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DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2017
County looks at moving jail to Warrenton
Study examines
taking over youth
correctional facility
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County may relocate its
jail from Astoria to the North Coast
Youth Correctional Facility site in
Warrenton.
The c ounty Board of Commission-
ers voted unanimously Wednesday to
authorize a $51,000 study, which will
examine how to best relocate the jail if
the state closes the youth correctional
facility. Gov. Kate Brown’s budget for
the next biennium calls for the facili-
ty’s closure, part of a larger effort to
address a $1.7 billion shortfall.
The Oregon Youth Authority
reached out to the county earlier this
year, indicating the facility likely will
be closed, County Manager Cameron
Moore said. Should that happen, the
state agency told the county it would
like to quickly hand the facility over
to another owner.
“In government, sometimes you
need to spend money to make smart
decisions,” Moore said.
The 50-bed youth facility, located
near the Clatsop County Sheriff’s
Offi ce on Southeast 19th Street,
houses males ages 14 to 25 years old.
Meanwhile, inmates at the 60-bed
Clatsop County Jail often are released
early due to overcrowding, meaning
they aren’t required to post bail even
when a criminal court case is pending.
The Sheriff’s Offi ce has also rented 10
additional beds in Tillamook County,
but previous estimates have indicated
the county may need up to 200 total
beds to solve the issue.
The private fi rm hired to oversee
the study, DLR Group Architects, has
already begun to review the updated
space needs for a larger jail. Prelim-
inary estimates indicate a potential
From farm to wetland,
a food web is born
Cowlitz Tribe,
BPA partner on
tidal project
A
See PROJECT, Page 7A
The 221-acre Wallooskee-
Youngs Confluence Restoration
Project includes more than
190 acres of former pastures
being turned into wetlands for
fish and wildlife habitat.
The Daily Astorian/File P hoto
See JAIL, Page 5A
Port budget
to shrink
under plan
Total would drop by
$7 million next year
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
long Oregon Highway 202,
about a mile south of Astoria,
is a talon-shaped plot of more
than 200 acres bordered by the Youngs
and Wallooskee rivers that is still held
back by a century-old dike. A former
dairy, the land is now veined with tidal
inlets, the farm’s buildings only left-
over concrete foundations.
This summer, the Cowlitz Indian
Tribe will complete the Wall-
ooskee-Youngs Confl uence Resto-
ration Project, which started in 2013,
breaching the dike in fi ve spots near
the inlets and reconnecting 193 acres
to tidal infl uence for estuarine salmon
and wildlife habitat.
jail at the youth facility could hold 72
inmates, Moore said. The structure
of the Warrenton facility is also more
suitable for potential expansion proj-
ects in the future.
The study approved Wednesday
will include preliminary diagrams
and a deferred maintenance report.
Once the research is completed, DLR
Group will provide a pre design cost
estimate.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Rudy Salakory, a fish restoration program manager with the Cowlitz Indian Tribe,
walks along a levee near the Youngs River during a tour of the Wallooskee-Youngs
Confluence Restoration Project.
2013
$10M
193
the year the Wallooskee-
Youngs Confluence Resto-
ration Project was started.
The project is expected to
be finished in the summer.
the estimated approximate
amount the project will cost,
which is being funded by
Bonneville Power
Administration customers.
the number of acres the
project will reconnect to
tidal influence for estuarine
salmon and wildlife habitat.
The Port of Astoria on Wednesday pre-
sented a $13.6 million proposed budget
for the next fi scal year largely driven by
attempts to repair the agency’s aging infra-
structure while being frugal.
The proposed spending plan is a decrease
of more than $7 million from what was
adopted for the fi scal year ending in June.
“There were a number of diffi cult con-
versations and decisions that took place in
order to achieve a balanced
and sustainable budget,”
Port Executive Director Jim
Knight said in his budget
message. “The Port con-
tinues to face many fi nan-
cial challenges, including
high debt load, aging infra-
Jim
structure, signifi cant ongo-
Knight
ing dredge costs and lim-
ited cash reserves.”
Port staff has proposed nearly $5 mil-
lion in capital projects over the coming fi s-
cal year. Less than $1.2 million of the proj-
ects are funded out of the agency’s budget.
The Port has projected nearly $3.8 million
in federal and state grants.
At the Astoria Regional Airport, the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration will fund more
than $1.3 million of the nearly $1.5 million
the Port has planned in runway and other
work in the coming year.
The Port is planning a $2 million rehabil-
itation of the western side of Pier 2, where
boats land seafood coming to the agency’s
processing warehouse, using a $1.5 mil-
lion infrastructure grant from the Oregon
Department of Transportation, along with
a one-third match funded by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency.
The Port has contracted KPFF Consult-
ing Engineers to create estimates of dam-
aged infrastructure before seeking reim-
bursement from FEMA. The budget
includes more than $800,000 in projected
FEMA funds for projects to repair the Port’s
marinas and docks damaged in December
2015 storms.
“FEMA has gone through, done their
scope of work and they have gave us dollar
values for each of their projects,” said Port
Finance Director Will Isom. “And so those
are the minimum amounts that they are say-
ing that we would receive.”
See PORT, Page 7A
Clatsop County dissolves Arch Cape design panel
Third time
commissioners
have acted
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Despite signifi cant oppo-
sition from Arch Cape resi-
dents, Clatsop County has dis-
solved the community’s d esign
r eview c ommittee for the third
time.
The Board of Commission-
ers approved an ordinance 3-1
Wednesday that nixed the com-
mittee. Commissioners previ-
ously voted twice to approve
the ordinance, and twice oppo-
nents challenged the move
through state Land Use Board
of Appeals. In the most recent
appeal, the state found that the
county failed to provide public
notice in a newspaper .
The state then sent the
decision back to the Board of
Commissioners, which held
a public hearing earlier this
month. Following the conten-
tious public hearing, commis-
sioners called for an emer-
gency vote and decided 4-1 to
dissolve the committee once
again. But since the emer-
gency vote was not unanimous
— Commissioner Kathleen
Sullivan voted against it —
the b oard held another public
hearing Wednesday, needing
only a simple majority to pass
the ordinance.
Sullivan was again the lone
commissioner to vote against
the ordinance. Commissioner
Lisa Clement was absent.
Redundant
County o ffi cials have
argued the committee is redun-
dant, as no other part of the
county has its own design
review committee. Instead,
residents present proposals
directly to the c ounty Planning
Department.
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
See ARCH CAPE, Page 7A
County commissioners have voted to dissolve a design
review committee in Arch Cape.