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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 2, 2017)
4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 2, 2017 Lane fee: Fee is less than the $5-10 originally proposed Continued from Page 1A The Astoria City Council voted 4-1 Monday night to charge youth swim teams $1 per lane per hour. The stan- dard fee already in place is $25 per lane per hour. The two groups affected by the coun- cil’s resolution, the North Coast Swim Club (a nonprofit organization open to swim- mers ages 6 to 18 years old) and the Astoria High School swim team have not been charged a fee before. In a memo to council members, City Manager Brett Estes noted that the swim club and the school swim team would not be able to afford the current $25 fee. Staff instead proposed reduced rates specifically for non- profit and government-funded youth swim teams that use the Aquatic Center’s lanes for practice for a minimum of 100 hours per year. All swim- mers will still be required to purchase a monthly or daily pass as well. Councilors Cindy Price, Zetty Nemlowill and Bruce Jones all voted in favor of the resolution. Councilor Tom Brownson was the sole “no” vote. Mayor Arline LaMear, after a long pause, gave her “yes.” She had asked the council to consider waiting Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Boys competing in the 200-yard freestyle dive into the pool during the Andrew Nygaard Memorial Invitational Swim Meet in 2014 at the Astoria Aquatic Center. The Astoria High School swim team will now need to pay $1 per lane per hour. until after a budget work ses- sion with the Parks and Rec- reation Department scheduled for Thursday before voting on the new fee resolution. “I would very much liked to have waited until we had a discussion on this (at the work session),” LaMear said after the meeting. “It seemed like kind of a piecemeal decision.” All the councilors who voted “yes” said they did so reluctantly. At Nemlow- ill’s suggestion, the coun- cil included a promise to revisit the decision within the next year. Last year, the parks depart- ment had recommended that the swim club pay $5 an hour per lane effective last Novem- ber and $10 per lane start- ing this November. The City Council rejected the proposal and agreed to discuss a more significant youth discount. Members of the North Coast Swim Club were pres- ent at the meeting Monday night and club President Pat- rick Wingard urged the coun- cil to consider the money the club already brings to the Aquatic Center in usage fees and facility rental fees, as well as what it brings to the community in general. The meets it hosts each year bring families to the area, who stay and spend money, he said. “I would just offer to you that the club pays its fair share,” he said. “As the club grows, revenue to the city grows.” Since November, the club has grown from 16 youth swimmers to 25. With the new fee, the club estimates that the annual cost per swim- mer in the club could go up by $6. For parents who already pay for some combi- nation of annual registration fees, monthly dues, Aquatic Center passes and swim meet entry fees and help with fund- raising, this could be $6 too much, Wingard said after the meeting. No representatives from the high school swim team spoke at the meeting. Arch Cape: County will take the time to review the decision before taking action Continued from Page 1A unincorporated town south of Cannon Beach. Commission- ers have deemed the group unnecessary, time-consuming, expensive and a potential legal liability, voting to dissolve it twice. Supporters of the 34-year- old committee challenged the move, citing the state’s obli- gation to have citizen involve- ment in land use decisions as a primary reason. Community engagement Cameron La Follette, who helped represent the petition- ers from Arch Cape through the Oregon Coast Alliance, said the county shouldn’t expect every community to collect input in the same way. “If Arch Cape wants more opportunities to review, the county should honor that,” La Follette said. “In my experi- ence, the more engaged a com- munity is, the better. Land is an absolute — there’s only so much of it.” County Manager Cam- eron Moore said the decision to remand the decision back to the county boiled down to a technicality. The county did not publish a separate, spe- cific notice of a public hearing. Moore said he will take time to review the decision before tak- ing a next step. “This was simply an over- sight on the part of county management,” Moore said in an email. The Arch Cape committee is the last of its kind in Clatsop County. Supporters argue the county should honor the com- munity’s decision to keep the committee active. “The county has been look- ing for a way to get rid of our committee for some time,” Tod Lundy, who was chair- man of the Arch Cape Design Review Committee, said in February 2016. “It’s a burden for them to come down to Arch Cape and review every sizable remodel and new building.” missioner Lianne Thompson said this week there is a way to have Arch Cape neighbors par- ticipate without a formal com- mittee. She is recommending the town funnels development recommendations and reviews through a neighborhood asso- ciation, which would allow for more voices to be heard rather than a few on a committee, she said. “I believe in neighborhood livability. I am a neighbor,” Thompson said. “Accountabil- ity can be used as a tool or a weapon, and there is too much judicial power given to too few people.” Thompson also said she thinks the town is more divided on the issue than the Oregon Coast Alliance asserts. She said she’s had residents tell her they are scared to express their opinions if they differ with the committee’s view. “It’s gone from being used as a tool to becoming a weapon,” Thompson said. “It’s focused on how much power the committee has rather than other’s well-be- ing. It’s become members banging on someone’s door telling them to trim their tree.” La Follette said issues can be resolved through a coop- erative process rather than complete dissolution, and said the committee needs to be heard. “There is a difference between having a hearing and being listened to,” she said. “Land use politics is messy. Everyone wants to do differ- ent things with their land. The county needs to allow for that complexity.” “We are starting to feel a push for resources,” Snyder said, referring to towns like Cannon Beach that can bring in thou- sands of visitors during the peak summer sea- son. “It’s important, more than ever, to be mindful of these communities with strategic management.” Abstractly, his goal is to help balance the economic impact that helps provide 105,000 tourism-related jobs with listening to the needs of communities and operators within tourist attractions. Places like Multnomah Falls — the second most photographed spot in Ore- Everyone Welcome Nick Vasilieff • Presidential Bear Deb Vanasse • Wealth Woman Jim Stewart • Ochoco Reach Brain Ratty • Atonement Continued from Page 1A MEMORIAL CELEBRATION May 6 th at 11am Seaside United Methodist Quasi-judicial Melissa Ousley • Pitcher Plant Snyder: Plans to listen to the needs of communities, those in the tourism industry Claire Lovell One issue for the county is Diane Kirk • Licking Flames Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Ryan Snyder, president of Martin Hospitality and incoming chairman of Travel Oregon, points out details of the brew- ing operation at the Public Coast Brewery in Cannon Beach. Write on Seaside! Thursday, May 11th, 2017 Seaside Convention Center 6:30pm Author Meet & Greet 7:00pm to 9:00pm Author Writing Extravaganza Master of Ceremonies David Frei, Author of Angel on a Leash 1st Annual Fundraiser Seaside Public Library Foundation Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Seaside Library, Beach Books and Moberg and Rust Attorney. light refreshments included gon — is an example of this, Snyder said. The attraction’s popularity created park- ing issues, so Travel Oregon worked with local communi- ties to start a shuttle service. He also said he sees envi- ronmental organizations like SOLVE serving an import- ant educational role for the increase in day travelers coming from an expanding Portland metro area — a pop- ulation who may not see their physical impact on a site during a short stay. “It’s important to main- tain our resources so people who wake up the next morn- ing still have positive experi- ences,” he said. Hospitality Snyder has been president of Martin Hospitality since 2004, but has been involved in many aspects of the hospi- tality industry for the major- ity of his life. Court Carrier, the exec- utive director of the Can- non Beach Chamber of Com- merce, works closely with Snyder, and said his experi- ence will make him a good fit. “He is truly one of the most committed peo- ple I know,” Carrier said. “He is extremely engaged and experienced with this industry.” While he will act as a statewide representative as Travel Oregon chairman, Cannon Beach will always be in the back of his mind. “This city is very import- ant to me,” Snyder said. “When it comes to making decisions, if it’s not good enough for the state, than it’s not good for Cannon Beach, and vice versa.” For Astoria Port Commission #2 Every voter in Clatsop County has three votes to cast for the Port Commission. I ask for your vote and to join me in voting for J AMES C AMPBELL and F RANK S PENCE . DirkForPort.org Paid for by the Committee to Elect Dirk Rohne