9A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2017
Da Yang: ‘It’s not a Da Yang issue. It’s an industry issue’
its own action.
“To me, it isn’t grounds for
terminating their lease agree-
ment,” he said. “We would be
throwing out a perfectly good
tenant.”
Knight said it is impres-
sive how quickly Da Yang has
grown since opening at the
Port in 2004. The company has
invested millions in expand-
ing its operations, along with
extending utilities and rein-
forcing sagging, pockmarked
docks where fishermen deliver
product on the west side of
Pier 2.
Knight said the work Da
Yang has done on the docks is
beyond what the Port can han-
dle. The cash-strapped agency
is trying to secure funding
from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency to repair
the docks, which have been
damaged by both long-term
deferred maintenance and
recent winter storms.
Continued from Page 1A
Da
Yang
contracted
water-quality firm Aqua-Terra
Consultants, which has helped
train the company’s employ-
ees in best practices and opti-
mize the hydrosieve screens
that remove solids from
wastewater.
“It’s not a Da Yang issue,”
Alan Ismond, a project engi-
neer with Aqua-Terra, said of
wastewater challenges. “It’s an
industry issue.”
Ismond said Da Yang, like
other processors, are strug-
gling to meet the wastewa-
ter requirements in the 900-J
permit based on arcane EPA
guidelines from the 1970s
that haven’t been upgraded
because seafood byproduct
doesn’t pose a serious threat to
the environment.
“There really isn’t pollu-
tion in the seafood industries,”
Ismond said. “There’s only
unrecovered product.”
Community value
Expansion
Two years ago, Da Yang
approached the Department of
Environmental Quality about
getting a permit for an expan-
sion on Pier 2. An inspection
by the state revealed the com-
pany had been operating with-
out a permit for the past seven
years. Da Yang was fined
$85,000 last year and has since
been operating under a tem-
porary agreement, agreeing to
meet the requirements of the
expired 900-J permit while the
state completes the update. In
its most recent fines, the state
said Da Yang has failed to
meet those requirements.
Ismond said many proces-
sors are having trouble meet-
ing the requirements, and that
he is reluctant to have Da Yang
invest money in meeting the
requirements of the 900-J per-
mit when he doesn’t know
what the company’s new per-
mit requirements might be. Da
Yang is also helping finance
Aqua-Terra’s testing of new
methods to better remove sea-
food byproduct from wastewa-
ter for use in animal food.
“Let’s take a deep breath
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
ABOVE: Local contractor Joel Bergeman, left, and Da Yang Plant Manager Chang Lee, right, inspect recent upgrades
made to various parts of the seafood processing facility. BELOW: Local contractor Joel Bergeman addresses changes
made to various parts of the Da Yang Seafood processing facility in Astoria.
and figure out permits that pro-
tect the environment, keep sea-
food processors operating and
puts as much” seafood byprod-
uct as possible to use as animal
feed, Ismond said.
to a contested hearing on the
labor violations and agreed
to make six monthly pay-
ments of $10,000 on the labor
violations.
Work on demand
The
labor
violations
sparked an outcry from several
speakers at a recent Port meet-
ing, including the president
of the local longshoremen’s
union, calling for Da Yang to
be punished. The Port Com-
mission directed staff to look
into the implication of the fines
on Da Yang’s lease.
Jim Knight, the Port’s exec-
utive director, said there is lan-
guage stating that Da Yang
needs to follow state and fed-
eral laws, but nothing about
the consequences for not doing
so. He said the number of fines
don’t warrant the Port taking
Da Yang was recently fined
$60,000 by the Bureau of
Labor and Industries for fail-
ing to provide meal and rest
breaks, and for breaking a
requirement of manufacturers
not to work employees more
than 13 hours a day.
Chang Lee, a manager with
Da Yang, said the company
faces challenges as a proces-
sor of wild, perishable seafood
that can come in any time of
the day and needs to be imme-
diately processed. “If you
don’t process today, it will be
bad tomorrow,” he said.
Looking into lease
Lee said the company had
reached verbal compromise
with its boat-unloading crews
to forego unpaid lunch breaks
in the middle of a shift, and
instead receive paid lunches
after unloading. He said the
company has admitted that
the agreement was unlawful.
As for the 13-hour shift limit,
Lee said, Da Yang didn’t real-
ize it was considered a man-
ufacturer, but has to unload
seafood quickly whenever it
arrives.
Da Yang waived its right
Joel Bergeman, a local con-
tractor who works on many of
Da Yang’s improvement proj-
ects on Pier 2, said the com-
pany has been a boon to the
region’s economy, hiring local
contractors and fixing problems
at the Pier 2 plant as they arise.
“You’re not buying this
thing off an assembly line,”
Bergeman said of Da Yang’s
plant. “It’s not a Ford. You’re
building it as you go.”
When Da Yang isn’t in
the midst of processing fish,
Bergeman said, it tries to keep
people employed by using
them in construction projects.
On its website, Da Yang
claims to have invested more
than $38 million in Astoria,
employ 38 people year-round
and up to 200 in peak season
and have a payroll of $7 mil-
lion annually. The company
has tried in the past to expand
into cold storage and a truck-
ing hub on Pier 2. It recently
leased more space in the Port’s
seafood-processing
ware-
house, and completed a new
$8 million shrimp-processing
plant, which Lee said will help
the company further diversify.
Balensifer: Commission voted to appoint Newton as mayor pro tem
the appointment for mayor,”
commending his commitment
Newton as mayor pro tem, or to the community and thank-
acting mayor if Balensifer is ing the former NAPA Auto
Parts owner for “keeping our
ever unavailable.
vehicles and RVs running. …
We are truly blessed to have
‘Very professional’
Warrenton resident Lylla him as part of the governing
Gaebel thanked Newton body of our city.”
“Mayor Balensifer,” she
during the meeting’s public
comment period, saying the read, “We congratulate you
and look forward to
way he decided to
continuing our con-
step aside was “very
tinuity as a com-
professional.”
mission and as you
Balensifer
was
step into those large
sworn in as mayor —
shoes left by Mayor
after Gaebel called
Kujala, we trust you
out a reminder from
will take some pages
the audience that the
Rick
from his book in the
new mayor should
Newton
manner in which the
be sworn in, a for-
community has been
mality City Manager
Linda Engbretson said prob- accustomed.”
“This commission has
ably wasn’t necessary since
he’d already been sworn in largely operated under the
for his position on the com- principle of reflective lis-
mission — and the commis- tening; acting, not reacting;
sion declared his seat vacant. showing compassion and
Ackley later read from a being passionate; upholding
printed statement, congrat- the charter and making com-
ulating Newton for “throw- mon-sense decisions when
ing his hat in the ring for called upon,” she continued.
Continued from Page 1A
“We look forward to our con-
tinued camaraderie and mak-
ing sound decisions for our
community and want you to
know you have our support.”
‘Gone either way’
After the meeting, Ack-
ley said the public hearing
last month on the appoint-
ment had helped clarify who
they might choose for mayor,
“but it wasn’t decided until
tonight” and it still could have
“gone either way.”
“We did a little talking, but
it was Mr. Newton’s decision
(to withdraw),” Dyer said.
“I didn’t know what to
expect but I’m humbled by
the support by the community
and the vote of confidence
from the commissioners,”
Balensifer said. He added that
he hadn’t expected to appoint
a mayor pro tem that same
night, but that the appoint-
ment has typically gone to the
person who is interested in
having it.
“It seemed fitting to me
that we nominate (New-
ton),” he said, “and the rest
of the commission seemed to
agree.”
After City Recorder
Dawne Shaw had read
through the ballots and it was
clear the commission had
unanimously appointed New-
ton mayor pro tem — Newton
cast a ballot for himself —
Dyer congratulated him.
“You’ll make an excellent
mayor pro tem,” he said, then
added, jokingly, “and it might
be a fight in a year and a half,
huh?”
Application deadline
Engbretson said she has
heard from a few residents
interested in applying for the
position Balensifer has left
vacant. Warrenton residents
interested in being appointed
to fill that seat must submit
a resume and a letter declar-
ing their interest in serving
on the commission to City
Hall before 5 p.m. May 22.
The commission will hold an
informal meet-and-greet at
5:15 p.m. on May 23 before
the regular meeting. They
plan to appoint a person to fill
Balensifer’s vacant seat at a
meeting in June.
CO M ING JUNE 2017 O UR 10 th A NNUA L
Academy: ‘The timeline is tight’
Continued from Page 1A
“We were going to out-
grow the building on Sunset,”
Simmons said. “In the Chil-
dren’s Center, we can make
this space work for the foresee-
able future.”
Simmons said the build-
ing would take fewer, if any,
renovations because it already
meets many of the school
building code requirements.
It’s larger, includes a play-
ground, and during a walk
through, Simmons said Coaster
Construction gave him a ball-
park cost estimate of $50,000.
Being a stand-alone build-
ing also helps reduce cost,
because the fire code require-
ments in the last location were
dependent on the fact the space
shared walls with other retail
businesses, Simmons said.
“When I got the email (with the
estimate) I believed we were
done. I didn’t have a plan to
raise $150,000,” he said. “I’ve
been surprised, within a day
there was an outpouring of sup-
port of people determined to
make this happen. To open this
school it’s going to take that.”
School or housing?
Before the academy can
start constructing anything, it
must submit a conditional land
use agreement to the city, City
Manager Brant Kucera said.
Since the city owns the
property, the City Council
must vote to give permission
to Kucera to go ahead with
lease negotiations at the June 6
council meeting. Then the ear-
liest the request can go before
the Planning Commission for
approval is June 22.
“The timeline is tight, but
if nothing out of the ordi-
nary happens, and the coun-
cil decides to grant permis-
sion, then I think we can do it,”
Kucera said.
However, the city has also
designated the Children’s Cen-
ter as an option for affordable
housing in a strategic plan,
Kucera said, with a vision of
retrofitting the building into
nine housing units. Affordable
housing has remained a prior-
ity issue for Cannon Beach.
“We would be moving
away from that plan,” Kucera
said.
If councilors denied the
property to the academy, or if
the permitting and construc-
tion process don’t meet the
fall deadline, Simmons said
students enrolled would just
be enrolled in Seaside School
District.
“We’ll do what we can to
move the process along to meet
all of the deadlines if coun-
cil chooses to move forward,”
Kucera said.
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