145TH YEAR, NO. 73
ONE DOLLAR
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2017
Seaside
takes ‘one
more step’
in campus
project
City Council OKs plan
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Before shovels can break
ground for a new high school campus, Sea-
side needed to rezone two parcels — one 40
acres and the second 49 acres.
With the third reading of two ordinances
Monday night, the City Council opened
the door for development of the campus,
designed to replace old and vulnerable build-
ings in the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
“It’s one more step in the process of
moving forward,” Seaside
School District Superin-
tendent Sheila Roley said
after the council meeting.
“The meeting tonight was
really about clarification
of wording and setting up
clearly stated ordinances
Sheila
that reflect the urban growth
Roley
boundary change.”
The property, located
at 2000 Spruce Drive, includes the residen-
tial portion of the existing Seaside Heights
Elementary School site outside the wetlands
zone.
The new campus, approved by a $99.7
million bond vote in November, will be built
on 89 acres, 49 of that designated as county
forest and the other 40 zoned residential.
Photos by Marlin Martin/Clatsop Community Action
Regional food bank volunteers process fresh fish for delivery to low-income clients.
Fish on the menu
Family food budgets
catch a break
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
See SEASIDE, Page 7A
A
Trial on Port
hotel begins
Favoritism allegations
against commissioners
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
A trial over allegations that the Port of
Astoria played favorites in a lucrative deal
for the Astoria Riverwalk Inn kicked off
Tuesday.
A lawyer for Param Hotel Corp. ques-
tioned former Port interim executive direc-
tor Mike Weston and Param’s owner, Ganesh
Sonpatki, about how the deal came together
and subsequently fell apart.
Sonpatki had been trying to take over the
Riverwalk Inn since 2014 from Brad Smi-
thart, the hotel’s former heavily indebted
operator. The company sued the Port for
breach of contract in November 2015, shortly
after the agency chose another operator.
Param claims the Port violated an agree-
ment approved by the Port Commission and
showed local favoritism toward Astoria Hos-
pitality Ventures, a company owned by Asto-
ria native William Orr, whose brother-in-law
Stephen Fulton was a Port commissioner
at the time he gained the lease. Param also
sued Port Executive Director Jim Knight for
fraud.
ABOVE: Fresh salmon wait to be processed for low-income families by volun-
teers at the Clatsop Community Action Regional Food Bank as part of an ini-
tiative to provide higher quality food options. BELOW: Marlin Martin, left, and
Dusten Martin, right, process fish at the Clatsop Community Action Regional
Food Bank in Warrenton. The facility has been providing high quality food op-
tions to low-income families since 2012.
5-year-old program by Clatsop
Community Action Regional Food
Bank has expanded its capacity to
deliver fresh fish to low-income families.
And local staffers hope the idea will
catch on with other food banks.
The regional food bank now serves
up to 25,000 pounds of fish each year —
a healthy alternative for families whose
budgets often can’t afford fresh food. It
also offers elk, venison and produce.
While continuing its 9-year partner-
ship with Fishhawk Fisheries to process
food, the food bank has also struck up a
relationship this year with Pacific Sea-
foods — a much larger operation.
The partnership stems from a state law
passed five years ago giving private com-
panies more incentives to process fish for
food banks. State Rep. Deborah Boone,
D-Cannon Beach, pushed the bill through
the state Legislature. To date, Clatsop
Community Action is the only one of 20
food banks in the state to utilize it.
“We are definitely a horse of a differ-
ent color in the food banking world,” said
Marlin Martin, director of the regional
food bank. “We do not believe in ware-
housing food. We believe that we’re a
food distributor and that our job is to get
it on the table of low-income people suf-
fering from hunger as quickly as humanly
possible.”
Thousands of pounds
Before the change in state law, Clat-
sop Community Action could accept
donations of bycatch — unintention-
ally caught fish — from the state Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon
See FISH, Page 8A
See TRIAL, Page 7A
Warrenton to redesign unsafe intersection
Some private
property will
be affected
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — A problematic
intersection in Warrenton is getting an
upgrade next year.
Due to its size and alignment, the
intersection of S.W. Ninth Street and
S. Main Avenue is a safety hazard,
according to city staff.
“I think it’s been an issue since it
was designed,” said City Engineer Col-
lin Stelzig, the interim Public Works
director.
‘I THINK IT’S BEEN AN ISSUE
SINCE IT WAS DESIGNED.’
Collin Stelzig | city engineer and interim Public Works director
It can be difficult to navigate the
intersection and turn safely if another
car is present, and the intersection
can’t accommodate all vehicle types,
especially larger vehicles. Still, school
buses must use the intersection to
reach Warrenton Elementary School.
At a City Commission meeting
Tuesday night, city staff proposed a
design that would adjust the position of
the intersection slightly to allow vehi-
cles to safely maneuver through the
area. The new design would cut into
small slivers of surrounding private
property, requiring the city to obtain
additional right of way through ease-
ments or by purchasing the affected
sections of land.
“Public Works believes we have
developed a schematic design that
is economical and requires the least
amount of additional right of way,”
wrote City Manager Linda Engbretson
in a memo to commissioners.
The capital improvement project
was not on the city’s list of projects for
the fiscal year, but Engbretson said it
had long been one city staff hoped to
move up the priority list if possible.
Another street project on S.E. Second
Street that came in under budget gave
them an opening, she said.
The city has $175,000 left over from
that street project and proposes putting
the money toward a redesign of the
Ninth Street and Main Avenue intersec-
tion. Design and construction work is
estimated to cost $160,000.
Commissioners Pam Ackley, Mark
Baldwin, Tom Dyer and Rick Newton
approved a request by staff to contract
for design services and construction
at the Ninth Street and Main Avenue
intersection. Mayor Henry Balensifer
was not present. City staff plan to begin
talking soon with property owners who
will be affected by the redesign. Work
is expected to begin next summer.