143RD YEAR, NO. 217
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016
ONE DOLLAR
UNTANGLING
THE PORT’S KNOT
A GUIDE TO ASTORIA’S
SUNDAY MARKET
COAST RIVER BUSINESS JOURNAL • INSIDE
INSIDE
Port
PROTECT THE FORT, DOUSE THE FIRE
needs
runoff
fi x now
Agency faces June
deadline to reduce
high copper levels
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Matt Shaefer, the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park chief of facility management, stands in Fort Clatsop near a wire-tension
fire-alarm system hidden within the fort.
Fort Clatsop fi re a decade ago
showed need for better waterworks
101
Yo
u
Astoria
ng
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Planned water
system upgrade
fter smoldering embers from a fi replace burned down Fort
ASTORIA
REGIONAL
AIRPORT
Clatsop in 2005, the national memorial discovered a glar-
ing need for a better water supply . ¶ The aging water sys-
tem in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park is connected
to an undersized water line that runs across the Lewis and Clark River.
BUS
101
BUS
101
Lewis and
Clark National
Historical Park
park visitors fl ush toilets at one time, drinking fountains barely work.
N
See FORT CLATSOP, Page 12A
and
R oad
ad
Ro
iv er
Cl a r k R
needed during a structure fi re. ¶ The pressure is so tenuous, i f too many
Lewi s
op
lats
Fort C
Water pressure from sprinklers and fi re hydrants is a fraction of what is
101
Lewi s and Clark
A
s B
ay
1 mile
EO Media Group graphic
With about two months left to make a
new stormwater collection system on Pier
3 operational, the Port of Astoria is trying
to fi nd at least $1 million to pay for the
project.
That’s what the Port’s environmental
engineer estimates is the minimum cost to
create a process to collect and pump storm-
water on the central waterfront to a biofi l-
tration system on Pier 3.
In August 2014, the state Department of
Environmental Quality notifi ed the Port that
after two years of high copper readings in
stormwater runoff into the Columbia River ,
the agency would need to install a system
to keep copper levels below the 0.02 milli-
grams per liter allowed under an industrial
stormwater permit.
C opper is a neurotoxicant that damages
the sensory capabilities of salmon at low
concentrations, according to the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The effects can manifest in minutes to hours
and can last for weeks.
Fundraising
The state gave the Port until the end of
June to make the system operational. Jim
Knight, the Port’s executive director, said
the Port is close to sending out bids for the
project. While the Port is unlikely to have
the system operational by the deadline ,
Knight said he is hopeful he can show the
state progress and get an extension .
In the meantime, he is organizing meet-
ings with tenants to create a cost-share for
the project based on use of the stormwater
system.
“They understand we have a problem
that needs to be fi xed, and that we’re all part
of the issue,” he said.
See PORT, Page 11A
Cannon Beach
boosts budget
by a third
City seeks to purchase
former school building
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Firefighters from Lewis and Clark, Olney-Walluski, and Warrenton, including Jim
O’Connor, from Lewis and Clark, left, work on mop up of the Fort Clatsop fire in 2005.
The water flow coming out of a park ’s fire
hydrant is 70 gallons per minute. Fire de-
partments recommend that hydrant flow
should be 1,500 gallons per minute.
Seaside’s proposed budget calls
for revenues and expenditures of
$18. 6 million, an almost 20 per-
cent reduction from this fi scal year’s
budget of almost $23 million.
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — What can a city
do with an elementary school located in
the tsunami zone? Cannon Beach residents
could soon fi nd out, as the city has budgeted
a $665,000 loan for the purchase and reme-
diation of the old Cannon Beach Elementary
School site.
Staff recommended a signifi cantly larger
proposed budget Wednesday at the fi rst bud-
get committee meeting for the upcoming fi s-
cal year. The budget includes acquisition of
the former elementary school site and other
capital projects.
The budget is up 31 percent from the cur-
rent year, mostly due to transfers, loan pro-
ceeds and capital grants and projects, accord-
ing to City Manager Brant Kucera’s report.
“I believe this budget represents the true
costs of maintaining and improving city -
owned assets that have been neglected in
the past,” Kucera said in the proposal, add-
ing that the city is “investing heavily in our
future.”
The proposed budget for the upcoming
fi scal year is $19. 7 million, compared to
$14. 6 million for this fi scal year.
See SEASIDE, Page 11A
City Manager Mark Winstanley
explains the 2016-17 budget.
See BUDGET, Page 10A
With roadwork paid for,
Seaside builds reserves
New budget
proposal boasts
a 20 percent
reduction
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Seaside was
slammed by three major incidents in
the last year: a power failure on the
Fourth of July, a signifi cant storm in
August for Hood to Coast and the
tragic loss of a police offi cer killed
in the line of duty in February.
The city’s preliminary budget rec-
By LYRA FONTAINE
The Daily Astorian
ognizes the impacts of those incidents.
“It wasn’t so much of a fi nancial
standpoint,” City Manager Mark Win-
stanley said Thursday. “More it’s the
impact on staff and how they handle
things. These are major, major events.
Having any one of them would have
been the kind of challenges that cities
have once every 10 years, and we’ve
had three in one year.”
A 20 percent reduction