4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016
Housing Crunch: ‘We haven’t made a lot of progress’
Continued from Page 1A
They discarded the idea for a
new public library with housing at
Heritage Square as too expensive.
They stayed silent when a local
developer fl oated — and later
withdrew — a housing project at
the old Central School property
off Irving Avenue. They turned
down a Portland developer’s bid
to buy a vacant city lot off Second
Street for an apartment project as
premature.
Each of the decisions had a
public-policy rationale, and some
were rooted in the unmistakable
message from many residents who
want Astoria to reject new devel-
opment that could alter the city’s
historic character.
Taken together, though, they
do not refl ect an urgency to solve
what experts describe as a housing
crunch for people at every income
level.
“I feel like we haven’t made
a lot of progress,” Mayor Arline
LaMear conceded.
LaMear was the only one on
the City Council to publicly advo-
cate for a new apartment com-
plex south of the city at Miles
Crossing. The project, which
could have helped ease the short-
age of rental housing in Clatsop
County, encountered neighbor-
hood opposition and was rejected
by the county Planning Commis-
sion. The developer — Richard
Krueger, who was also interested
in a housing project at the Cen-
tral School property — dropped
his appeal to the county Board of
Commissioners.
“It doesn’t seem to me that
there’s any reason why they
shouldn’t build out there,” LaMear
said.
Tension brewing
City Councilor Zetty Nem-
lowill, the marketing director at
Astoria Co-op Grocery, whose
husband, Chris, is co-owner at
Fort George Brewery, has heard
from new hires and longer-term
employees who struggle to fi nd a
place to live.
Nemlowill and her husband
are part of a younger generation
of entrepreneurs who have cho-
sen to stay and build businesses in
Astoria. Some tension is brewing
politically between people whose
livelihoods depend on economic
growth, and fi nancially secure
transplants and retirees who want
to preserve the characteristics that
attracted them to the city.
Nemlowill called the shortage
of housing a widespread problem,
yet she, too, has sided with other
councilors who worry about spoil-
ing the city’s quality of life.
“I think that there is an under-
lying current of anti-development
in Astoria,” she said. “It’s one of
the political trends right now. And
it’s too bad that people cannot see
the realities of what we need right
now, because they’re too blinded
by politics in that regard.
“I do think that development
needs to be done very carefully,
especially in such a precious city
such as Astoria, but not all devel-
opment is bad.”
City of Astoria
census and
housing data
101
PACIFIC
103
Long
Beach
4
WAHKIAKUM
Wash.
Warrenton
Area of focus
Seaside
Cannon
Beach
CLATSOP
202
26
TILLAMOOK
N
101
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Item
Population, 2015 est.
Population, 2010 est.
Population per square mile (2010)
Land area in square miles (2010)
Under age 18, 2015
Under age 18, 2010
65 years and over, 2015
65 years and over, 2010
High school graduate or higher, age 25 or older*
Bachelor’s degree or higher, age 25 or older*
In civilian labor force, age 16 or older*
Median household income (2014 dollars)*
Per capita income (2014 dollars)*
Housing units, 2015
Housing units, 2010
Owner-occupied housing units*
Median value, owner-occupied housing units*
Median selected monthly mortgage costs*
Median gross rent*
*2010-14
† 2014
estimate
Astoria
Oregon
9,626
9,477
1,539.7
6.16
18.9% †
20.3%
18% †
17.1%
92.6%
28.5%
60.5%
$45,104
$26,089
4,949 †
4,980
50.3%
$242,600
$1,448
$707
4.03 million
3.83 million
39.9
95,988
21.4%
22.6%
16.4%
13.9%
89.5%
30.1%
62.4%
$50,521
$27,173
1.72 million
1.68 million
61.5%
$234,100
$1,591
$894
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
The Daily Astorian/File Photos
LEFT: Attorney David Noren, left, chats with his client Richard Krueger about proposed Miles Crossing
apartment complex development earlier this year. Krueger decided not to appeal a county Planning Com-
mission rejection. RIGHT: Councilor Cindy Price speaks with City Manager Brett Estes earlier this year.
Questions about growth
City Councilor Cindy Price has
steered the conversation on hous-
ing toward the thornier question
of growth. She, like Nemlowill,
believes the community should
decide what Astoria should look
like in 20 or 50 years.
Price correctly notes that when
many people talk about affordable
housing, the description is pliable,
a way to pitch a project rather than
an objective defi nition. Afford-
able housing generally means
that a renter or homeowner pays
no more than 30 percent of their
annual income on housing.
“It always becomes ‘afford-
able housing,’ which, of course, it
almost never is,” Price said.
Price describes Astoria as a “bit
of Americana,” but she said the
community should be very clear
about what it wants to protect. For
all the talk of historic preserva-
tion and fear of unchecked devel-
opment, the city still has many
vacant storefronts and underused
properties, particularly along the
river, downtown and on the west-
side gateway.
The city is working on an
economic strategy, known as
“Advance Astoria,” to fi nd bal-
ance and not overly rely on any
one industry. The success of tour-
ism has temporarily papered
over some of the weaknesses
in the regional economy, fl aws
that would likely become appar-
ent during the next economic
downturn.
Zetty
Nemlowill
Arline
LaMear
“I think there is a big difference
between not wanting any projects
and wanting to preserve the char-
acter of a community, and fi nding
appropriate places for affordable
housing,” Price said.
Housing is scarce
As Astoria teeters on the see-
saw between a working town and
a tourist destination, housing is
scarce. The economic rebound
and cultural rebirth over the past
two decades have made the city
of 9,500 a more attractive place to
live, work and visit. But Astoria’s
hillside geography and the desire
for historic preservation offer few
opportunities for housing projects.
A city affordable housing study
last year found a shortage of both
affordable rentals and homes for
sale. The city’s housing stock
of about 4,190 occupied units
in 2013 was about evenly split
between renters and owners. The
study put the vacancy rate at 14.3
percent, but real-estate experts say
it really is in the single digits.
Nearly 38 percent paid more
than 30 percent of their annual
income on housing, the study
found, a burden felt more acutely
among renters.
The city’s buildable lands
inventory in 2011 outlined a
15-acre defi cit for residential prop-
erty in the urban growth boundary.
The biggest need was in low-den-
sity residential land for single-fam-
ily homes. The state requires that
cities have a suffi cient supply of
residential and employment land
to meet a 20-year demand.
The research model estimated
Astoria would need more than
1,000 new housing units through
2027, with about half being sin-
gle-family homes.
The City Council has so far been
reluctant to pursue higher density
in residential neighborhoods to pro-
mote more housing, and has sent
confl icting messages on mixed-use
projects in other zones.
Researchers also projected that
tourism and the second-home mar-
ket would infl uence the demand
for housing.
City councilors have frowned
on the second-home market and
vacation rentals, along with new
condominium projects on the
Columbia River that some worry
would attract transplants and drive
real-estate prices higher for locals.
“I would like to see more hous-
ing,” Nemlowill said. “But I don’t
see a clear way of doing that right
now in Astoria that would please
everyone.”
Project-based approach
The City Council has indicated
the city could relax the rules on
accessory dwelling units, which
are now allowed if attached to
homes, like basements or attics.
The city might allow the units in
detached garages, guest cottages
and workshops, which could make
more effi cient use of the city’s
older housing stock.
At this point, however, the coun-
cil is unlikely to make signifi cant
revisions to the development code
to invite more housing projects.
Brett Estes, the city manager,
said the city would look at part-
nerships with Clatsop Commu-
nity Action, the Northwest Oregon
Housing Authority and others on
individual projects.
There is city -owned land near
Clatsop Community Action’s Hill-
top Apartments off Niagara Ave-
nue, and the Northwest Oregon
Housing Authority has a building
that could be used for apartments in
Uniontown. Nemlowill and others
on the City Council have also sug-
gested the old Astoria Yacht Club
property now used by the city’s
Parks and Recreation Department.
Part of the city’s affordable
housing strategy is to create an
inventory of vacant housing, and
LaMear and Price have urged the
city to see if vacant houses can be
renovated for affordable or work-
force housing.
Kevin Cronin, the city’s com-
munity development director, said
the city has identifi ed three dozen
vacant properties and is looking to
encourage investors or buyers to
renovate.
Price is also interested in a task
force that would help outline the
city’s next steps, similar to the
approach taken in Cannon Beach.
The city could also adopt a con-
struction excise tax and a mandate
that developers of larger housing
projects reserve 20 percent of the
units as affordable. The state Leg-
islature approved the measures
this year to help address the hous-
ing challenge statewide, but the
provisions might not be suited for
Astoria, which does not have the
kind of volume to make the con-
struction tax very valuable or the
open space for many big projects.
“What Astoria has yet to do is
to just admit that we’re not going
to be able to do that much,” Price
said.
Estes said he does not think the
City Council has given up on its
goal to promote housing that Asto-
rians can afford.
“I would say that the council
is still looking at ways to address
that goal, but within ways that
are appropriate for Astoria,” he
said. “What’s the right fi t for our
community?
“It’s not giving up on the whole
concept, it’s looking for the right
fi t.”
‘I think that there is an underlying current of anti-development in Astoria.
It’s one of the political trends right now.’
Zetty Nemlowill
Astoria city councilor
The city of Astoria photographed in July.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian