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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2017)
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2017 144TH YEAR, NO. 164 Sport, commercial fishers discuss gillnet guidelines Group to give guidance on rules By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — An informal group of commercial and sport fishermen con- vened Tuesday at the Oregon Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife to discuss gillnetting rules in the Lower Colum- bia River. The meeting comes after Gov. Kate Brown told the Oregon Fish and Wild- life Commission last week to reverse an earlier decision to continue to allow gillnetting in the main channel of the river. The group will provide recommen- dations on revised rules, and the fiscal impact of possible rules, and how to minimize impacts on small businesses. There is a longstanding conflict between recreational and commercial fishermen over who gets to nab how much seasonal salmon in the area, and whether commercial fishermen can use gillnets, devices that trap fish by the gills and can yield large hauls. See GILLNETTING, Page 7A ONE DOLLAR Councilor urges action to rein in homestays Price wants rentals to be 30 days or longer By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Mark Fick releases his gillnet into Youngs Bay in September. A group of commercial and sport fishermen are meeting to advise the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission as it works on rules phasing out gillnetting in the Lower Columbia. TIMBER DOWN Astoria City Councilor Cindy Price is urging residents to attend the Planning Com- mission meeting this month and request that no additional homestay lodging permits be allowed until the council has decided how to regu- late the operations. Price posted the appeal last week on astoriaforum.org, a venue for discussing local issues. An Astoria resi- Cindy dent, Lacy Brown, Price has applied for a con- ditional use permit to use two bedrooms in an existing single-family home on Sec- ond Street for homestay — or short-term — lodging. Her request is up for a hearing before the Planning Commission. Price and Councilor Zetty Nemlow- ill expressed frustration at a recent coun- cil work session with the proliferation of homestay lodgings, such as Airbnb ventures, in the city’s residential neighborhoods. Sev- eral dozen such businesses have opened in recent years. See PRICE, Page 7A Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Park Rangers Russell Bowen, left, and Geoff Baertlein work to remove two fallen trees blocking the road to Saddle Mountain. The Daily Astorian S addle Mountain State Natural Area will be closed through at least Thursday. Two large trees fell down last week on Saddle Mountain Road, blocking entrance to the park. Rangers have been working to cut through and remove the trees since Tuesday morning. Work will be delayed today due to a high wind warning and, weather permitting, will resume Thursday, Park Manager Ben Cox said. The road will then open when work is completed. College seeks pathway out of timber suit Board will ask to still opt out of the lawsuit By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Clatsop Community College is seeking a way out of Linn County’s timber lawsuit against the state through the Linn County Circuit Court. The college was left as a plain- tiff after an invalidated vote in January. The board voted 4-3 twice Tuesday — once by roll call, and a second time with an official motion — to opt out of the law- suit. Tessa Scheller, Patrick Wingard, Anne Teaford-Cantor and Esther Moberg voted again to opt out. Chairwoman Rosemary Baker-Monaghan, Karen Burke and Robert Duehmig reaffirmed their votes to stay in. Linn County’s lawsuit, filed in the coun- ty’s Circuit Court last year, claims the state broke a contract to maximize timber reve- nues on land deeded by counties. The suit was certified a class action and grew to include 15 counties and around 130 taxing districts, each of which had until Jan. 25 to notify the court whether they would opt out as plaintiffs. The college first voted to opt out Jan. 24, with nobody at the meeting raising concern. But Moberg’s vote, submitted via email, was See COLLEGE, Page 7A Engineers flagged flooding risk if dam is removed Extreme tides would push water higher By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian WARRENTON — The engineering firm working with the Skipanon Water Control District on the removal of the Eighth Street Dam found that extreme tides would increase water elevation during low- flow conditions on the Ski- panon River. Extreme tides would likely keep the elevated water within the river’s banks or on prop- erty that already gets inun- dated when water levels are high. The findings, issued in November 2015, did not change the water district’s conclusion that the dam is an obsolete hazard that should be removed. But the informa- tion was never formally shared with Warrenton, which backed away from a project to remove the dam last year amid ques- tions about flooding risk. Warrenton has declared an emergency over the dam and wants to restore the 54-year- old structure for flood con- trol. The city is waiting for guidance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about whether the dam is a compo- nent of the city’s levee system and should be under city, not water district, control. Inflame tensions The engineering firm’s findings will likely inflame tensions over the dam. Some on the City Commission, as well as the Nygaard logging family, have accused the water district and the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce — the water district’s former partner — of downplaying the flooding risk if the dam is removed. Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian See DAM, Page 7A The Eighth Street Dam is the subject of a fight between Warrenton and the Skipanon Water Control District.
