BOYS SOCCER: SEASIDE WINS FOURTH STRAIGHT CLATSOP CLASH SPORTS • 10A
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 74
ONE DOLLAR
City Commission opposes property sales measure
Warrenton measure lets voters decide large city sales by double-majority
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The City Com-
mission agreed Tuesday to oppose a
ballot measure that would amend the
city charter to require double-ma-
jority voter approval before the city
sells, trades, divests or otherwise dis-
poses of a city asset valued at more
than $100,000 .
Measure 4-181, which will appear
on Warrenton’s Nov. 8 ballot, would
prevent the city from taking such an
action unless more than 50 percent of
eligible electors vote on the sale, and
a majority of them vote to approve it.
The measure’s explanatory state-
ment in the Clatsop County Vot-
er’s Pamphlet states that, without the
required double-majority approval,
the city will not be able to, for exam-
ple, use a city-owned garbage truck
or ladder fi re truck as a trade-in for a
new vehicle; replace parts in the city’s
water system; sell city-owned build-
ings; and dispose of certain outdated
and surplus equipment, such as a city-
owned backhoe.
The measure was spearheaded by
Warrenton Property Protection Com-
mittee, which initially created the
amendment to oppose a possible land
exchange between the city and War-
renton Fiber at Tansy Point.
The amendment would not
apply to assets owned by the Urban
Renewal Agency.
The elections for asset disposal
may occur during a regularly sched-
uled election, or at a special election.
The city would be responsible for the
costs of special elections.
The measure itself will need to
pass by a double-majority in order to
become law.
See MEASURE, Page 9A
An
olive
FROM PARKING LOT
branch
TO PONDS
in dam
Work continues on Port
of Astoria stormwater
dispute
S
treatment upgrade
PORT OF ASTORIA CLOSES IN ON NEW
STORMWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM
101
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
ia
Columb
River
30
Area in detail
b
The Port’s plan to treat stormwater
lum
o
C
includes pumping the runoff to
a settling pond and bioswales
Outfall 1
before it is discharged into
the Columbia River.
ia
e
Riv
r
Youngs
Bay
r
Youngs Rive
101
BUS
101
202
Pier 1
Legend
Pier 2
Existing drainage basin
Planned storm forcemain
Planned pump station
Outfall 2
e
u
ven
y A
Pier 3
a
tew
Ga
Source: Port of Astoria
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
Biofiltration
swales
t
ee
ry
ust
Str
Ind
e
tre
eg
Or
Pumping to the ponds
e
Shellfish provide filtration
and buffering
ive
Dr
See PORT, Page 9A
101
ri n
Ma
W.
Water
flow
Next to the plot it leases from the Port
at the end of Pier 3, Bergerson Construc-
tion has been building a 20-foot-deep
Avenue
Ala m eda
Settling
pond with
pre-treatment
forebay
PVC coated basket
on C
oast H
wy.
Tay
lor
Ave
nue
t
Gabion biofilter
City, water district
locked in standoff
By ERICK BENGEL
and DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
d S
En
trollers on the Astoria Riverwalk’s
west end might have noticed the
transformation along the western
edge of Pier 3.
Dug out, hydroseeded a deep green
and surrounded by access roads, a for-
mer storage area on the p ier has nearly
become the multimillion-dollar storm-
water treatment system the Port of Asto-
ria needs to stay in business amid tougher
environmental requirements.
T he construction is being overseen by
Conway Construction Co., the Port’s gen-
eral contractor and engineers from envi-
ronmental consultant fi rm Maul Foster
Alongi, which designed the stormwater
system.
On Tuesday, Maul Foster civil engi-
neer Cem Gokcora toured the site, check-
ing on progress.
“It’s probably about 70, 75 percent
complete,” he said, noting the pumps that
take the water to the treatment system are
some of the last major components to be
installed.
The plan, Gokcora said, is to complete
the entire system, go through the fi nal
checkoff and go active by late November.
N
400 feet
BELOW: The public has a full view of the Port of Astoria’s more than 2-acre stormwater treatment system on the western edge
of Pier 3. The Port will also build an educational kiosk explaining how the system of settling ponds and bioswales works.
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The vice chairman
of the Skipanon Water Control District sug-
gested Tuesday night that the water dis-
trict and the city negotiate over the future of
the Eighth Street Dam to avoid expensive
litigation.
Bruce Francis, who said he was speaking
to the City Commission as a citizen represent-
ing his independent view, thinks there is room
for some negotiation
that might satisfy both
sides in an increasingly
contentious dispute.
Akin Blitz, a Port-
land attorney for the
city, sent a letter to
the water district in
late September assert-
ing that the city owns
the dam. The attorney
gave the water district
Bruce
a deadline last week to
Francis
surrender ownership
interest or risk a potential lawsuit or the city’s
seizure of the dam.
The water district, which has sought to
remove the dam as obsolete and to improve
fi sh passage on the Skipanon River, did not
respond by the deadline.
“So I would like to just perhaps bring to
the council that negotiation really is a very
valuable tool to save the coffers of the city, of
whom I am a ratepayer. I live here,” Francis
said. “And I think that I would like to see us
not turn the barnyard into a group of roosters
clucking around and we get into a cockfi ght,
in which nothing really gets achieved.”
The water district has scheduled a board
meeting Tuesday to discuss the dam. The
City Commission is likely to address the dam
again at a meeting later this month.
“I would really like to get some negotia-
tion before that,” Francis said.
Mayor Mark Kujala thanked him. “We
appreciate that,” he said.
See DAM, Page 9A
Shark attack victim warned others of danger
By LYRA FONTAINE
The Daily Astorian
CANNON
BEACH
— Even after a severe shark
bite, surfer Joseph Tanner was
able to warn others of danger
and direct bystanders how to
tie a tourniquet around his leg.
Tanner, a 29-year-old
trauma nurse in Portland, was
surfi ng at Indian Beach in
Ecola State Park when he was
attacked by a shark late Mon-
day afternoon, sustaining bites
to his upper thigh and lower
leg. He fought off the shark by
hitting it in the face, Cannon
Beach volunteer fi refi ghter
David Norris said.
Then bystanders at the
beach applied a tourniquet to
his thigh to stop the bleeding.
“He directed his own fi rst
aid, what needed to be done,”
surfer Jeff Rose said. “He
asked us a lot of questions:
what we were seeing, if we
saw spurting blood.”
According to eyewitness
West Woodworth, 29, Tan-
ner had been in the water for
approximately 10 to 15 min-
utes before the shark attack
occurred. When Woodworth
paddled toward Tanner and
another man, Tanner started to
fl ail around.
According to Oregon State
Police, Tanner yelled to others
to get out of the water.
Woodworth told police all
three started paddling back
into the shoreline 40 yards
away. Tanner was able to get
almost to the shoreline when
Woodworth pulled him out of
the water.
With Tanner providing
instruction, they used the leash
of Tanner’s surfboard with
square knots as the tourniquet.
Tanner was then placed on his
board and carried to the park-
ing lot.
Tanner was stabilized on
scene and transported via
air ambulance to Legacy
See SHARK, Page 9A
Cannon Beach Fire and Rescue
Cannon Beach Police Officer Matthew Nunnally and vol-
unteer firefighters Shaunna White and David Norris work
to stabilize Joseph Tanner, who was bitten by a shark
Monday at Indian Beach in Ecola State Park.