‘DON’T DRESS
FOR DINNER’
HOMETOWN
REPORT
COAST WEEKEND • INSIDE
SPORTS • 7A
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 65
ONE DOLLAR
Warrenton may seek $2 million bond
Schools struggle to accommodate growing numbers
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The Warren-
ton-Hammond School Board will
vote next month on whether to take
out a $2 million general obligation
bond, as the district tries to accommo-
date a glut of new students and ind a
long-term solution.
Superintendent Mark Jeffery led
the school board on a tour of the
Tetris-like remodeling that staffers
have been playing to it ever-increas-
ing numbers of students into War-
renton Grade School, where enroll-
ment has increased by a third over the
past few years. He recommended the
board approve the bond.
Jeffery warned the board that in
about ive years, the district would
need more than short-term ixes.
Growing enrollment
In the 2012-13 school year, the
K-8 Warrenton Grade School had 640
students. Board Chairwoman Deb-
bie Morrow said the school is at more
than 760 students.
While Astoria has seen its enroll-
ment continually drop, Warrenton’s
enrollment has been growing pre-
cipitously, with a glut of elementa-
ry-schoolers. Warrenton High School
See WARRENTON, Page 10A
County
dissolves
Arch Cape
committee
BUILDING
‘FISH HOTELS’
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Design review falls to
county planning staff
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
David Plechl/EO Media Group
Caitlin Alcott, an ecologist with Inter-Fluve, the firm that is providing the engineering and design for the Wallacut River resto-
ration project, stands near a recently restored tidal channel. Once completely breached, the channel will provide essential rear-
ing habitat for a range of salmonoid species.
Land trust leads project
to restore tidal estuary
By DAVID PLECHL
EO Media Group
I
LWACO, Wash. — For most people, watching the slow trickle of
water into a newly breached tidal channel is not exactly cause for
celebration. But for Columbia Land Trust Stewardship Director Ian
Sinks, it’s something pretty close to that.
“A fundamental enjoyment for me is watching water low into these
areas. … What’s it going to do? Where’s it going to go? It’s just satisfy-
ing,” said Sinks, who is overseeing the nonproit conservation group’s
effort to restore a critical piece of ish habitat at the mouth of the Wal-
lacut River.
The trust purchased 113 acres of forested wetland at the spot where
the Wallacut enters Baker Bay, in 2012. This scenic stretch of tidal estu-
ary should be high-quality habitat for several species of juvenile ish, but
it’s not, because a “push-up levee” has cut the river off from four chan-
nels that historically allowed tidal waters to low in and out.
Now, the group is in the midst of a restoration project that will remove
the bulk of the levee. Project leaders say that while the main goal is to cre-
ate better salmon habitat, improvements to the estuary, channels and sur-
rounding wetlands should also beneit a range of ish species, and other
animals. Over time, the restoration work should provide some lood-con-
trol and water quality improvements too. The $170,000 project is paid for
with Bonneville Power Administration salmon conservation funds.
Arch Cape residents interested in local
land use issues will have to ind another
outlet.
The Clatsop County Board of Com-
missioners unanimously voted Wednesday
to dissolve the Arch Cape Design Review
Committee, a citizen group that made recom-
mendations on development within the unin-
corporated town south of Cannon Beach.
In February, the commissioners originally
discontinued the Arch Cape committee, call-
ing the group unnecessary, time-consuming,
expensive and a potential legal liability.
Former interim County Manager Rich
Mays accused the committee of harassing a
county employee about her disability. Despite
her requests, Mays claims, the group voted to
move its meetings to a building that is not a
federal Americans with Disabilities Act-ap-
proved facility.
After supporters challenged the decision
to the state Land Use Board of Appeals, the
county went through a new public process
that led to the board’s decision Wednesday.
“This is an issue that I have not taken
lightly, and staff has not taken lightly,” Scott
Lee, the commission’s chairman, said. “We
are doing what I believe is best for the county.”
Commissioner Dirk Rohne said it is a fair
outcome for all county residents. No other part
of the county has a design review committee.
Other residents bring proposals directly to the
county planning staff, without having to seek
input from a local committee.
Rohne said all county residents, including
in Arch Cape, have opportunities for citizen
involvement. One proposal for Arch Cape is
applicant-neighborhood meetings for projects
such as subdivisions or rezoning requests.
“No public process is being shortchanged,”
Rohne said.
Supporters of the Arch Cape Design
Review Committee, also known as the South-
west Coastal Citizens Advisory Committee,
could try to appeal the board’s decision again.
More than 50 people signed a petition in sup-
port of retaining the group.
Damian Mulinix/For EO Media Group
See WALLACUT, Page 10A
The Wallacut River runs toward Ilwaco from the Stringtown area.
See COMMITTEE, Page 10A
Legal clash looms over Eighth Street Dam
Warrenton gives
water district
until Tuesday
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The city
on Wednesday warned the Ski-
panon Water Control District
that it could take legal action
unless the district surrenders
any ownership interest in the
Eighth Street Dam.
In a letter to the water dis-
trict’s board, Akin Blitz, a Port-
land attorney representing the
city, demanded that the district
immediately give up owner-
ship rights, remove
woman of the water
a barricade from a
district’s
board,
gravel road over the
could not imme-
dam, and turn over
diately be reached
tide gates and main-
for comment on the
tenance records.
city’s demands. She
The city gave the
has said, however,
water district until
that the water dis-
Tuesday to respond
trict wants to remove
in writing or face
the dam as a hazard
a potential lawsuit
and to improve ish
Tessa
to settle title or the
passage on the Ski-
Scheller
city’s seizure of the
panon River.
dam.
The water district has
“No documentation sup- described the dam as a liabil-
ports the district having owner- ity. But Scheller said earlier this
ship interest in the Eighth Street week that the dam should be
Dam or the underlying land,” removed, rather than just trans-
Blitz wrote in a letter autho- ferred so the city assumes the
rized by the City Commission.
Tessa Scheller, the chair-
See DAM, Page 10A
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
A legal showdown between the city and the Skipanon Wa-
ter Control District is pending over the Eighth Street Dam.
