4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2017
Seaside: Final report
expected next March
Continued from Page 1A
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Chuck Waddell gets ready to install one of 34 solar panels on the roof of Alderbrook Station in Astoria in late August.
According to City Planner Nancy Ferber, the city sees few applications for similar projects.
Solar: ‘It was like a lightbulb went on’
Continued from Page 1A
In his role as an architect,
he had helped clients get set
up with solar power and had
long wanted to do it for him-
self. “But I always thought it
was out of reach,” he said.
Then, as he watched more
and more state and federal tax
incentives dry up or expire, he
decided to take the leap and
install panels this year while
he still could take advan-
tage of some of the programs
available.
The panels installed on
Doss’ building are positioned
so as to not impact the over-
all appearance of the building
— an important point to Doss
and city staff who reviewed his
application. He is also using a
special kind of solar panel,
designed to take advantage
of any light reflecting back
off of Alderbrook Station’s
white roof. With this design,
Doss is getting some degree of
solar power even in the mid-
dle of one of Astoria’s fre-
quent cloudy days. It is likely
he could surpass the 11.2 kilo-
watt mark, even in less-than-
ideal weather, he said.
Incentives
Tussing, a Clatsop County
native who graduated from
Knappa High School, is a solar
Eddie Phillips, left, and Chuck Waddell, right, with Preci-
sion Heating and Indoor Air Quality of Warrenton secure
themselves to the roof of Alderbrook Station in Astoria as
they install solar panels for a client.
convert now, but he, too, first
installed solar panels on his
own home purely because of
the incentives available at the
time. He remembers when he
finished installing the panels,
hit the switch and went to his
power meter to see what, if
any, changes occurred.
In his telling, he stood
there, watching the meter. It
wasn’t even slowing down.
“Oh, well,” he thought.
Then he looked back at the
meter. It stopped. Then it
started going in reverse.
“And I’ll tell you, when
that meter started going back-
wards, it was like a lightbulb
went on,” Tussing said.
Lawsuit: Argues biological opinion, proposed
flood plain rules are based on inadequate analysis
Continued from Page 1A
than 250 cities and counties
in exchange for their adopting
flood plain regulations, was
sued by environmental groups
in 2009. The groups claimed
the flood insurance program
endangered the habitat of
endangered salmon, steelhead
and southern resident killer
whales.
A settlement required
FEMA to consult with the
fisheries service on alterna-
tive practices to bring the
flood insurance program in
line, and to propose changes
to better protect endangered
species and their habitat. The
proposed alternatives would
limit development in flood-
and erosion-prone areas, fur-
ther protect salmon-bearing
surface waters from devel-
opment, enhance mapping
and identification of flood-
and erosion-prone areas, use
local governmental help track
flood plain development and
enhance enforcement.
Lawyers for Oregonians
for Floodplain Protection
argue the biological opinion
and proposed flood plain rules
are based on inadequate anal-
ysis, would restrict develop-
ment and have bypassed the
public rule-making process.
Their lawsuit seeks an injunc-
tion against the fisheries ser-
vice to withdraw the opinion
and suspend implementation
of the alternatives until after
a public rule-making pro-
cess and a review under the
National Environmental Pol-
icy Act.
Lawyers for the agen-
cies argue that the plaintiffs
lack sufficient facts to deter-
mine whether the govern-
ment’s actions have caused the
alleged harm, and thus lack
standing for a lawsuit.
“Plaintiffs’ claims against
FEMA must also be dismissed
based on principles of ripe-
ness and finality as FEMA
has not undertaken a final
agency action nor committed
to a major federal action,” the
response said.
In addition to heating and
cooling systems, his com-
pany now installs solar panels
in Washington state’s Pacific
County as well as Clatsop
County. He said he is a “one
man band,” singing the praises
of solar energy.
Jason Dunsmoor, chief of
engineering operations for the
Pacific County Public Utility
District, estimated that more
than half of the 27 customers
there who have solar power
on their accounts signed on
in the last two years because
they feared certain incen-
tive programs were going to
expire. The Washington State
Legislature, however, recently
passed a bill to replace an old
incentives program with a new
one.
As incentives disappear
in Oregon, however, Tussing
fears solar installations could
be a harder sell. But he has
faith in the evolving nature of
the technology and believes
that battery innovations, power
or energy storage are the future
of solar.
“We think that the study
will provide a great deal of
information for the govern-
ing bodies to be able to ade-
quately analyze the issues
we face as far as workforce
housing is concerned in Clat-
sop County,” City Manager
Mark Winstanley said Mon-
day. “It’s not an issue for
individual cities, it is an issue
for all of the areas of Clatsop
County.”
He said a study that
embraces
the
entire
county “would be entirely
appropriate.”
“We think this would be a
very good way to take a look
at this problem,” Winstanley
said.
“I think $10,000 is a bar-
gain for that,” Mayor Jay
Barber said.
Development fees
The city reviewed a pro-
posal from the FCS Group
to review the city’s water,
wastewater and parks system
development charges.
According to Winstanley,
FCS Group last reviewed and
updated the system develop-
ment charges in 2008.
System
development
charges are sometimes cited
by developers as barriers to
affordable housing in the
community.
A 2015 Clatsop County
“housing huddle” identified
high system development
charges as an impediment to
Seaside’s housing growth.
Before abandoning plans
for 80-homes on a 15-acre
parcel known as Blue Heron,
property owner Max Ritchie
said one of the reasons for
the huge unmet need of
workforce housing in Sea-
side is that the high cost of
system development charges
deters builders from taking
on projects.
“With such a huge
demand for housing, I think
the city should enact a tem-
porary waiver of system
development fees to encour-
age builders to meet the
housing need,” Ritchie said
in 2016.
The new study will con-
duct an inventory of exist-
ing fixed assets, debt service
schedules and ordinances.
The inventory will be
followed by policy review
and technical analysis. The
analysis will calculate the
“improvement fee” portion
of each system development
charge and a recommended
allocation approach.
Councilors unanimously
voted to move forward with
the proposal.
With a budget slightly
above $32,000, data collec-
tion and analysis will take
about 90 days to complete.
A final report will be deliv-
ered to the City Council next
March.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Seaside is taking steps to address a housing shortage.
D ONNA L YNN
Q UASHNICK (H AGERT )
Donna Lynn Quashnick (Hagert), 58, died peacefully on
Sept. 4, 2017. She was born July 27, 1959 at the Patuxent
River Naval Air Station in the hospital in Lexington Park, MD.
to Curve and Shirley Hagert, who survive her, in Astoria, OR.
Donna was part of a proud Coast Guard family growing up.
Throughout her childhood, Donna and her family lived in
several east and west coast communities. The family settled in
Astoria in 1974. Donna graduated from Astoria High School in
1977.
Donna married her best friend and soulmate Richard Quashnick
on July 2, 1982. The couple honeymooned on a fi shing trip to
Kenai, Alaska. This landmark
trip began her 35 year legacy of
“boat mom”; always taking care
of captain and crew.
Donna, was known as “Nanna”,
will be remembered for her
generosity, laughter, kindness,
and her loyalty. Her life was
spent surrounded by friends
and family always having a
good time. Donna never missed
an opportunity to help those
in need, fi nding a way to take
care of others was her specialty.
She loved all children and took
as many as she could under her
wing, welcoming them into her
“Nanna family”. Her greatest joy
in life was spoiling and spending time with her grandchildren. She will forever hold a
special place in the hearts of those who were blessed to know her.
She is proceeded in death by her grandparents, including her
beloved “Nanna” Aunt Sally; Uncles Bill and Paul; son-in-law
David; grandson Landen, and nephew Jason.
She is survived by her husband, Rick Quashnick and the six
children between them; Julia (Chris), Wendy (Greg), Tabatha
(Robert), Tonya (Jesse), Tara, and Kingston “Mo”. Nine
grandchildren; Amanda, Corey, Riley, Christopher, Mason,
Logan, Beau, Austin and MeiLani. Three sisters; Cheryle
(Brent), her twin Denise (Mark) and Patrice (Kenneth), and
numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
A celebration of life is to be held on September 23, 2017, at
the Clatsop County Fairgrounds at 4 p.m.
The family requests that in lieu of fl owers, that
donations be made to Nanna’s favorite charity;
Deep Sea Fisherman’s Benefi t Fund
PO Box 1062
Warrenton, OR. 97146