COAST WEEKEND: JUST GET OUT THE DOOR AND START RUNNING INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 40
ONE DOLLAR
Developer tries to save Miles Crossing project
Apartment complex
could help with
housing shortage
apartment complex in Miles Cross-
ing to the Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners.
Richard Krueger fi led the appeal
with the county, claiming the Clat-
sop County Planning Commission’s
denial in July was based on a formal-
ity and not on actual requirements.
The Board of Commissioners
unanimously agreed Wednesday
to hear the appeal and take a fresh
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
A developer has appealed a deci-
sion to deny a proposed 48-unit
look at the proposal. Supporters of
the Bella Ridge Apartments see the
project as a much-needed source of
affordable and workforce housing.
A hearing is scheduled Sept. 14
during the board’s next regular meet-
ing .
In his appeal, Krueger asked
county c ommissioners to only review
the sole issue of contention, which
was a question about sewer capacity
in the region. Krueger wants to build
the Bella Ridge Apartments on 10.4
acres between Lewis and Clark Ele-
mentary School and the Lewis and
Clark Golf & RV Resort.
County staff, however, recom-
mended the board revisit the entire
project .
Commissioners agreed to hear all
the evidence, and not limit what can
be discussed during public comment.
Jetty gets armored up
Repairs to jetty system
at the mouth quicken
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Photos by David Plechl/EO Media Group
Jerry Otto, a Army Corps of Engineers civil engineer, and the Jetty A project man-
ager, led members of the media on a tour of the site and explained how crews were
rebuilding the 77-year-old structure back up to its full functional capacity.
Project overview
See JETTY, Page 9A
See COMPLEX, Page 10A
State mandate may not
come with money
I
Rocks at the core of the jetty are smaller,
while the largest, “armor rocks,” form the shell
of the structure. Those can range in size from
18 to 32 tons, project managers said. Although
the Corps is responsible for the planning,
design, and monitoring of all jetty operations
and improvements, Vancouver-based Kiewit
Corp ., which provides construction, engineer-
ing and mining services, is the primary contrac-
tor for the job. Several years ago, Kiewit made
repairs to the South Jetty. The company also had
the ability to barge rocks in from its own Beaver
Lake Quarry in Mount Vernon.
Sewer concerns
Neighbors against the project have
been outspoken with concerns rang-
ing from traffi c impacts to whether
Lead test
costs high
By DAVID PLECHL
EO Media Group
LWACO, Wash. — Crash! Bang! Boom! On
a recent afternoon, the construction site at
Jetty A, near U.S. Coast Guard Station Cape
Disappointment, was something straight
out of a child’s imagination. On a barge teth-
ered to the tip of the jetty, a crane was swing-
ing rocks as big as cars ashore. The giant claw
of an oversized excavator hefted most of the
massive boulders into oversized dump trucks
and plunged some of the rock directly into the
weather-worn chinks in the jetty’s aging armor.
Workers at the site were unloading the third
of six barge-loads of meta-basalt that will be
used to fortify the 77-year old jetty at the mouth
of the Columbia River.
Built in 1939, the 1 1/2-mile-long jetty’s pri-
mary function is to direct river and tidal cur-
rents away from the North Jetty foundation.
Engineers say the lifespan of a jetty is about
50 years, so on the whole, Jetty A has outlived
expectations.
Nonetheless, the jetty has been in need of
repairs and upgrades for years. U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers began the estimated $30.5
million effort to bring the jetty back up to full
strength in June. The ongoing construction at
Jetty A is part of a comprehensive effort to
repair all three jetties at the river’s mouth, a
project Corps offi cials expect to last through
2023.
“I think it’s important that we
allow the public to say what they
want to say,” Commissioner Sarah
Nebeker said.
ABOVE: A “spotter” scrambled over the rocks near the ocean end of Jetty A after
advising a crane operator precisely where to place an “armor rock” that will make
up the exterior of the mile-and-a-half long structure. The $30.5 million project will
buttress the jetty with more than 82,000 tons of new stone. BELOW: Built in 1939,
the jetty’s primary function is to direct river and tidal currents away from the North
Jetty foundation. The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the planning and
design of the project, while Vancouver-based Kiewit Corp., is the primary contractor
As the deadline nears for school districts
to turn in plans to test for lead and radon,
local administrators understand the need but
worry about the costs.
The state Board of Education this month
voted to require school districts to test for
lead and radon. The vote came after scandals
in Portland Public Schools over contami-
nated drinking water ballooned into a state-
wide issue. School d istricts have to turn in
preliminary plans to test for lead and radon
into the state by October, with fi nal plans due
by January.
“We want to ensure that our water and air
are going to be safe for students,” Superin-
tendent Mark Jeffery of the Warrenton-Ham-
mond School District said of the new
requirements. “It would have been lovely if
they would have come
forward with some
funding.”
Jeffery said he is
hopeful funding for
testing will be forth-
coming. The city of
Warrenton tested the
district’s water at no
charge, but Jeffery said
he doesn’t know how
Mark
far that arrangement
Jeffery
will go.
School advocates
have said the Legis-
lative Fiscal Offi ce is
working on a funding
proposal to present to
the state’s Emergency
Board in September.
The costs of test-
ing and mitigating
problems are largely
unknown. The state
Paulette
School Boards Asso-
Johnson
ciation has said test-
ing and fi xing problems could costs dis-
tricts hundreds of millions of dollars
statewide.
New Knappa Superintendent Paulette
Johnson said her district spent about $400
on testing throughout its schools. The results
came back Tuesday, with only one lightly
used fountain shut down.
“We have to keep our kids safe.” Johnson
said. “If that takes testing, I’m OK with that.
I’ll put it in the budget.”
Astoria and Seaside schools have
also received results back from lead test-
ing . Astoria shut off two fountains at
See LEAD TEST, Page 10A
Mental health agency on a better track
Strong leadership
key to success
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
The chief executive for regional
mental health care on Wednesday
praised the Clatsop County manager
and the interim director at Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare for stepping for-
ward to “really save a local program
from the brink.”
Kevin Campbell, who leads Greater
Oregon Behavioral Healthcare Inc.,
which ovesees mental health services
in Clatsop and several other counties,
believes Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare
is beginning to turn a corner.
County Manager Cameron Moore
and Amy Baker, the interim executive
director of the mental health agency, have
been working to stabilize the agency after
a leadership shakeup this year.
“I can tell you that GOBHI is willing
and ready to continue putting resources
into this community to see that we get
to a not only a functional, but an exem-
plary, mental health system,” Campbell
said at a work session with the county
Board of Commissioners.
Amy
Baker
Cameron
Moore
An internal investigation and a state
review by the Oregon Health Authority
documented management challenges
and led to the departure of top admin-
istrators at Clatsop Behavioral Health-
care. The agency, which provides men-
tal health services under contract with
the county, also suffered through an
exodus of professional talent.
Details of the dysfunction dribbled
out publicly over the past year through
anecdotes from law enforcement and
social-service advocates, union action
and federal lawsuits.
Baker told county commissioners
her biggest fear when she took over in
June was that the agency’s crisis team
had dwindled to just one person. “And
that is a position you never want to be
in as a community mental health pro-
gram,” she said.
Baker is gradually rebuilding staff
throughout the agency and is working
to improve infrastructure. On Wednes-
day, for example, she said she went
through the agency’s intake process
herself to see what patients experience.
See AGENCY, Page 10A