DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 9
ONE DOLLAR
Warrenton
County puts kibosh on Miles
authorizes
Crossing apartment complex legal look
at old dam
CREST pulls out
of removal project
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Maurie Hendrickson, who lives on Youngs River Road and opposes the proposed property, voices his opinion to the Clatsop
County Planning Commission during deliberation on the proposed Miles Crossing project Tuesday in Astoria.
Project would have
provided affordable
housing units
See DAM, Page 10A
Warrenton
considers
food trucks
at airport
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
T
he Clatsop County Planning Commis-
sion on Tuesday denied a proposed
apartment complex in Miles Crossing
after questioning the area’s sewer and water
capacity and trafic impacts.
Developer Richard Krueger wanted to
build the Bella Ridge Apartments on 10.4 acres
between Lewis and Clark Elementary School
and the Lewis and Clark Golf & RV Resort.
Krueger lowered the proposed develop-
ment from 168 units to 48 units to accommo-
date neighbors’ concerns. County staff recom-
mended approving the project, but the Planning
Commission ultimately denied it in a 3-1 vote.
The project had been praised as a much-
needed source of affordable and workforce
housing. Supporters felt the vote was a missed
opportunity to address the county’s housing
crisis.
“While we don’t pretend to know the chal-
lenges related to Mr. Krueger’s proposal, we
are well aware of the absolute need for all
types of housing in Clatsop County,” Clatsop
Economic Development Resources Director
Kevin Leahy wrote in a letter of support.
Clatsop County Community Develop-
ment Director Heather Hansen, who presented
the staff recommendation Tuesday, said she
thought the development was proposed in a
good location surrounded by a golf course and
school.
The location is the site of a proposed 36-lot
subdivision for single-family homes approved
last year by the Planning Commission, Hansen
said. Krueger wanted to rezone the property for
multi-family use, which the Planning Commis-
sion denied.
WARRENTON — The city has ordered
an outside legal review on the Eighth Street
Dam as the latest plan to remove the aging
structure has collapsed.
Akin Blitz, a Portland labor attorney, will
compile a fact-inding report on the owner-
ship, operation and potential removal of the
dam on the Skipanon River. The report will
also outline options the City Commission
could consider to protect the interests of the
city and property owners along the river.
The Skipanon Water Control District,
which owns the dam, wants to remove the
outdated structure to improve ish passage
and water quality. But the Columbia River
Estuary Study Taskforce, the water district’s
partner, has withdrawn from the $1 million
project.
In an email Tuesday to the interim city
manager and city commissioners, Tessa
Scheller, the chairwoman of the water dis-
trict’s board, said the water district has no
interest in spending money to “keep an
obsolete, and dangerous dam in place.” She
said she is willing to meet with the city, and
perhaps state and federal regulators, on a
resolution.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Developer Richard Krueger listens during the Clatsop County Planning Commis-
sion’s deliberation on his proposed Miles Crossing property on Tuesday in Astoria.
The Clatsop County Planning Commission denied the proposed 48-unit project near
Lewis and Clark Elementary School.
Jim Neikes
reacts during
the Clatsop
County Plan-
ning Com-
mission’s de-
liberation on
the proposed
Miles Cross-
ing project
Tuesday in
Astoria.
Danny Miller
The Daily
Astorian
See COMPLEX, Page 10A
Carts will be allowed in
other industrial zones
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — U.S. Coast Guard per-
sonnel, Lektro employees and other work-
ers at Astoria Regional Airport may soon
have better access to a quick meal near the
workplace.
The City Commission held a irst reading
on a municipal code amendment allowing
food and beverage trucks and carts to oper-
ate in the general industrial zoning district.
“The (industrial zones) are kind of iso-
lated, and people oftentimes don’t have the
time available to go out and get a quick
snack in the morning, or even at lunch time,”
Community Development Director Skip
Urling said.
The Lunch Wagon, a food cart that
opened at the airport in April and sells hot
and cold sandwiches, has a temporary vari-
ance to operate. The code change would
allow the cart to stay.
See FOOD CARTS, Page 10A
Rivals raise $5.2 million to ight corporate tax plan
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Defeat The
Tax On Oregon Sales, a coa-
lition of business interests,
has raised more than $5.2 mil-
lion to defeat a ballot measure
to levy a hefty state corporate
sales tax, according to its irst
campaign inance disclosures.
That compares to about
$450,000 raised by propo-
nents, A Better Oregon, which
has yet to ile paperwork estab-
lishing its political action
committee.
“Our coalition already
includes more than 3,000 indi-
viduals, organizations and busi-
nesses from across the state that
share deep concerns about this
costly and damaging $6 billion
tax on Oregon sales,” Rebecca
Tweed, campaign coordina-
tor for Defeat The Tax On Ore-
gon Sales, said in a statement.
“We’ve put a solid founda-
tion in place to clearly com-
municate with Oregon voters
that they will be the ones pay-
ing most of this regressive tax
through higher prices for nearly
everything they buy — grocer-
ies, gasoline, insurance, medi-
cines, electricity, phones, med-
ical care — costing the average
Oregon household over $600
more per year.”
The Defeat the Tax on Ore-
gon Sales Political Action
Committee reported more
than 500 contributions through
Monday.
A Better Oregon plans to
launch its political action com-
mittee after ballot measures
are certiied in August, said
Katherine Driessen, a spokes-
woman for the union-backed
campaign.
Total expenditures by the
Defeat The Tax On Oregon
Sales PAC were $1.8 million,
leaving the coalition with $3.4
million of cash on hand.
Proponents have spent
$41,762.62.
Political action commit-
tees are required to report their
contributions and expenditures
within 30 days of iling. That
report must include transac-
tions by the opposition group
from before the formation of
the PAC.
The ballot measure, Ini-
tiative Petition 28, would
impose a 2.5 percent tax on
the Oregon sales of “C” cor-
porations exceeding $25 mil-
lion. It would represent the
largest tax increase in state
history.
The so-called gross receipts
tax would raise about $3 bil-
lion a year in new state reve-
nue and bolster public sector
jobs, while slowing growth
in private sector jobs, accord-
ing to the Legislative Revenue
Ofice.
See TAX PLAN, Page 10A