3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
Hood to Coast looks to ink long-term Seaside deal
Discord from
2015 relay a
thing of past
‘This is a lot different
than two years ago.
The sentiment and the
feeling has really changed
dramatically and in
a very positive way.’
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Two years
ago it was unclear if Hood to
Coast would return to Seaside.
The iconic 198-mile relay
starting at Timberline Lodge
and ending at the Seaside Prom
fi rst arrived here in the 1980s.
But mounting complaints
from residents and businesses
about unruly behavior, traffi c
and poor organization brought
angry crowds to City Council
meetings and threatened to end
the relationship.
The 2015 relay may have
been the low point: with high
winds and downpours, crowds
fi lled Broadway and tensions
soared. Business owners said
organizers arbitrarily closed
Dan Floyd
Hood to Coast chief operating officer
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Hood to Coast Chief Op-
erating Officer Dan Floyd
spoke at Monday’s City
Council meeting.
streets, tapped into private
power sources and illegally
sold wares on the street.
After the 2015 run, the City
Council threatened to sever
ties to the event. Dozens of
local business owners signed
a letter expressing discon-
tent “that the overall impact
of hosting this massive event
during the busy summer tour-
ist season is negative.”
At the time, some council-
ors called the event “overrated”
and sought greater responsive-
ness from organizers.
On Monday night, evidence
of the new bond between the
city and Hood to Coast orga-
nizers was on full display.
Hood to Coast Chief Oper-
ating Offi cer Dan Floyd
appeared before the City
Council looking to lock in the
race for 2018 and begin dis-
cussions for a possible multi-
year deal.
“We want to come back
and we want to come back for
many more years,” Floyd told
councilors. “Rather than ask-
ing for one year, we want to
look for a long-term commit-
ment to be a very long time.”
Councilors praised the
organization and its role in the
community.
“This is an incredible event
and I’m very proud to have it
in Seaside,” Councilor Dana
Phillips said.
Floyd
attributed
the
improved relationship to city
leadership and personnel
changes at the Hood to Coast
organization.
“We were not without sin in
this case,” Floyd said. “In the
last fi ve years there has been
a pretty signifi cant change in
staff and the way we’ve trained
volunteers.”
Runners from 43 coun-
tries and 50 states participated
in this year’s race. The race
brings in about 18,000 runners,
Floyd said, and the city gener-
ally collects about $1 per head.
Funds from Hood to Coast
raised more than $730,000 for
Providence Cancer Center in
2017.
The Seaside Chamber of
Commerce nets about another
$30,000 by staffi ng and oper-
ating the event’s beer garden.
“This is a lot different than
two years ago,” Floyd said
after the meeting. “The senti-
ment and the feeling has really
changed dramatically and in a
very positive way.”
“They’ve addressed situa-
tions that in the past years that
were negative and have turned
them into positives,” Brian
Owen, executive director of
the Seaside Chamber of Com-
merce said. “It’s a good, strong
partnership. We all win.”
Future meetings with Hood
to Coast organizers will deter-
mine details about the 2018
race, including compensation
and a potential long-term deal,
City Manager Mark Winstan-
ley said.
In the meantime, the coun-
cil approved the one-year
extension.
“I am fully confi dent that
we will be working together
for a long time,” Floyd said.
The 2018 race is scheduled
for Aug. 24 and Aug. 25.
Morgan to help with Astoria planning State claims feds are backtracking
was leaving, he offered his
on Portland Harbor cleanup plan
services to the city. He will
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
A former Cannon Beach
mayor will assist Astoria’s
Community Development
Department while the city
searches for a new director.
Mike Morgan, who was
Cannon Beach’s mayor from
2009 until 2015, will serve
as interim city planner, help-
ing City Planner Nancy Fer-
ber tackle various projects
in the department while the
city searches for a replace-
ment for former Community
Development Director Kevin
Cronin. City Manager Brett
Estes, himself a former Asto-
ria community development
director, will act as interim
director in the meantime.
Cronin, who was hired in
2015, announced in Septem-
ber that he was leaving the
department to pursue other
opportunities. H is last day
was Friday .
The Daily Astorian
Former Cannon Beach
Mayor Mike Morgan will
serve as interim city plan-
ner in Astoria.
This isn’t the fi rst time
Morgan has taken on city
planning work with the city.
His time with Astoria
dates back to the 1970s and
he was the city planner from
1987 to 1991. He has also
served as interim city plan-
ner before, most recently to
fi ll a gap in 2015 after long-
time planner Rosemary John-
son retired.
“I’ve seen something like
four decades of development
here,” Morgan said.
When he learned Cronin
be in the Community Devel-
opment offi ce three days a
week. At 71 years old, he’s
not interested in applying for
Cronin’s old job.
“I’m happy to have my
freedom and help the city fi nd
a good person,” he said.
Estes said the cost of hir-
ing Morgan will depend on
how long Morgan will need
to stay on as interim planner,
but it will cost less than pay-
ing a director’s salary.
He said the city is also
looking at how to use some
of the salary savings to have
planners with the Columbia
River Estuary Study Task-
force review more permits.
The organization works with
cities and agencies along the
Columbia River estuary in
Oregon and Washington state,
and already reviews some
permits for Astoria. Planners
there could have the capacity
to take on more, Estes said.
Aerial photos show wildfi re losses in the Gorge
Associated Press
CASCADE LOCKS —
New aerial photos show
severe damage to some parts
of the Columbia River Gorge
from a large wildfi re that con-
tinues to burn.
The photos taken Sun-
day by The Oregonian show
the areas most impacted by
the blaze include Oneonta
Gorge, Eagle Creek and Tan-
ner Creek.
McCord Creek near Cas-
cade Locks and Moffett Creek
are also severely burned.
Some trails in the gorge
won’t open until spring and
some may not open for a
year or two.
The fi re erupted Sept. 2
and has burned more than 75
square miles. It continues to
burn in some areas but is not
expected to grow.
The risk of rockslides and
mudslides in the burned area
is high as the winter rainy
season begins.
Inspection fi nds maintenance fl aws at salmon pens
Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. —
State offi cials say an inspec-
tion has found maintenance
issues at Cooke Aquacul-
ture’s farmed salmon opera-
tion off Bainbridge Island.
The state Department of
Natural Resources on Mon-
day issued a default notice
and gave the company 60
days to fi x the problems.
Public Lands Commis-
sioner Hilary Franz said in a
statement that they need to
make sure Cooke’s salmon
farms are structurally sound
given the August collapse
at its Cypress Island facility.
Tens of thousands of non-na-
tive Atlantic salmon were
released into Puget Sound.
A contractor hired by the
state found issues at Cooke’s
farms in Rich Passage,
including a hole in netting
and severe corrosion on fl oat-
ing piers. The state says com-
panies that lease state aquatic
lands must maintain property
in good order.
Another state agency
approved a permit last week
for Cooke to stock its net pens
with 1 million juvenile Atlan-
tic salmon.
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By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — Offi cials in
Oregon are accusing the fed-
eral government of going
behind their backs to under-
mine a plan to clean up toxic
pollution along the Willa-
mette River in Portland.
In January, two weeks
before President Barack
Obama left the White House,
the U.S. Environmental Pro-
tection Agency announced
a fi nal $1.05 billion cleanup
plan for a 10-mile stretch
of the Willamette River that
became polluted from a cen-
tury of industrial use.
But the EPA, under Pres-
ident Donald Trump, has
been negotiating part of the
plan with some of the compa-
nies responsible for cleanup,
Richard Whitman, the direc-
tor of the Oregon Depart-
ment of Environmental Qual-
ity, complained in a letter
to a regional EPA boss on
Thursday.
Gov. Kate Brown made
the letter public on Monday.
She urged the EPA “to honor
its commitment to work col-
laboratively and transpar-
ently with the state, city, and
all responsible parties.”
In his letter, Whitman
told Michelle Pirzadeh, act-
ing regional EPA admin-
istrator in Seattle, that the
changes could lead to “sig-
nifi cant additional delays in
the implementation of any
remedy.”
Whitman said a draft
agreement between the EPA
and some companies respon-
sible for the cleanup calls
for more sediment samples
to be taken, and for fi sh con-
sumption rates to be updated.
He said such tactics appear
intended to call into ques-
tion the underpinnings of the
cleanup plan announced in
January. Furthermore, Whit-
man wrote that the federal
agency’s failure to coordi-
nate and consult violates a
memorandum of understand-
ing between federal, state and
tribal parties.
Mark MacIntyre, spokes-
man for the EPA’s regional
offi ce, had no immediate
comment. He said he was
seeking information from
EPA headquarters in Wash-
ington, D.C., but noted
that Monday was a federal
holiday.
In an email to Pirzadeh,
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler
and Commissioner Nick Fish
said they are deeply trou-
bled that state, tribal and
local stakeholders have been
excluded from an opportu-
nity to review changes in
plans.
The polluted stretch
of river is called the Port-
land Harbor Superfund Site.
Superfund sites are contami-
nated areas identifi ed by the
federal government as candi-
dates for cleanup.
“We must move forward
with the cleanup of the Port-
land Harbor, but the federal
administration’s latest direc-
tion to the EPA undermines
the progress we’ve made,”
Brown said.
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