CANINE CAREGIVERS LIKE AN ‘ANGEL ON A LEASH’ WEEKEND BREAK • PAGE 1C
145TH YEAR, NO. 50
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2017
ONE DOLLAR
Library
campaign
starts with
cookies
Bake sale the fi rst of
many fundraisers
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
GROWING PAINS
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Construction work continues at the new Pacific Seafood processing facility in Warrenton. The project is just one of a
growing number of developments underway in Warrenton.
Warrenton coping with growth as development booms
A bake sale this Saturday organized by
seniors and staff at Astor Place won’t be the
offi cial kick off for a fundraising campaign
to renovate the Astoria Library, but it will be
the fi rst formal event focused on bringing in
money for the project.
After years of discussion about what
should be done about the library, the Asto-
ria City Council voted in May to pursue a
$5 million renovation rather than build a
new building. The city has already set aside
$150,000 for design work and maintenance
issues, as well as $1.6 million for future con-
struction. Work on the library is expected to
begin in 2019.
See LIBRARY, Page 7A
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
F
or years, Warrenton has billed
itself as “open for business.”
B ut as development booms this
year and the city’s population con-
tinues to swell, city departments are dis-
covering growing pains along the way.
Staffi ng levels have seen little change
over the years and the city code, in many
ways, applies to a Warrenton of the
past. Now city offi cials and staff plan to
review fees and charges that haven’t been
increased in years. They are introducing
policies and enforcing code they hope
will enhance the city’s livability and pre-
serve public safety. They are streamlining
their approach to handling and reviewing
development proposals large and small,
and fi guring out exactly what Warrenton
should look like 10 or even 20 years from
now.
“This isn’t a town of 2,000 anymore,”
Mayor Henry Balensifer said. “We’re
growing and we’re becoming a larger
city and an economic powerhouse of the
region. … We’ve just got to make sure we
don’t run on auto pilot.”
‘Formalize the process’
City Planner Skip Urling is focused
almost entirely on development review
right now. Drafting legislation for the City
Commission, changing code, looking into
issues like vacation rental regulations, all
of these tasks have taken a back seat.
Warrenton Fire Chief Tim Demers esti-
mates he sometimes spends three to four
hours a day just on development — an
unusual amount of time for the average
fi re chief, but necessary in the boom War-
renton is experiencing.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Residents and staff members at Astor
Place bake cookies, brownies and cup-
cakes in the assisted living facility’s
kitchen on Thursday in preparation for
a bake sale on Saturday to raise money
for renovations to the Astoria Library.
Construction work continues at one of Warrenton’s new housing developments.
Where once someone might have been
able to walk into C ity H all with a question
for the planning or building staff and walk
away with an answer or a permit in no
time, now it takes longer to get a permit,
and the process is becoming more formal.
“People in this town are used to
walking in and getting their questions
answered,” City Manager Linda Engbret-
son said. “And sometimes we just can’t
do that. Sometimes it’s, ‘OK , I have this
report. I have this deadline. I’m the only
person who can do this. We have to sched-
ule an appointment.’”
“We have to formalize the process,”
she explained. “I think that’s a little frus-
trating for people to get used to.”
Engbretson and her staff talk often
about how to provide “excellent customer
service” with current staffi ng levels given
the high volume of projects and the adjust-
ments the city is trying to make to carry
Warrenton into the future. They plan to
bring in consultants to help with some
design review work, but other, bigger
changes are needed. Engbretson said fees
associated with development will likely
have to be increased, and eventually, the
city will need to conduct a comprehen-
sive review of its code, an expensive and
time-consuming undertaking.
Homeowner
caps a geyser
Gearhart couple
negotiates water bill
after a costly leak
‘Open for business’
When people think about Warrenton
being open for business, they usually think
big-box development.
Home Depot’s site designs were
approved in 2008, then Costco came in
See WARRENTON, Page 7A
‘WE’RE GROWING AND WE’RE BECOMING A LARGER CITY
AND AN ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE OF THE REGION. … WE’VE
JUST GOT TO MAKE SURE WE DON’T RUN ON AUTO PILOT.’
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
GEARHART — Imagine getting a
$4,600 water bill.
That’s what happened to Kate and David
McCarron, homeowners on High Ridge
Road in Gearhart. The McCarrons sent a
request for a reduction to the City Council
after receiving water bills of $875 and nearly
$3,800 .
“I thought the tax assessor had sent me an
early tax bill,” David McCarron, a physician
practicing in Portland, said . “I was shocked.
And I continue to be shocked.”
Henry Balensifer | mayor of Warrenton
See WATER BILL, Page 7A
Totem pole in Astoria no monkey business
Couple turns a
dead tree into art
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
After a beloved monkey puz-
zle tree died in their front yard,
an Astoria couple put some brains
together to create a work of art .
Bill Griesar and Robert Dueh-
mig — who serves on the Clat-
sop Community College b oard
— pondered ways to make some-
thing good come from the death
last year of the century-old tree
on the corner of Eighth Street and
Grand Avenue.
Griesar, who teaches neuro-
science at Portland State Univer-
sity and Oregon Health & Science
University, had an usual idea —
one that is a few weeks away from
coming to fruition.
Since spring, Portland designer
and fabricator Matt Cartwright
has been carving their vision: a
totem pole representing brains
of Northwest animals. Since the
initial phase of the carving was
completed earlier this week, peo-
ple have stopped by the house to
ask questions about what Grie-
sar jokingly calls the other Asto-
ria Column.
“We thought we would create
something that people would pay
attention to, ask questions and be
curious about,” Griesar said. “It
makes people swivel their heads
around.”
From top to bottom, the carving
depicts brains of a salmon, raven,
sea lion, bear, human and hump-
back whale. By the end of October,
Cartwright plans to add a
stainless steel neuron that syn-
apses with itself around the tree
underneath the brains. Finally, he
will carve a cortex — the most
visible part of the brain.
“Like our own brains, it is still
forming,” Griesar said.
The steel neuron will include
information about the brains
as well as a quote based on the
19th-century words of Nobel
Prize-winning Spanish pathol-
ogist Santiago Ramón y Cajal:
“Everyone, if they so desire, can
become sculptor of their own
brain.”
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A dead monkey puzzle tree in the front yard of
an Astoria couple’s house has been turned into
a work of art by an artist from Portland.