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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2017
Astoria High School students can now park at Tapiola
City Council
also seeks
housing grant
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria City Council
took a stab at solving parking
issues at Astoria High School
at a meeting Monday night,
voting to allow students to
park at nearby Tapiola Park.
High school administra-
tors say the demand for stu-
dent parking has exceeded
the capacity available on
school grounds. However, stu-
dents who have opted to park
instead at Tapiola are violat-
ing a city ordinance that pro-
hibits people 7 to 18 years old
to be in the park during school
hours.
Construction on West
Marine Drive has contributed
to lack of parking options,
City Manager Brett Estes
said. But, also, as the econ-
omy improves, more students
appear to be driving their own
cars to school, clogging up the
parking lot, Parks and Recre-
ation Director Angela Cosby
said.
“(School administrators)
are not sure if it’s going to
stick around or not so they’re
starting to look at all options,”
Cosby said. “We are looking
at it as kind of a test trial.”
The ordinance was writ-
ten to make sure students
didn’t stay in the park instead
of going to school. However,
Cosby was in favor of the pro-
posed modifi cations since the
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Astoria High School students will be able to park at Tapiola Park.
new ordinance requires stu-
dents to go directly to school
and authorizes school admin-
istrators to be responsible
for the students parking at
Tapiola.
In other business:
• The City Council
approved applying for a grant
that would help low- or mod-
erate-income individuals reha-
bilitate their houses.
The non profi t Commu-
nity Action Team had asked
the city to apply for $400,000
through the Community
Development Block Grant
program . The money would
be available across the three
counties the group serves —
Clatsop, Columbia and Til-
lamook — though company
representatives said the Asto-
ria area would be marketed
to fi rst. They estimated the
money, provided to appli-
cants as zero-interest loans,
could benefi t at least 66 peo-
ple in need of home rehabilita-
tion services such as handicap
accessibility or plumbing and
roofi ng repairs.
According to Commu-
nity Action Team, Astoria is
in a perfect position to apply
for the grant since the city
received a grant from this
same program in 2011 for the
Astoria Senior Center and has
all the necessary documents in
place.
“This is just perfect for us
and it’s greatly appreciated,”
said Mayor Arline LaMear,
commenting that Astoria, like
many cities, struggles to house
Salmon pen collapse followed earlier breakdown
Associated Press
SEATTLE — A report to
state regulators says a col-
lapse of an Atlantic salmon
net pen last August was pre-
ceded by a serious break-
down less than a month ear-
lier in which nearly half of its
anchor lines snapped.
The
Seattle
Times
reported the owner of the
Cypress Island net pen,
Cooke Aquaculture Pacifi c,
fi led last week a chronology
of the net pen collapse that
spewed more than 160,000
adult Atlantic salmon into
Puget Sound.
More than 100,000 of
those fi sh are still unac-
counted for.
The report was provided
to state investigators looking
into the collapse.
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its low-income and homeless
populations, but also has very
little land available for new
development.
• The City Council took the
next step toward library reno-
vation work.
The councilors authorized
city staff to solicit propos-
als for architectural and engi-
neering services to take a close
look at the existing Astoria
Library building on the corner
of 10th and Duane s treets, as
well as examine and update a
library renovation study devel-
oped in 2013. The fi rst con-
ceptual designs and budgets
will come out of this process,
as well.
“This fi rst step is really
(about) starting to help us
assess the situation, give us a
preliminary framework,” City
Manager Brett Estes said.
City staff say the library
renovation will cost an esti-
mated $5 million. Fundraising
efforts have been underway
since September. Work on the
building is expected to begin
in 2019.
• Mayor LaMear recognized
longtime city forester Mike
Barnes, who has announced
his retirement. During the 14
years Barnes worked as a con-
sultant for the city, he main-
tained and updated the water-
shed forest management plan,
led efforts to sell carbon cred-
its on the watershed forest and
conducted controlled timber
harvests and replanting efforts
in the watershed.
“After the epic windstorm
of December 2007 many acres
of the urban forest within the
city limits were totally blown
down,” LaMear said, read-
ing from a statement. “Mike
was instrumental in organiz-
ing a salvage log operation to
recover the blown down tim-
ber for sale to area saw mills.
He also managed the effort
to replant the wind-damaged
areas so the urban forest would
eventually return to its pre-
storm condition.”
She said Barnes has always
been a team player and added,
“Mike’s a great guy to work
with.”
“Everybody’s been out-
standing,” Barnes said. “I
wish the city well. You have
an excellent resource in the
Bear Creek w atershed. It will
continue to provide the main
thing it provides: water, water,
water. Quality and quantity.
… Thank you for letting me
become a part of the city for a
short number of years.”
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