7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2017
Price: Councilor
wants Astoria to
continue to be a
‘working city’
Continued from Page 1A
In a town where hous-
ing is scarce, the councilors
worry that these businesses
remove housing options
from potential long-term
renters. These vacancies,
they argue, could be filled by
Astoria’s workers, who can-
not compete with tourists
willing to pay hundreds of
dollars for a weekend stay.
Adding more temporary
homestays, Price said in an
interview, is something she
and Nemlowill “really want
to prevent.” The two coun-
cilors have advocated for
restricting homestay lodging
rentals to 30 days or longer.
The point of Price’s
forum post, she said, is to
make residents concerned
about homestay lodging —
particularly in a low-density
residential zone — aware of
the latest proposal, and to
let them “know that there is
some support on the coun-
cil for their point of view,
if they are looking to limit
homestay lodging below 30
days.”
The Planning Commis-
sion meeting Feb. 28, she
said, is a “good time to make
their opinion known.”
EO Media Group
Gillnetters fish in the Columbia River. 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.
Gillnetting: Commission has
until April 3 to make revisions
Continued from Page 1A
The state’s sporting anglers
generally oppose the practice,
as have environmental groups.
Washington’s Fish and
Wildlife Commission voted in
January to phase out the prac-
tice in two years, and Oregon
was expected to do the same
under a deal worked out by
former Gov. John Kitzhaber.
But the Oregon Fish and
Wildlife Commission nar-
rowly decided last month to
continue to allow gillnetting.
Brown called those rules
“not acceptable,” and gave the
commission until April 3 to
make revisions.
Participants in Tuesday’s
committee meeting included
several commercial fisher-
men and representatives of
the state’s recreational fish-
ing community, according to
the Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
They included:
• Tom Wolf, executive
director of the Oregon Council
of Trout Unlimited;
• Jim Wells, president of
Salmon for All and a commer-
cial fisherman;
• Cary Johnson, a commer-
cial fisherman;
• Bruce Polley, vice pres-
ident of the Coastal Conser-
vation Association of Oregon,
an advocacy group for salmon
and steelhead;
• Bob Rees, executive
director of the Association of
Northwest Steelheaders and
• Steve Fick, a commercial
fisherman, who is also on the
board of Salmon for All.
Fish and Wildlife Director
Curt Melcher said last week he
would reopen the rulemaking
process in response to the gov-
ernor’s directive. The Fish and
Wildlife Commission is sched-
uled to meet March 17.
Warrenton, meanwhile, has
drafted a letter to Gov. Brown
asking her to defer to the judg-
ment of the commission’s vote
last month. “A healthy com-
mercial salmon fishery, includ-
ing a well-managed gillnet
fishery on the Columbia River,
helps to sustain our commer-
cial fishermen who have made
Warrenton home by provid-
ing them with a supplemen-
tal source of income,” Mayor
Mark Kujala wrote. “Many
recreational fishermen also
commercially gillnet and vice
versa. Both are vital compo-
nents in an economic mix that
supports our city services,
marinas and marine-based
businesses.”
Public process
But the Planning Com-
mission — whose job is to
review land use applications
and make policy recommen-
dations to the City Coun-
cil — cannot reject pro-
posals, including homestay
lodging permit applications,
wholesale.
“They can’t just wave
a wand and say, ‘Hey,
we’re not going to look at
these anymore,’” Commu-
nity Development Director
Kevin Cronin said. “They
just don’t have the authority
to do that.”
Rather, the commission
must examine each applica-
tion individually, weighing
the proposal against stan-
dards outlined in the devel-
opment code and compre-
hensive plan.
Residents who attend
Planning Commission meet-
ings may offer comments on
a specific proposal, or pro-
vide comments on nona-
genda items, including the
city’s policy on homestay
lodging, at the end. Also, any
Planning Commission deci-
sion can be appealed to the
City Council.
With Brown’s proposal,
“we would review it as we
would at all of our public
hearings and go from there,”
Planning Commission Presi-
dent Dave Pearson said, add-
ing: “We would certainly
welcome the public to the
meeting to make comments
on all sides of the issue.
That’s what the public hear-
ing’s for.”
If attendees, per Price’s
suggestion, asked the com-
mission not to allow any
more homestay lodgings, the
requests would not make a
difference procedurally. Dis-
allowing homestay lodging
permits would likely require
a development code amend-
ment, which could take at
least a year to achieve, Cro-
nin said.
However, the requests
Dam: Flooding risk has been sensitive topic
Continued from Page 1A
Denise Lofman, CREST’s
director, said the conditions
where there is a possibility for
extreme tides and higher water
elevations only happen once
every 60 years or more, lon-
ger than the 50-year design life
of the dam. She said the dam
was built to protect upstream
property from a modest two-
year flood during normal tide
conditions.
Lofman said that during
most of the scenarios that were
modeled, removing the dam
improved flood conditions by
allowing water to leave more
quickly out of the river. The
water district has repeatedly
said that removing the dam will
not significantly increase flood-
ing risk.
Lofman said that one of
the main concerns during the
project was to not make flood
conditions worse by inundat-
ing new areas. The project, she
said, would not have changed
the flood pattern for property
along the river that already gets
inundated.
Potential flooding risk has
been a sensitive topic through-
out the debate between the city
and the water district, so the
disclosure of the engineering
firm’s findings about extreme
tides is certain to aggravate.
Mayor
Mark
Kujala
believes any information about
the potential flooding risk from
removing the dam should
have been publicly disclosed.
“That’s my feeling,” the mayor
said. “This should have been
upfront when these questions
were asked several years ago.
When information came to light
that this might impact, and we
might not be able to achieve the
things that we promised, that
should have been said instead
of saying there is no problem
and we’re moving forward.”
Dam records
The Daily Astorian asked
the water district and CREST
last year for any documents
on the dam that might address
the city’s concerns about flood-
ing. The newspaper renewed
the request this month. CREST
shared the engineering firm’s
findings with the newspaper on
Tuesday.
Lofman said the findings
were not discussed with the
city because the project was not
moving forward. A $1.2 million
agreement between the city, the
water district and CREST to
remove the dam and provide
a single-lane bridge over the
river for the city expired at the
end of 2015. The City Commis-
sion voted 2-2 in May against
renewing the agreement,
and CREST later withdrew
from the partnership with the
water district.
The Nygaard family — and
some at the city — have sought
to draw CREST back into the
controversy, claiming the task
force misled the city and the
community.
Lofman said the engineer-
ing firm’s findings would have
been disclosed had the proj-
ect moved forward. The Plan-
ning Commission would have
assessed the engineering plan
by the water district during
hearings on the city permit
needed to remove the dam. The
Planning Commission would
also have examined a city con-
sultant’s technical review of the
engineering plan. If the per-
mit decision was appealed — a
likely prospect given the debate
at the time — the City Commis-
sion would also have reviewed
the engineering reports.
City technical review
Some on the City Commis-
sion blamed former City Man-
ager Kurt Fritsch for not dis-
closing the city consultant’s
review of the engineering plan.
But Fritsch said it would have
been premature for commis-
sioners to view the material
before it reached the Planning
Commission, since the City
Commission might have had to
hear the dam removal project
on appeal. Fritsch, who warned
the City Commission about
tainting the permitting process,
resigned last June under crit-
icism over his handling of the
dam.
Records viewed by The
Daily Astorian suggest that the
city’s decision to hire a consul-
tant to weigh the engineering
firm’s work was one of the fac-
tors that unraveled the project.
The consultant’s initial
assessment, in spring 2015,
contributed to CREST and the
water district pulling their city
permit application. The consul-
tant, after exchanging informa-
tion with the engineering firm
over the next several months,
concluded that the engineering
plan did not accurately model
the flood plain. The consul-
tant also cautioned about the
potential impact of even small
increases in water elevation on
the city’s levees. CREST was
billed by the city for the consul-
tant’s work.
The water district approved
the engineering plan for remov-
ing the dam last year, noting the
city consultant’s concerns, but
ultimately finding that the plan
was sound.
Had the dam removal proj-
ect gone forward, it is likely
that the city, or private property
owners, would have asked for
some type of flood mitigation
unless the water district was
able to satisfy all doubts about
increased flooding risk.
Kevin Cronin
Dave Pearson
would show that Astorians
care passionately about the
issue and want something
to be done, Cronin said. “It
has an impact on the people
that are trying to serve us,”
he said.
“What I do appreciate
about Cindy’s comment is
that she’s trying to get more
people to come to Planning
Commission
meetings,”
Cronin said.
Brown did not offer a
response to Price’s post.
Only the City Coun-
cil, Price pointed out, can
place broad restrictions. She
said in an email that “any
requests already in the pipe-
line should, and I’m sure
will, be weighed appro-
priately by the Planning
Commission.”
‘Affordability
problem’
Though homestay lodg-
ing operations are lucrative
for property owners — who
must live on and manage the
premises — Price and Nem-
lowill fear that, over the long
run, the city’s housing stock
will primarily serve the visi-
tor population and crowd out
the year-round community.
In her post, Price said that
homestays compete with the
city’s hotels, motels and
established bed-and-break-
fasts. This, she said, “runs
counter to an economic
development strategy” and
to the City Council’s goal of
providing housing for per-
manent residents.
In addition, Price wrote,
“it is only larger homes, or
homes with two-car garages
and larger lots, that are able
to take advantage of creat-
ing an additional unit for
homestay lodging. Most
Astorians do not have such
homes, or access to the cap-
ital required to build out a
homestay unit, thus limiting
the program to a certain class
and creating inequalities.
“And, when the home
is sold, the value of the
homestay unit raises the
price of the home, thus con-
tributing to the affordability
problem.”
Price said she wants the
road Astoria is on — a road
that favors the short-term
housing industry — “to be
shut down” so the city can
remain a “working city”
where long-term housing is
available and affordable.
College: Breitmeyer will draft a letter and send it to the court
Continued from Page 1A
later invalidated after a commu-
nity member contacted Burke
with concerns the board hadn’t
followed procedure. Moberg
did not comment Tuesday.
“I do want this to get to the
courts, beyond window dress-
ing, that this is what we want,”
Scheller said.
College President Chris-
topher Breitmeyer said they
have not received a “yes” or
“no” regarding an inquiry into
whether the college could still
be removed from the lawsuit.
He and Baker-Monaghan cau-
tioned against spending any
Anne
Teaford-Cantor
Esther
Moberg
money on attorneys. Wingard
said the college should put its
position into writing and send a
letter to the court.
“This should not be an
expensive process to get an
Tessa James
Scheller
error corrected,” Cantor said.
“I’ve been a part of typos in
pleading papers on a number of
occasions, and it’s no big deal.”
Breitmeyer said he will draft
a letter and run it by the college
Patrick
Wingard
Rosemary
Baker-Monaghan
board before sending it to the
court.
Most counties and districts,
which all stand to gain a sig-
nificant settlement if the law-
suit is successful, took no action
Karen
Burke
Robert
Duehmig
and remained plaintiffs. Clat-
sop County was the only county
to opt out, taking along four if
its controlled taxing districts.
Sunset Empire Parks and Rec-
reation District also opted out,
Christopher
Breitmeyer
along with the Port of Portland,
Benton Soil and Water Conser-
vation District, Clackamas Soil
and Water Conservation District
and Washington County Rural
Fire Protection District No. 2.