought the pro-
gram back as a student man-
ager, albeit in a deteriorating
facility with a pump he esti-
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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
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ery program is now a compet-
itive draw for students seeking
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And next month, the hatch-
ery will provide the commu-
nity a chance to get close to
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Outside the center Mon-
day, sophomore Brandon Wil-
liamson was busy arrang-
ing painted gutters and tubing
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side the hatchery, where from
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youths will have the opportu-
nity to release a cup of salmon
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fully with a donation to War-
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“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-
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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