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DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 44 ROBERTS IS BACK IN THE SADDLE FOR SEASIDE FOOTBALL SEASIDE SPORTS PREVIEWS • PAGES 9A-10A Warming center listens to concerns ONE DOLLAR TRIVIA NIGHT AT THE MERRY TIME COAST WEEKEND • INSIDE BRANCHING OUT PARTNERS IN RIVERWALK INN HOPE TO DEVELOP CHINOOK BUILDING Second meeting tonight at City Hall By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Discussions on a good-neighbor agree- ment between the Astoria Warming Cen- ter, downtown merchants and nearby res- idents will continue tonight as the center works to clarify policies and address endur- ing concerns raised at a community meeting Wednesday night. Tonight’s meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at City Hall. It is open to the public, but is intended primarily as a time for the warm- ing center and its neighbors to work together to craft an agreement that will guide the cen- ter’s operations this year and inform the Planning Commission’s decision next week on whether to approve a one-year condi- tional use permit. Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian See WARMING CENTER, Page 4A Spalding a steady hand for police Veteran lawman arrives after Johnston’s abrupt retirement this month By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian Geoff Spalding is a policing chameleon. His nearly 40-year career has taken him to police departments in California and Ore- gon, where he’s been a uniformed officer, detective, chief and even spent a few years patrolling on motorcycles. “You could work so many different assignments in your career that it was always like starting a new job,” Spalding said. “I typically would do something different every three or four years. I never got tired of the job in general.” Spalding, 60, announced his second career retirement in 2016, ending a sev- en-year span as chief of the Beaverton Police Department. But he started his latest gig this week as the Astoria Police Department’s interim chief. “Maybe I wasn’t quite ready to retire the first time or, actually, the second time,” he said. Until Astoria finds a permanent chief, Astoria Riverwalk Inn operators William Orr and Chester Trabucco hope to make the adjacent Chinook Building, which overlooks the West Mooring Basin, part of a marina village. By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian ince taking over the Astoria Riv- erwalk Inn for the Port of Astoria two years ago, business partners Chester Trabucco and William Orr have provided stability and invested significant sums in modernizing the 115-room hotel. As the partners seek to create a larger tourist destination around the West Moor- ing Basin, they are closing in on a lease of the neighboring Chinook Building, a collection of office and tourist storefronts where they hope to open a new confer- ence center. The Port has been in negotiations for the past year with Trabucco and Orr about leasing the 15,000-square-foot building to their company, Marina Village. The lease would be for 20 years, with two 20-year extension options. Marina Village would pay the Port $5,800 a month, compared to the $4,200 staff have estimated the Port currently makes, along with utilities. Rent would increase based on the consumer price index. S Bridging winter The duo hope to keep the existing tourist-oriented businesses on the first floor of the Chinook Building, improve the exterior and develop the 7,500 square feet upstairs into a conference space, a similar function the building played for the former Red Lion Inn. During a recent pitch to the Port Com- mission, Orr pointed out how the agency can see about 400 rooms from its main offices. “If we can add a conference space on the second floor of the Chinook Build- ing … then we can go out and market this area — our hotel first, but the rest of the Developer Chester Trabucco, pictured here, and his business partner William Orr are hoping to convert space in the Chinook Building near the Port of Asto- ria into a conference center. guys too — and get some of that business that we need so that we can at least come close to breaking even during the winter,” he said. In a report to the Port Commission, staff said the lease would increase rev- enue and decrease maintenance, while resolving operational issues between the agency and seafood market Northwest Wild Products, a tenant and tourist draw in the Chinook Building. A portion of the Chinook Build- ing’s upstairs was remodeled five years ago by the Astoria Yacht Club. Astoria City Councilor Tom Brownson, the vice commodore of the yacht club, said the club is generally supportive of Orr and Trabucco’s ideas. Trabucco said a yacht club and its theme could be used to market the conference space. Providing collateral A sticking point in the negotiations has been Marina Village’s interest in taking out a sizable loan to improve the building, which faces major issues with See BUILDING, Page 4A See SPALDING, Page 4A Peninsula police shut off from immigration arrests Pacific County sheriff asked for advance notice By AMY NILE EO Media Group LONG BEACH, Wash. — Pacific County Sheriff Scott Johnson sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in April asking the federal agency to share information in advance of any sweeps, raids and arrests made on his turf. The notifications would enable the sheriff’s office to monitor the sweeps, provide factual information to residents and law enforcement partners afterward, and “promote trans- parency and public trust.” But the sheriff said ICE seems to be ignoring his plea. He wrote another letter on Wednesday, making it clear in large red letters across the top that it is his second request. “I’ve got word not one sin- gle time that they’ve made an arrest here,” Johnson said. “It’s not like it has been in the past, the pre-Trump days.” The specter of ICE raids has created tension in Hispanic communities across the Pacific Northwest. Advocates are document- ing stories of immigrants being taken into federal custody and believe ICE has arrested 32 immigrants locally in the past 18 months. Long Beach Police Chief Flint Wright said his depart- ment has had no contact with ICE since several years ago, when federal authorities noti- fied him of the possible pres- ence in the area of an armed fugitive who entered the United States unlawfully. The police department has not participated in any recent raids and does not consider immigration status in making local law enforcement deci- sions, Wright said. Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement See POLICE, Page 4A President Donald Trump has made immigration enforce- ment a priority.