WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SANTA CLAUS
FALLS INTO THE COLUMBIA RIVER?
Illustration by
Sally Lackoff
FIND OUT INSIDE | COAST WEEKEND
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 125
A long slog
‘IT’S A LOT OF
PAPERWORK.
IT’S EMBRACING
THE PROCESS.’
ONE DOLLAR
Port evicts
CREST
tidal study
Commissioners gripe about
the king tide monitoring
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Erosion and storm damage from last December’s storms are still visible along the Astoria Riverwalk.
Local agencies still
waiting on federal
money for storm
damages a year ago
$100,000
Flooding caused logjams along some Clatsop
County roads during storms a year ago. County
road crews spent more than $100,000 cleaning up, $89,000 of it reim-
bursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
See PORT, Page 5A
Pacific County
leaders hope to
save youth camp
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
igh winds and record rainfall ravaged por-
tions of the North Coast last December,
leading to state and federal emergency
declarations.
With the declarations came the potential for the
Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay
three-quarters of the cost of storm damage repairs
through the state. A year later, most agencies in
Clatsop County that reported damages are still try-
ing to get some or all of the money and start repairs.
H
By NATALIE ST. JOHN
and NICK NIKKILA
EO Media Group
Leaning locusts
Clatsop County Public Works
Perhaps the most visual representation of the
slog to get federal relief are a patch of locust trees
just east of the Columbia River Maritime Museum,
still leaning over the water from coastal erosion
caused by the storms.
Astoria had initially tried to include the trees as
part of the city’s FEMA claims to repair about 20
spots of erosion along the Astoria Riverwalk. But
the trees are on property owned by the museum.
“We ended up opting out of FEMA,” said Dave
Pearson, the museum’s deputy director. “As a pri-
vate nonprofit, they weren’t going to give us the
money.”
See SLOG, Page 7A
Port of Astoria Commissioners Stephen
Fulton and Bill Hunsinger, two consistent
critics of the Columbia River Estuary Study
Taskforce, raised a stink at the Port’s Tues-
day meeting about CREST
placing tidal monitors last
week at the Vera Slough
tide gates outside the Asto-
ria Regional Airport.
The two commissioners
attempted to pass a motion
asking that the equipment
Stephen
be removed from the site,
Fulton
despite Port Executive
Director Jim Knight having
already asked CREST staff
to remove the equipment.
The motion failed.
Knight said he gave
CREST permission to
access Port property and
Bill
install probes around tide
Hunsinger
gates to monitor water lev-
els during the king tides, one of the three
highest tidal events of the year. Knight said
CREST wanted to help the Port, at no cost,
understand the effect of king tides on the
airport at Vera Slough, a tidal inlet near the
Warrenton end of the Youngs Bay Bridge.
City of Astoria
The city of Astoria is
exploring bioengineered
alternatives to repair a land-
slide near a city water line
along Pipeline Road and
Bear Creek. The landslide
was part of damages from
storms a year ago, for which
the city and other agencies
are still seeking reimburse-
ment from the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency for repairs.
NASELLE, Wash. — Pacific County
leaders are optimistic that Naselle Youth
Camp can be saved.
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee called
for closing the youth camp — one of the
county’s largest employers — to trim $7.4
million in his two-year state budget.
The medium-security
facility houses about 70 to
90 teen and young adult
male offenders. The gov-
ernor proposes closing the
camp in 2018, and relocat-
ing the youth to Echo Glen
Pat
Children’s Center in Sno-
Escamilla
qualmie and Green Hill
School in Chehalis.
“The mood is pretty blue, bruised,”
Naselle Youth Camp Superintendent Pat
Escamilla said.
The superintendent said staff are anx-
ious, and have many unanswered questions,
See CAMP, Page 7A
Hotels, city quibble over room tax definition
Room taxes in Cannon Beach now
apply to all ‘non-optional fees’
By LYRA FONTAINE
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — Hotels and
vacation rentals are concerned about
Cannon Beach’s interpretation of the
lodging tax.
In September, lodging opera-
tors received a letter from the city
that required lodging tax collection
to include “non-optional fees.” These
could include booking, late checkout,
extended stay, pet, extra guests, clean-
ing, hot tub and cancellation fees.
Representatives from local hotels
and vacation rental companies say this
interpretation conflicts with the munic-
ipal code. Lodging industry members
from 16 local businesses — includ-
ing Hallmark Resort, Stephanie Inn,
Ocean Lodge, Tolovana Inn and Surf-
sand Resort — have asked the city to
vet the new requirements through a
public process.
The Jan. 3 City Council meeting
will address the lodging companies’
concerns.
After auditing 10 lodging operators,
the city found that some hotels did not
collect tax on certain fees subject to the
Submitted Photo
See HOTELS, Page 7A
Owners of the Lighthouse Inn and other Cannon Beach hotels seek to
clarify the city’s room tax. The matter comes before the council Jan. 3.