10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016
Dam: CREST was the
source of $1 million
in federal money to
inance the project
Continued from Page 1A
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Bruce Francis, chairman of the Clatsop County Planning Commission, listens during deliberation on the proposed
Miles Crossing project Tuesday in Astoria.
Complex: Krueger is expected to appeal
Continued from Page 1A
Commissioners Mryna Pat-
rick and Thomas Merrell said,
even with reducing the project
to 48 units, they were troubled
allowing multi-family units in
a rural area.
“I’m still not comfort-
able with the trafic study and
police and local schools as far
as adding the multi-units to
that area,” Merrell said. “Per-
sonally, based on that criteria
alone I couldn’t see a zoning
change.”
Neighbors were especially
concerned about whether the
region has enough water and
sewer capacity long term for
the development.
“We don’t want this apart-
ment complex in our neigh-
borhood,” Cynthia Johnson, a
neighbor, wrote in a letter to
the county. “We already carry
a heavy burden with the cur-
rent sewer system.”
The sewer and water dis-
tricts indicated they have
the capacity. A condition of
approval was for Krueger to
Commissioner Christopher Farrar speaks during the Clat-
sop County Planning Commission’s deliberation on the
proposed Miles Crossing project Tuesday in Astoria.
provide proof that the Miles
Crossing Sanitary Sewer Dis-
trict Board approve connection
to the system.
Commissioner
Chris-
topher Farrar pointed to a
recent letter from the sewer
district board retracting their
approval. The sewer board
sent a previous letter of sup-
port last month, but it was sent
without formal approval from
the board.
“You need something
deinitive from the various
utility districts,” Farrar said. “I
have not seen that. I have seen
the opposite.”
Despite the sewer board’s
procedures, county counsel
noted, the math is the same
and the sewer and water dis-
tricts could handle the new
development.
“If you look at it, you
can still build single family
homes,” Hansen said. “It’s the
timing of the sewer district let-
ter that messed things up.”
Krueger previously built
the Edgewater at Mill Pond
apartments in Uppertown and
the Yacht Club Apartments at
the northern end of the Old
Youngs Bay Bridge.
Letters of support for the
Bella Ridge Apartments came
from Astoria Mayor Arline
LaMear, Astoria School Dis-
trict Superintendent Craig
Hoppes, Astoria-Warrenton
Chamber of Commerce Exec-
utive Director Skip Hauke and
Leahy.
In addition, the Oregon
Department of Transportation
and Clatsop County Public
Works signed off on the work.
Krueger’s lawyer, David
Noren, said he expects
Krueger to appeal the Plan-
ning Commission’s decision to
the Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners.
Food carts: ‘It’s a really big convenience’
Continued from Page 1A
“I’ve got quite a few reg-
ulars. Some come every day.
I’ve got a couple that are here
twice a day, breakfast and
lunch. And then I have some
that come two or three times
a week,” said Robert Rip-
ley, who owns the cart with
Cheryl Stoffelsen.
The code amendment
would also apply to the North
Coast Business Park and
Warrenton’s other industrial
developments.
A while back, the Port of
Astoria, which owns the air-
port, approached the city
about private food cart ven-
dors, including The Lunch
Wagon.
The Planning Commis-
sion had a “lengthy and ani-
mated” discussion on the
issue, according to Urling, but
didn’t take action. A motion to
support the code amendment
failed for lack of a second.
Some Planning Commis-
sion members feared that
food carts would proliferate
and degrade the aesthetics in
the industrial zones.
They were also concerned
that mobile food outlets not
only offer few employment
opportunities, but, with such
low overhead, have an unfair
advantage over brick-and-
mortar businesses that pay
rent, mortgages and taxes.
In addition, several Plan-
ning Commission members
“simply didn’t like the emerg-
ing concept of mobile food
vendors,” Urling’s staff report
reads.
‘Really big
convenience’
City staff, however, sup-
ports the idea of food carts in
industrial zones.
“These units are becom-
ing more and more popular
across the country” and ben-
eit employees whose work-
places are too remote to allow
them to patronize traditional
restaurants, Urling wrote.
“They also are especially pop-
ular with the millennial demo-
graphic which is a growing
cohort of the population.”
Gary Kobes, the Port of
Astoria’s airport manager,
said, “It’s a really big conve-
nience, for the aviation com-
munity, to have food on the
ield.”
He added that the presence
of such vendors may gradu-
ally draw more attention to
the area and increase revenue
over the long run.
Paul Davis, Lektro’s direc-
tor of operations, said the
company’s
half-
The city char-
hour lunch breaks
ter
outlines
a
don’t give employ-
four-month win-
ees enough time to
dow to make the
leave the airport,
appointment.
grab a meal, drive
“I’m not sure
back and eat.
that we can appoint
Retired Coast
a new, perma-
Guard Capt. Dan
nent, full-time city
Travers and Com-
manager in four
mand Master Chief
months,” Engbret-
Gary
Karl Keyes said
son said, adding that
Kobes
that having a food
the hiring procedure
cart like The Lunch Wagon is highly involved and needs
on-site improves opera- to be handled publicly so the
tions and boosts morale for community can weigh in.
servicemembers.
In the meantime, commis-
The City Commission sioners also gave Engbretson
will hold a inal reading on the authority to preside over
the code change at the next personnel matters, including
meeting.
the hiring of two new positions
listed in the iscal year bud-
City manager search
get: a sergeant for the Police
In other business, the City Department and a full-time
Commission passed a reso- marina worker.
lution declaring its intent to
appoint a city manager.
The previous city manager,
Kurt Fritsch, resigned in June
after ive years amid a contro-
versy surrounding the Eighth
Street Dam.
City Recorder Linda
Engbretson was appointed
interim city manager. Her sal-
ary is now $95,000 per year
— Fritsch’s starting salary
— retroactive to the day she
stepped into the position.
Tax plan: Critics say the measure takes
no account of a corporation’s proits
Continued from Page 1A
It also found that the tax
would act as a consumption
tax, spiking prices for con-
sumers by about $613 per
year for a household with
median income of $51,075.
Critics of the tax say the
measure takes no account of
a corporation’s profits, tax-
ing instead its gross receipts.
High volume, low-margin
businesses, such as Pow-
ell’s Books, might owe
taxes exceeding their actual
profits.
Supporters of the mea-
sure, backed by public
employee unions, say the
tax will primarily hit out-of-
state corporations that they
say don’t pay their fair share.
Proponents say the tax
will help support education,
health care and senior ser-
vices. However, nothing in
the measure restricts the use
of the revenue to those pur-
poses, and lawmakers have
wide latitude to alter the tax.
Gov. Kate Brown already
has proposed several fixes to
help soften the blow of tax
on certain businesses and
industries.
“We can all make prog-
ress working together as part-
ners for our shared commu-
nity beneit,” Scheller wrote.
Some at the water dis-
trict have talked about turn-
ing the dam over to the city
for $1 to get rid of the liabil-
ity. The city has not publicly
expressed an interest in tak-
ing ownership of the dam,
although, privately, Mayor
Mark Kujala and others have
discussed the possibility,
along with whether the city
already has a legal stake in
ownership.
Kujala’s family, who own
property near the dam, and
the Nygaard family, who
own Warrenton Fiber, have
urged the city to take con-
trol of the dam for lood con-
trol reasons, even though the
water district insists the dam
provides no demonstrated
lood control.
“This is about discovery.
We need to know exactly
what has happened here,”
Kujala said before the City
Commission voted 5-0 Tues-
day night to authorize the
outside legal review.
Kujala
acknowledged
his family’s property inter-
est near the dam before par-
ticipating in the discussion
Tuesday night. The mayor
has recused himself from
votes related to the dam in
the past because of a conlict.
Contentious issue
The scope of work for the
legal review describes what
has become a contentious
issue for the city, citing dis-
trust with information that
has been made public and
uncertainty about other infor-
mation that may be available.
Kurt Fritsch resigned as
city manager in June after
critics of the dam’s removal
claimed he withheld tech-
nical reviews on the dam.
Fritsch had said the reviews
were prepared for the Plan-
ning Commission, so it
would have been inappro-
priate to share the informa-
tion with the City Commis-
sion, which might have had
to hear a land-use question
on appeal.
Some residents warned
the City Commission Tues-
day night about the risk
of looding if the dam is
not properly operated or
removed, echoing informa-
tion that had been circulating
privately by critics to inlu-
ence the commission before
Fritsch resigned.
Bert Little, who used to
serve with the water district,
said looding issues would be
reduced if the dam is oper-
ated properly. The water dis-
trict made a policy choice
to leave the tide gates open
year-round in 2012 and
removed the gates entirely
last fall.
“With the doors up, all the
properties will always be sat-
urated with water,” Little said.
“That’s just the way it is.”
Built in 1963
The Eighth Street Dam
was built by the federal gov-
ernment in 1963 for lood
control. The water district
took possession of the dam
after the structure exceeded
its 50-year life span.
An engineering plan
adopted by the water dis-
trict concludes that there is
no increased risk of lood-
ing if the dam is removed.
A technical review by a city
consultant, however, ques-
tions whether engineers for
the water district accurately
modeled the lood plain.
The City Commission
twice voted for a $1.2 million
agreement with the water dis-
trict and CREST that would
have provided the city with
a single-lane bridge over the
river to replace a gravel road
once the dam is removed.
The commission, under pres-
sure from the Kujala and
Nygaard families, voted 2-2
in May against renewing the
agreement.
The water district and
CREST decided to move for-
ward with dam removal by
the end of 2018 without pro-
viding the city with a bridge.
The water district also bar-
ricaded the gravel road
because of safety concerns.
CREST, however, has
pulled out. The agency’s
participation was critical
because it was the source of
$1 million in federal Bonne-
ville Power Administration
money to inance the project.
“Given everything that’s
been going on, we thought
that it would be best if we
backed out and allowed the
city and the district to work
things out,” said Denise
Lofman, CREST’s direc-
tor. “At this point, we’re not
involved at all.”
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
The city has ordered a legal review into the Eighth
Street Dam over the Skipanon River.
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