7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2017
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Site of the proposed Blue Heron Pointe housing subdivi-
sion on Avenue S and Wahanna Road in Seaside.
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Some infrastructure was installed at Blue Heron Pointe.
Submitted Photo
Rendering submitted to the Seaside Planning Commission of Blue Heron Pointe, a proposed 45-home project.
Housing: Subdivision to be built in three phases
Continued from Page 1A
Previous project
A decade ago, the Ritch-
ies proposed a subdivision
with 58 homes. The own-
ers put in sewer main lines, a
pump station and sewer con-
nections for each lot. Streets
were paved and some lighting
fixtures installed before con-
struction was put on hold.
“The economy was a road-
block,” Max Ritchie said.
He and his father were
inspired to try again by the
goal of filling the demand
for affordable and workforce
housing in the county, Ritchie
said.
The new submission has a
timeline of three building phases.
After feedback and dis-
cussion, “one or two of the
planning commissioners sug-
gested the sidewalks be built
in Phase1,” Ritchie said.
Commissioners
were
responding to goals of the
city’s 2009 street system plan,
which calls for sidewalks, bike
lanes and foot travel lanes
along sections of Avenue S
east of U.S. Highway 101.
About 15 homes would be
built in the first phase.
“We hope they’ll allow us
to build the sidewalk in Phase
3, and if they don’t allow us to
do it then, and they require it
at phase one, it will be a deal
killer,” Max Ritchie said.
The market will dictate
the time between phases, he
added. “As long as the demand
is there, I will keep building.”
Review on Tuesday
The Ritchies also own prop-
erty in Gearhart and Warrenton,
including the 22,000-square-
foot Clatsop Care Memory
Community, developed by Dol-
phin Partners LLC with Steve
Olstedt of Olstedt Construction
in Seaside.
The Blue Heron Pointe
project will be discussed at
Tuesday’s Planning Commis-
sion meeting.
Water: 10 years of planning and regulations before construction
Continued from Page 1A
Core conveyance
The core conveyance proj-
ect — so named because it
affects the main artery trans-
mitting waste through the city
— will allow most of the sew-
age from the city’s east side to
head directly to the treatment
plant, rather than, as it does
now, “gravity drain” south to
the overworked pump station,
only to be pushed back north
to reach the plant.
Once the project is com-
pleted, the now-bypassed
pump station will take in less
volume and may run at about
80 percent capacity rather than
100 percent — “and that’s a
big deal,” Stelzig said.
“To take all this flow away
from this pump station is an
energy-saver,” he said, “and it
keeps this pump station in bet-
ter working order.”
The project builds capac-
ity so that the city can pro-
cess more wastewater, Pub-
lic Works Director Jim Dunn
said.
Warrenton is expecting sig-
nificant new residential, com-
mercial and industrial devel-
opment that will increase
demand on the sewer system.
New pump station
The core conveyance proj-
ect will include a new ener-
gy-efficient pump station at
Ensign Road, near Tackle
Time, replacing an old one to
be torn out.
In addition, approximately
4,700 feet of new force main
piping beneath the Skipanon
River — bored 45 feet below
the mudline — was recently
laid and connected to the treat-
ment plant, a structure built in
2006 in anticipation of the core
conveyance project.
It took 10 years to get con-
struction underway last fall, in
part because of land-use rig-
marole. This included obtain-
ing several easements on each
side of the Skipanon, plus the
state easement to cross the
river itself.
“It really surprised me how
involved that was,” said Jon
Forrester, the project manager
from HLB OTAK, the firm
that designed the project.
The project is being
financed with a state Depart-
ment of Environmental Quality
loan of $1.9 million, $500,000
of which is forgivable. Big
River Construction Inc., put
in a $1.2 million construction
bid. Several hundred thousand
dollars have also been spent on
design and engineering.
Michael Pinney, a senior
environmental engineer with
the Department of Environ-
mental Quality, surveyed the
project sites Wednesday to
make sure the city is following
through with the conditions of
the grant.
Construction is scheduled
to wrap up in about six weeks,
Stelzig said.
Infrastructure problem
If the city could solve the
“infiltration and inflow” — a
common infrastructure prob-
lem faced by many cities —
the pump station would not be
such an issue, Stelzig said.
So why not just address the
problem rather than build the
core conveyance? Stelzig said
it can be less costly for a city to
increase the size of a treatment
plant and do core conveyance
projects than to find and repair
the many places where extra
water seeps into the sewer
system.
Warrenton has a contract
with Kennedy/Jenks Consul-
tants to conduct a study of the
city’s infiltration and inflow to
figure out how to address it.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Construction continues on a new pump station on Wednesday in Warrenton.
Grange: Last ‘another 100 years’
Continued from Page 1A
The history of grange orga-
nizations throughout the United
States dates back to the end of
the Civil War. President Andrew
Johnson ordered Oliver Kel-
ley to go to Southern states and
evaluate how to improve eco-
nomic conditions.
Kelley found that the farm-
ing practices in the South were
highly outdated, Netel Grange
Treasurer Dave Ambrose said.
To bring Northern and South-
ern farmers together, Kel-
ley became one of the found-
ers of the National Grange
of the Order of Patrons of
Husbandry.
In the ensuing decades, the
National Grange would serve
as both a social society, as well
as an advocate for pro-agricul-
tural policies. Most notably,
the National Grange fought on
behalf of farmers near the turn
of the 20th century during bat-
tles over railroad transporta-
tion costs, Ambrose said.
Disrepair
When Ambrose and Netel
Grange Secretary Craig Holt
assumed leadership in the
1990s, the building was in dis-
repair, Ambrose said. But by
selling 2 acres of nearby prop-
erty deeded to the land decades
prior, the grange collected
$42,000 to rebuild. Repairs
included a new roof, chim-
ney, furnace, foundation and
painting. Insurance covered
extensive roof damage during
a powerful 2007 storm, and
other features such as heating
have since been installed.
“It now is in just good enough
shape to last about another 100
years,” Ambrose said.
But in order for the hall
to remain locally owned, the
grange organization will need
to avoid going bankrupt, Sun-
derland said. Should the orga-
nization run out of money, the
Oregon State Grange would
assume control of the hall.
In addition to the preschool,
the grange also holds annual
dances and rents out the hall
for events like weddings and
birthday parties. The prices to
rent the grange are strategi-
cally lower than other venues
in the area, Ambrose said.
“It’s a community asset for
the Lewis and Clark area,”
Ambrose said. “It allows the
community to have a low-cost
meeting place.”
The grange has had
early discussions with Blue
Scorcher Bakery and Cafe in
Astoria about hosting a din-
ner, pie auction and dance this
summer.
“We might do something rad-
ical and make it a regular vege-
tarian event,” Sunderland said.
Much like he and Holt
did in the 1990s, the grange
will eventually need newer,
younger leadership to take
over, Ambrose, 72, said.
“It’s got a real history that
should be kept,” he said. “We
can hand it off to the next gen-
eration in better shape than
when we found it.”
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