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 .
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