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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2017)
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 78 ONE DOLLAR Knight inks three more years as Port leader Commission split in 3-2 vote By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Port of Astoria Executive Director Jim Knight received a three-year contract extension and a pay raise Tuesday after a 3-2 vote by the Port Commission. Commissioners Frank Spence, James Camp- bell and Robert Stevens voted to extend Knight’s contract . Commissioner Bill Hunsinger vocally opposed the extension and said Knight should resign or be fi red. Although sup- portive of Knight, Commissioner Dirk Rohne preferred a rolling contract subject to annual perfor- mance reviews. Knight started at the Port in October 2014 on a three-year con- tract . His new contract, negotiated Jim by Spence, starts in November Knight at a base salary of $168,375 — a 4 percent increase over his cur- rent salary — and runs three years. After the ini- tial term, the contract includes two one-year exten- sion options that would take Knight through 2022. The contract extension comes days after a $4 million verdict against the Port for breach of con- tract and fraud in a lawsuit brought by Param Hotel Corp. over operation of the Astoria Riverwalk Inn. A jury found that Knight knowingly made false representations and misled Param in the Port- land company’s failed negotiations to assume the remaining lease of troubled former hotel operator Brad Smithart. Knight had an individual fraud claim brought by Param against him dismissed, but the verdict included nearly $3.8 million in damages for fraud against the Port. Out of the nest Photos by Amelia O’Connor Cormorants nesting at Cape Falcon Marine Reserve. Volunteers help collect cormorant data at Cape Falcon By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian T See PORT, Page 7A Ballots head to voters in Gearhart ABOVE: Citizen scientists can be important to research projects. BELOW: Volunteers help gather data on cormorants at Cape Falcon. Vacation rental rules, years in the making, face repeal By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian GEARHART — R esidents in Gearhart perceive the vote to repeal and replace vacation rental rules to be a dramatic turning point that could determine the future look and direction of the community. With ballots on their way today to the city’s 1,245 registered voters, advocates of Measure 4-188 say the new rules take away their property rights and will cost the city millions in lost tour- ism dollars . City offi cials and many residents counter that a repeal would jeopardize Gearhart’s residential character. They, too, say property rights are at stake and that the rules promote much-needed long-term rental housing. Vote “no” advocates warn repeal could lead to overcrowding and health and safety hazards. The issue comes to a head at the ballot box on Nov. 7 , the result of years of discussion and debate. Ongoing debate In 2013, city leaders and residents raised con- cerns over “renters’ mentality” and how vacation ‘MORE AND MORE, COMMUNITY SCIENCE IS GOING TO BE IMPORTANT FOR AGENCIES AND (ORGANIZATIONS) LIKE AUDUBON.’ Joe Liebezeit | avaian conservation manager for the Audubon Society of Portland he cormorants always saw the eagles before he did. Jeremy Sappington would be at his spotting scope above Devil’s Cauldron in Oswald West State Park, watching the sea birds as they cleaned, preened and clamored. Then, suddenly, the birds would go deathly still. Out of the corner of his eye, Sappington would see an eagle cruise past the cliffs. Sappington, who lives in Manza- nita, was one of over a dozen volun- teers who spent the summer observing cormorants at the Cape Falcon Marine Reserve. One day each week, they set up their scopes and honed in on the col- onies, recording the number of eggs in nests and keeping track of the chicks’ development from afar. The data they have collected for the last two years will inform a report and comparison of data by the Audubon Society of Portland this fall, as well as feed broad, aerial surveys conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service each year. While the agency can collect gen- eral information about the number of birds present in a region, commu- nity scientists are helping paint a more detailed picture of how the birds are faring. Doing this work without volunteers would be challenging, especially for agencies like Fish and Wildlife where there is less and less funding to go around, said Joe Liebezeit, avian con- servation manager for the Audubon Society of Portland. “More and more, community sci- ence is going to be important for agen- cies and (organizations) like Audubon,” he said. See CORMORANTS, Page 7A See GEARHART, Page 7A Housing developer moves forward on Waldorf project Some affordable housing planned next to City Hall By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Innovative Housing is clos- ing in on a purchase of the for- mer Waldorf Hotel for $80,000 from demolition and recycling company Groat Bros. Inc. Earlier this year, Innova- tive Housing began a due dil- igence period on whether to buy the dilapidated h otel and turn it into 40 units of afford- able housing next to Astoria City Hall. During a recent tour , Julie Garver, the group’s d irec- tor of h ousing d evelopment, said the nonprofi t had fi nished that due diligence after ensur- ing there was no extensive oil plume beneath the building. Innovative Housing has paid earnest money on the building, and will close the purchase in May, Garver said. As part of its due diligence, Innovative Housing had a geo- technical engineer test soil underneath the foundation. “When we dug into one hole, he found black soil that smelled like oil, and that means that there is oil there,” Garver said. The state Department of Environmental Quality was notifi ed, triggering a series of tests to see how much oil was in the ground, and where it was going. “The DEQ actually made us take a drill rig out to the street to see if we had a plume of contamination that we were causing that was going toward the river, because that’s what they start to get really excited about,” Garver said. “And for- tunately, we have no plume, and that is the reason we’re buying the building.” The belief is that some underground piping from oil tanks to a boiler leaked, Garver said. Innovative See WALDORF, Page 7A Julie Garver, left, the hous- ing develop- ment director for Innovative Housing Inc., points out a boring the group did to test soils. Edward Stratton The Daily Astorian
