DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016
143RD YEAR, NO. 214
A MATTER OF
DESIGN
ONE DOLLAR
Animal
welfare
group sues
Coast Guard
Activists claim buffer
around cormorant-cull
area is excessive
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Lyra Fontaine/The Daily Astorian
An Arch Cape resident is appealing a county decision to eliminate the unincorporated community’s Design Review Committee.
Arch Cape takes county to task over design review
By LYRA FONTAINE
The Daily Astorian
A
RCH CAPE — It’s the last design review committee in Clatsop County,
and residents are reluctant to see it go. ¶ After being disbanded by the
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners in February, the committee’s
fate has moved to the state Land Use Board of Appeals .
Arch Cape resident Jim Jens-
vold appealed the county’s deci-
sion to dissolve the 39-year-old
Southwest Coastal Citizens Advi-
sory Committee, also known as
the Arch Cape Design Review
Committee.
The committee was the last of
six in the county to survive, and
until this year screened all con-
struction design review applica-
tions for the unincorporated com-
munity of Arch Cape submitted to
the county Community Develop-
ment Department.
“I don’t think it was right for
the county to just dissolve the
committee with very minimal
notice and with hardly any pub-
lic process,” Jensvold said in
an email. “That’s not the way to
build trust between the county
and this community, which has a
strong vision for its own future.”
The county has fi led a motion
to dismiss the appeal. If the
Land Use Board of Appeals does
not dismiss the challenge , both
See ARCH CAPE, Page 12A
‘I don’t
think it was
right for
the county
to just
dissolve the
committee
with very
minimal
notice and
with hardly
any public
process.
That’s not
the way to
build trust
between
the county
and this
community,
which has
a strong
vision for
its own
future.’
Jim Jensvold
Arch Cape resident who
appealed the county’s
decision to dissolve the
39-year-old Southwest
Coastal Citizens Advisory
Committee, also known as
the Arch Cape Design
Review Committee
A n animal welfare group trying to docu-
ment the culling of cormorants on East Sand
Island by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
has fi led suit against the U.S. Coast Guard
over their exclusion from the killing zone.
Showing Animals Respect and Kindness
arrived last month with the Bob and Nancy,
a gray Kodiak boat paid for through a grant
from former “The Price is Right” host and
animal welfare activist Bob Barker and part-
ner Nancy Burnet. The boat is equipped with
an eight-propeller drone with a camera.
Activists have been going out from the
Port of Astoria’s West End Mooring Basin,
trying to document the killing of the cormo-
rants from boats operated by Wildlife Ser-
vices near East Sand Island, a dredge deposit
just south of the Oregon-Washington border
near Baker Bay. Wildlife Services, which
is under the Department of Agriculture and
contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers to do the shooting, specializes in kill-
ing animals that threaten livestock or, in the
Columbia River’s case, endangered salmon
runs.
A permit issued from the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service allows Wildlife Services
to kill 3,114 double-crested cormorants, 93
Brandt’s cormorants and nine pelagic cor-
morants. Agents can also destroy 5,247 cor-
morant nests by slathering eggs in corn oil to
suffocate the embryos within. As of Wednes-
day , Wildlife Services had killed 1,025 dou-
ble-crested cormorants, with no nests oiled.
Safety or secrecy?
At Wildlife Services’ request, the Coast
Guard created a 500-yard safety exclusion
zone around Wildlife Service s’ boats on
April 25.
“The recommended space around use of
(a) shotgun on the water is 300 yards,” said
Petty Offi cer 1st Class Levi Read, a spokes-
man for the Coast Guard. “Because of the
maritime environment, we added a couple
hundred yards.”
See SUIT, Page 12A
Seaside
schools in a
race to safety
Superintendent is
‘optimistic’ about bond
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Cruise ship season starts off in a
big way Wednesday with the Crown
Princess and Norwegian Jewel
bringing nearly 5,000 cruisers to the
Port of Astoria.
The 950-foot Crown Princess,
run by Princess Cruises, is expected
to bring 2,600 passengers to Pier 1.
The 965-foot Norwegian Jewel, run
by Norwegian Cruises, will go to
anchor next to Astoria with 2,376
passengers.
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — When U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden paid a visit to Seaside last month,
his goal was to help the school district move
schools in the tsunami inundation zone to
safety.
That will require passage of a new bond,
three years after a $128.8 million plan failed
with voters.
State and federal assistance will be crit-
ical to its passage, Seaside School Dis-
trict Superintendent Doug Dougherty said
Monday.
“One of the pieces we heard over and
over again was our community wanted to
have some type of help from the state and
federal government to offset local costs,” he
said.
Dougherty and the school board intend
to put the bond on the November ballot
to pay for the relocation of Seaside High
School, Gearhart Elementary School and
Broadway Middle School. “What we’re
looking at is a school that will eventually be
expanded in one direction or another, then
build another elementary school or mid-
dle school up the hill to the east,” Dough-
erty said. “We’re still discussing plans and
components.”
As Dougherty and offi cials seek funds
from state and federal sources, they’ll
also ask the community to assess local
enthusiasm.
See CRUISE SHIPS, Page 12A
The Crown Princess will stop in Astoria Wednesday, along with the
Norwegian Pearl.
See SEASIDE, Page 12A
Lyra Fontaine/The Daily Astorian
Hug Point State Recreation Site, 5 miles south of Cannon Beach, was originally designed to pro-
vide access to Arch Cape.
Cruise ahoy! Busy summer ahead
Twenty-four big
ships and their
passengers visit
The Daily Astorian