DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 53
HOMEOWNERS FEND OFF
NEW SEASIDE MOTEL
Pearl plan stymied
as City Council
upholds appeal
I
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Negotiations between motel developer Antoine Simmons and Avrel Nudelman, the
owner of this home, failed to reach fruition.
An overwhelming majority of Oregon
voters support a corporate sales tax mea-
sure on the November ballot, according to
a new poll by icitizen, a nonpartisan sur-
vey fi rm.
It’s the second poll in less than a week
to show Measure 97 with a big lead, but
the icitizen survey included several fol-
low-up questions,
which
indicate
that voters’ opin-
MORE
ions change when
INSIDE
they learn more
about arguments
Battle over
for how the gross
Measure 97 hits
receipts tax would
the airwaves.
Page 3A
work.
“This
sug-
Democrats out-
gests messaging
pace Republicans
in state races.
about the effect
Page 10A
on an Oregonian’s
pocketbook can
make for a tighter
race in November, depending on either
camp’s ability to market the measure in
their favor,” said icitizen polling analyst
Cynthia Villacis.
The measure, backed by a coalition of
public employee unions, would levy a 2.5
percent tax on certain corporations’ Ore-
gon annual sales exceeding $25 million.
See MEASURE 97, Page 10A
R.J. Marx /The Daily Astorian
See MOTEL, Page 10A
Support for
tax erodes
when voters
hear about
details
Poll indicates opinions
change with arguments
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
t wasn’t quite a matter of inches, but it
came down to a matter of feet. Five feet, to
be exact, the difference between city code
requirement and a proposed side yard.
Antoine Simmons had been granted a
variance this summer from the Planning
Commission to go ahead with his 48-room
luxury motel, the Pearl of Seaside.
Neighbors said the Planning Commission
should have never issued the variance and
called for an appeal. And they won .
At the City Council’s hearing last month,
councilors urged Simmons and neighbors
Susan and Dan Calef and Avrel Nudelman to
try and work things out.
Early in Monday’s meeting it became
clear those talks had fallen apart. The Calefs
had no intention of selling. Simmons and
Nudelman went back and forth on a price for
Nudelman’s Beach Drive home, but never
came to terms.
Simmons, with his wife, Rocio, owns and
operates four boutique hotels in Seaside and
Cannon Beach, including Seaside’s Gilbert
Inn, purchased in 2014, and the Inn at the
Prom, which they bought in 2011.
Plans for the Pearl called for three sto-
ries, a penthouse fl oor and tower roof. A two-
level parking garage on Beach Drive with
41 inside spaces would have been supple-
mented with an additional 10 outdoor spaces
on Avenue A.
But minimum stall lengths, back-out
and lane widths required a variance from
the Planning Commission. Simmons also
requested a height variance of 7 feet because
of grade differences on various parts of the
property.
After several months of testimony,
the Planning Commission granted both
variances.
ONE DOLLAR
Antoine Simmons addresses the Seaside City Council.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
The Inn at the Prom would have been demolished for a new motel. Neighbors
who objected to the project successfully appealed to the City Council.
Conservation
easement
drive will
seek millions
Grants would protect
the state’s farmland
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Bureau
State legislators will likely be asked for
$4.25 million next year to pay for conserva-
tion easements that would protect farmland
from development.
Plans are beginning to solidify for the
Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program,
which would provide grants to farmers inter-
ested in easements and succession planning,
said Meta Loftsgaarden, executive direc-
tor of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement
Board.
The board , which will oversee the pro-
gram, plans to hold “listening sessions” this
autumn based on concepts developed by
agricultural and conservation groups before
drafting proposed legislation for the 2017
legislative session, she said.
See EASEMENTS, Page 10A
League hopes to protect parks from lawsuits
Astoria parks department worried sites may need to close
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
In the next legislative session, the
League of Oregon Cities will likely
push for a bill restoring immunity for
city parks employees against lawsuits
fi led by people injured at sites under
the employees’ care.
The move is a response to a recent
Oregon Supreme Court decision that
allows parks employees to be held lia-
ble for injuries caused through their neg-
ligence — a ruling that has compelled
some cities to close parks out of caution.
On Monday, Astoria hosted the
League of Oregon Cities — which
represents the interests of the state’s
municipal governments — for a discus-
sion of the organization’s top legisla-
tive priorities.
Erin Doyle, an intergovernmen-
tal relations associate at the l eague ,
gathered feedback from several North
Coast government offi cials, state
Sen. Betsy Johnson, state Rep. Debo-
rah Boone, Bruce Bobek — Boone’s
Republican challenger — and members
of the public. Astoria is one of 17 cit-
ies holding similar forums during “City
Hall Week.”
The Supreme Court ruling in John-
son v. Gibson last March sent waves of
anxiety through the state’s local parks
departments.
In Oregon, property owners, includ-
ing cities, enjoy “recreational immu-
nity”: They are immune from civil
liability if a person is injured while rec-
reating on their lands for free, accord-
ing to Doyle.
The court’s decision, however,
held that this immunity — enshrined
in Oregon Public Use of Lands Act
— doesn’t specifi cally apply to land-
owners’ agents, including city employ-
ees. Though the state requires cit-
ies to indemnify their workers against
lawsuits, the court’s ruling may have
blown a hole in that protection.
The l eague wants to see a bill clari-
fying that recreational immunity applies
to property owners’ employees, not just
the property owners themselves.
State Rep.
Deborah Boone
State Sen.
Betsy Johnson
“We think this is a very simple fi x,”
Doyle said.
Uneven terrain
Astoria’s Parks and Recreation
Department has not closed any sites
See LEAGUE, Page 10A