9A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2017
Horse camp: Department of Forestry still accepting written comments
Continued from Page 1A
September. In 2015 and 2016,
campers used the site an aver-
age 21 percent of the available
time in these months, accord-
ing to the state.
Northrup Creek, which also
accepts a limited number of
other campers, is the lowest
utilized of the campgrounds in
Clatsop State Forest, Williams
said.
On top of the added rev-
enue, the special-use permit
will allow the state to better
track whether or not campers
are paying for the full length of
their stay.
“We’ve been discussing the
use and lack of use for several
years,” Williams said, “know-
ing with these cuts we won’t be
able to offer the same level of
service we offered in the past.”
Guaranteed spots
Horse campers at Northrup
Creek have complained in the
past about not having a guaran-
teed spot to camp prior to their
arrival. The permit is partially
designed to guarantee spots to
campers, making it more likely
they will make long trips to the
site. Also, the fee may entice
campers to bring larger groups
to the grounds.
“People won’t travel a long
way out here if they aren’t
guaranteed a site,” said Jenni-
fer Bunch, treasurer of Oregon
Equestrian Trails North Coast
Chapter.
But Oregon Equestrian
Trails, which helps maintain
the state-owned campground,
day-use area and adjacent
9-mile trail for horse riders,
has strongly opposed the fee
hike and two-night require-
ment. Bunch, of Svensen, and
group member Diane Berry, of
Astoria, who led the effort to
build and maintain the camp
before and after its opening
in 2005, estimate they use the
camp three to six times each
summer. The group’s mem-
bers have spent hundreds of
hours and thousands of dollars
working on projects such as
tree removal and construction
of a storage shed. A trailhead
at the camp is even named
after Berry.
The main draw to the camp
is the variety of terrain and
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Jennifer Bunch, treasurer of Oregon Equestrian Trails,
right, and Diane Berry, Oregon Equestrian Trails member,
walk around at Northrup Creek Horse Camp on Tuesday.
wildlife on the trail, members
say.
“They called us the jewel
of horse camps in the state,”
Bunch said.
Though they say they will
still make the annual trips, oth-
ers may not be as inclined.
“It’s totally unrealistic for
this camp,” Berry said. “That
will effectively kill the camp.”
Public comment
Williams held a meeting
with Oregon Equestrian Trails’
members in late February about
the proposed plan that seemed
to cause confusion. Members
decried the fact that the camp
was being closed without a
public comment period
“He told us it was clos-
ing and that it would only be
available for special-use per-
mit,” Bunch said. “That’s why
we initially were up in arms,
and we still are up in arms. We
were under the impression it
was a done deal.”
But Williams recalls tell-
ing them the camp would
still be open and that the spe-
cial-use permit plan was just a
proposal. He said he asked for
alternatives from the group but
did not receive any at the time.
“I told them I wanted to stop
any rumors the horse camp is
closing,” Williams said. “I was
totally honest and upfront with
them from the get-go.”
The Department of For-
estry then announced in early
March it would accept writ-
ten comments from last Mon-
day through May 4 on the
department’s webpage or at
twilliams@odf.state.or.us.
Williams so far has received
dozens of phone calls and
emails about the camp.
‘Really cranky’
State Sen. Betsy Johnson
has also heard from the public
about the camp.
“The contacts with my
office were really cranky,” she
said on her weekly radio show
in early March. “Just call-
ing them and saying, ‘You’re
closed,’ was not the right solu-
tion. I’m not really impressed
with how the department is
handling public outreach right
now.”
Proposed alternatives have
included keeping the rate at
$15 per night for a period
of time during the summer
or scrapping the two-night
requirement. Oregon Eques-
trian Trails has offered to han-
dle more of the maintenance
load and devise new ways to
promote the camp.
The Astoria District Rec-
reation Advisory Committee
will hold a meeting with pub-
lic comment on April 4 at 5:30
p.m. at the Department of For-
estry’s Astoria Office.
Williams doubts the cur-
rent proposal will be the one
the department finally decides
to implement.
“It’s not a perfect plan. I
know that,” he said. “There’s
been more awareness of the
lack of use at Northrup Creek.
I’ve seen that as a positive.”
Parks: Deed restrictions limit city’s ability to sell some park property
Continued from Page 1A
‘Some urgency’
In recent years, “the
number of facilities managed,
our requirements, continued
to go up, and resources con-
tinued to go down. The per-
cent transfer from the general
fund continued to decrease,”
Cosby said.
The overstretched funding
and staffing levels have led to
a high turnover rate in part-
time employees and a few
poorly maintained parks. The
department may have to close
down some sites “due to haz-
ards,” Cosby said.
“We have a responsibil-
ity to keep playgrounds and
swingsets up to a certain par.
Same with trails and our rec-
reational space,” Cosby said.
City Manager Brett Estes
said, “There is some urgency,
from the staff’s perspective, to
move forward on this.”
He, Cosby and Finance
Director Susan Brooks are
building next fiscal year’s
budget. Details of the fee may
not be decided on by then.
However, “the longer we
prolong this, the more of an
impact we could be having to
our general fund,” Estes said.
He and Cosby may bring
the proposal before the coun-
cil again at a work session
within a month.
Councilors Cindy Price
and Bruce Jones said they
would favor a higher rate than
the figure Cosby proposed —
perhaps closer to $7 or $8 so
that the city has money for
more than just the basics,
Price said.
Councilor Zetty Nemlow-
ill suggested that perhaps the
fee should be based on a per-
centage of ratepayers’ power
bills rather than levied as a flat
rate.
Selling parks
The City Councilors
agreed that a utility fee is a
promising idea.
A utility tax, however,
would not extinguish the
question of whether the city
should sell off the least-uti-
lized parks, an idea unpopu-
lar among people surveyed
during the master-planning
process.
“I do think that the master
plan strongly suggests some-
thing should be eliminated in
order to continue to decrease
the requirements on your
resources,” Price said.
Jones, mindful that future
cost-cutting measures might
be necessary, said he had trou-
ble thinking of a service in the
parks purview that he would
want to remove.
“I’d rather get rid of a few
properties, frankly,” he said.
“That, I know, would be very
controversial, to sell a few
parks that are the least uti-
lized. We’ve seen how contro-
versial it is. But I’d rather face
that heat than cut out youth
sports, for example.”
The income generated
from selling properties tra-
ditionally goes into the cap-
ital improvement fund, and
can be spent on other depart-
ments. However, the coun-
cil can decide — as Nemlow-
ill said she would prefer — to
designate the money for parks
department use only.
Although Price said she
could support the sale of
underused parks, she would
not want to lose a park from an
area with relatively few parks,
even if that park is not fre-
quently used. Alderbrook Park
at Lief Erikson Drive and 45th
Street, is not heavily used, but
it’s the closest park to an area
underserved by parks, Cosby
said.
Burdens and
responsibilities
Nemlowill, who sat on
the citizens advisory commit-
tee that guided the master plan
last year, championed a quali-
ty-over-quantity view.
“Parks and Rec is extremely
important to the quality of life
in Astoria,” she said, “but we
know that we can’t do every-
thing well.”
Nemlowill said she sup-
ported easing the park staff’s
burden
by
transferring
underused properties.
Tidal Rock Park at Com-
mercial and 15th streets, for
example, is “really a blight on
downtown Astoria,” she said.
“It’s in an urban renewal
district — and an urban renewal
district’s aim is to cure urban
blight,” she said. “And here
we have a city-owned property,
which is the dumpiest property
on the block. It’s unacceptable.”
The problem is not that the
parks staff isn’t doing a good
job, she said. “It’s that they sim-
ply can’t keep up and maintain
that site. And it’s a low-prior-
ity site, and so they spend more
time at sites that get more used.
So it doesn’t make any sense
to me that we have that in our
parks system.”
Nemlowill acknowledged
that, since the property comes
with deed restrictions, the city
can’t simply sell it.
She added that the city
should find partners in the com-
munity that could take over
some of the services the Parks
and Recreation Department
provides.
“If we’re going to ask cit-
izens to pay more money for
parks, we need to show that
we’re being really responsi-
ble and also offloading some
of our burdens and responsibil-
ities at the same time,” Nem-
lowill said.
Erick Bengel/The Daily Astorian
Astoria Parks and Recreation Director Angela Cosby gives a presentation on the depart-
ment’s budget using teeter-totters during a City Council work session Thursday night.
Letter: Lack of a sales tax highlighted
Continued from Page 1A
The city’s economy is
“diverse and robust, with a low
(4.2 percent) unemployment
rate, all of which fully supports
continuing strong sales at the
downtown Astoria J.C. Penney
store.”
Astoria, the councilors
remind Ellison, is a “port of
entry and regional trading
center.”
On top of national retailers
already investing in the region
and “achieving healthy sales,”
WalMart is scheduled to open a
Warrenton store in 2018.
“Between 2007 and 2016
the retail component of our
economy was the third fast-
est growth sector, after lei-
sure & hospitality and educa-
tion & health services, with a
7 percent growth in employ-
ment,” the letter reads. “This
speaks to our region’s buying
power, year-round sales, and
the strength of the summer and
cruise months when the popu-
lation of the region swells with
visitors and tourists.”
Astoria’s J.C. Penney is
seven blocks from Columbia
Memorial Hospital, the coun-
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
People walk by the J.C. Penney on Commercial Street Fri-
day in downtown Astoria. The store is slated to start liqui-
dating its stock April 17 and to close June 18.
ty’s second-largest employer,
and soon will be four blocks
away from the new Mo’s
Restaurant, the letter points
out.
In addition, “Astoria is one
of only 13 cities across the
United States that has received
designation as an official Coast
Guard City, home to more than
2,000 members of the Coast
Guard, and attracting both air
and afloat crews for training at
the Advanced Helicopter Res-
cue School and the National
Motor Lifeboat School.”
The letter highlights Ore-
gon’s lack of a sales tax, which,
the letter says, draws shoppers
from Washington state.
“License plates in down-
town Astoria and throughout
the county reflect that popu-
lation and, we are certain, so
would the J.C. Penney cus-
tomer profile in Astoria. Very
many of these customers do not
shop online, so this is lost rev-
enue forever if the downtown
store is closed.”
The letter concludes with a
simple request “that our down-
town Astoria J.C. Penney
store remain open for many
more years, and many more
shoppers.”
Be in the know
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