DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 188
ONE DOLLAR
Housing
options
closer to
approval
Astoria council weighs
tiny homes and ADUs
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Joey Patenaude hosts his radio show Blues In The Daylight on Coast Community Radio Monday in Astoria.
KMUN, others face fallout from
Trump budget that nixes funds
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
oast Community Radio, a nonprofit station that serves northwest
Oregon and southwest Washington, would take a severe financial
hit under President Donald Trump’s proposed budget blueprint,
which eliminates federal funding for the Corpo-
ration for Public Broadcasting.
Historically, public broadcasting, which
underwrites public radio and television nation-
wide, has represented up to one-third of Coast
Community Radio’s funding, depending on how
much revenue the station generates, according to
General Manager Joanne Rideout.
For this fiscal year, the station is slated to
receive $116,000 in CPB grants, about 26 per-
cent of the organization’s $441,000 budget.
Coast Community Radio is one of hundreds
Joanne
of community-based media services across the
Rideout
nation that faces a precipitous — and potentially
fatal — loss of funding if the Corporation for Public Broadcasting gets
zeroed out.
C
See FALLOUT, Page 11A
The Astoria City Council, in light of input
from the Lower Columbia Preservation Soci-
ety on Monday, chose to extend a public hear-
ing on code amendments that would allow
residents to build and rent out tiny homes and
other dwellings on their property.
Under the proposed development code
changes meant to help
reduce the city’s hous-
ing shortage, prop-
erty owners could set
up an accessory dwell-
ing unit for long-term
renters. The new units
would include con-
verted spaces — such as attics, basements and
garages — and detached structures, such as
tiny homes.
The code currently allows these units “in
certain zones under strict conditions,” Com-
munity Development Director Kevin Cronin
wrote in a staff report. Cronin, who drafted
the amendments, said that freeing up develop-
ment by permitting ADUs would help tackle,
however modestly, the city’s goal of creating
housing that Astorians can afford.
The meeting followed a City Council work
session where Cronin and Jim Long, Bend’s
affordable housing manager, discussed the
merits of a construction excise tax on com-
mercial and industrial building permit valua-
tion. The tax would raise money for afford-
able housing projects.
‘I think the time is
now to take action
to add housing
units for Astorians.’
Zetty Nemlowill
Astoria city councilor
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Coast Community Radio Volunteer Leroy Strickland talks
to contributors on the phone during their spring pledge
drive Monday in Astoria.
Last fall, the Planning Commission rec-
ommended the dwellings units be prohibited
from use as homestay, or short-term, lodging
— such as Airbnb rentals — and that the new
amendments should be reviewed after one
year.
Support with conditions
ling away, they might look to their
water bills.
Residents face hikes of up to
40 percent in July to fund needed
water, wastewater and storm-drain
repairs and maintenance.
The City Council plans to
endorse those capital improve-
ments at its upcoming April 4
meeting.
Doug Thompson, a former Astoria city
councilor and board member of the Lower
Columbia Preservation Society, said the orga-
nization would support ADUs under certain
conditions.
For example, the structures should only be
sited in the rear or interior side yards of the
main building — away from public right-of-
ways — and that existing ADUs should not be
grandfathered into the homestay lodging ban.
The preservation society wants to preserve the
character of Astoria’s historic neighborhoods.
Fully supporting the preservation soci-
ety’s revisions, City Councilor Cindy Price
also suggested removing tiny homes — a
relatively new housing trend — as an ADU
option for now.
See WATER RATES, Page 11A
See HOUSING, Page 11A
Soaring water rates on the North Coast
Cannon Beach
changes drive
proposed hikes
Cannon
Beach wa-
ter, waste-
water and
stormwater
rates could
increase
up to 40
percent.
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — If Can-
non Beach residents soon feel a
little more of their money trick-
R.J. Marx
The Daily
Astorian
Music shop owner sues radiologist, alleges negligence
Christie seeks
$9.4 million
after stroke
By DERRICK
DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
An Astoria music shop
owner has filed a $9.4 million
medical malpractice lawsuit
against Columbia Memorial
Hospital, alleging a top radiol-
ogist was negligent and missed
signs of a stroke.
John Pierce Christie, who
owns Mallternative, a music
shop downtown, was taken
to the hospital in August with
slurred speech, drooling and a
left facial droop. Dr. William
Armington, a radiologist with
Pacific Coast Imaging, a part-
ner of the hospital, reported
after an MRI and magnetic res-
onance angiography that there
were no abnormalities, accord-
ing to the lawsuit.
Several hours later, Christie
was transferred to Providence
St. Vincent Medical Center
in Portland where, the law-
suit claims, stroke neurology
looked at the scan from Colum-
bia Memorial and detected
blockage to the basilar artery,
which provides blood to the
brain and central nervous sys-
tem. A follow-up MRI/MRA
showed further damage.
Christie suffered respira-
tory failure and acute hypoxia
and went into a coma, accord-
ing to the lawsuit, leaving
him with a traumatic brain
injury and partial paralysis
that requires extensive medi-
cal care.
The lawsuit, filed Wednes-
day in Circuit Court, alleges
that Christie’s treatment for
neurological care was delayed
by Armington’s and Columbia
Memorial’s negligence. Chris-
tie is asking for economic
damages of $4.4 million and
noneconomic damages, such
as pain and suffering, of $5
million.
See LAWSUIT, Page 11A
Heather and Pierce Christie