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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 2017)
WARRENTON HIGH SCHOOL WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWS SPORTS • PAGE 10A DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 107 Warming centers struggle to find help ONE DOLLAR The bigger picture Astoria and Warrenton shelters need volunteers By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian The Astoria Warming Center closed for the night after organizers couldn’t find enough volunteers Saturday. Dan Parkison, the president of the warm- ing center’s board, spent hours on the phone and internet, trying to find help, before he and the other board members made the deci- sion to close. With more paid staff on hand this year, the warming center at First United Methodist Church actually needs fewer volunteers than in the past. But people are not volunteering this year like there were last year. ‘THERE WERE A LOT OF STUNNED PEOPLE. I COULD SEE THAT IN THEIR FACES.’ Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Nick Betts puts the finishing touches on a paint job for Coaster Construction at a home in Cannon Beach. Developer proposes code changes in Cannon Beach to encourage affordable housing Dan Parkison | president of the warming center’s board By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian The Warrenton Warming Center is also struggling to find volunteers. The two shel- ters operate under simple, and similar, mis- sion statements: To get people off the streets when temperatures dip dangerously low. The Astoria center includes factors like rainfall in temperature assessments, allowing more flex- ibility with when it decides to open. Already, the center has opened for five different nights since the start of the season in mid-Novem- ber. Warrenton has not opened at all, yet. There are over 200 people on the Asto- ria center’s volunteer list, of which less than 10 are “really dedicated,” Parkison said. He worries about wearing out those few ded- icated people, and wearing out staff. After gathering feedback from current and past volunteers, he and board members are now scrutinizing how they recruit and communi- cate with volunteers. “We can take this one instance (of clos- ing) and react to it and respond to it so we do a better job,” Parkison said See WARMING CENTERS, Page 4A Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian The Astoria Warming Center at the First United Methodist Church had to close Saturday because of a lack of volunteers. C ANNON BEACH — It’s been almost a year since the Sea Lark Apartments burned down, and the owner, Mike Clark of Coaster Properties, is looking to rebuild. The fourplex on North Larch Street was one of the city’s few affordable hous- ing options. Clark hopes to maintain the affordable rent while expanding the com- plex to eight units. But there are some hurdles. Increasing density would be easier with three stories, which is hard to execute with the city’s 28-foot building height restriction. Clark would also need a parking variance, since there is not enough room on the property for the parking the city requires for eight units. It’s details like this that made Clark decide to not only request a variance to rebuild the Sea Lark, but to propose a variety of zoning or ordinance changes he believes would make it easier for private developers to build workforce housing, said Rainmar Bartl, a former city planner who represents Clark. “He’s been frus- trated trying to get something started,” Bartl said. “So he’s decided to address the bigger picture.” Bartl and Clark proposed the changes to parking and landscaping requirements, height restrictions and zoning at a Plan- ning Commission work session last week. Some commissioners expressed reserva- Aaron Olson paints the ceiling of a new home in Cannon Beach for Coaster Construction. tions about how the changes would affect “the character of Cannon Beach,” but ultimately decided to hold a public hear- ing in late January. Proposed changes City councilors named creating more affordable housing the No. 1 priority last year. A housing study commissioned by the city found that second homes make up 60 percent of housing. Of the 722 homes occupied by full-time residents, only 45 percent were rentals. According to the study, the city’s housing problem is a lack of affordable housing for the “missing middle.” “These are nurses, police, firefight- ers, city staff and other community pro- fessionals; they may be relatively highly paid and make too much money to income qualify for publicly subsidized housing but too little money to afford market rate rental units,” the report states. See HOUSING, Page 4A ‘IF YOU’RE GOING TO RELY ON THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO SOLVE THIS, IT FINANCIALLY HAS TO WORK OUT FOR THEM.’ Rainmar Bartl | a former city planner who represents Mike Clark of Coaster Properties Deer hunting limited after tough winter Steps taken to help wildlife populations By BOB MOEN Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Hunting guide Mike Clark normally has more than 20 clients lined up each fall for trips deep into Wyoming’s western wilderness to shoot mule deer, prized by hunters for their size and impressive antlers. But unusually cold weather and heavy snowfall that blan- keted much of the West- ern U.S. last winter killed off many young deer. And that prompted wildlife officials throughout the Rocky Moun- tain states to take measures such as reducing the number of hunting permits to try to help devastated wildlife popu- lations rebound. Clark took only six mule deer hunters out in September and October who were lucky enough to get permits. He estimated that he lost 40 per- cent of his income as a result. If it wasn’t for the hunters he was guiding this year to shoot elk that generally survived the brutal winter, Clark said, “We’d pretty much be selling out.” In one remote part of Wyo- ming’s backcountry where peaks soar to 11,000 feet, state wildlife managers doc- umented the loss of all fawns they had been monitoring in a mule deer herd. To help the herd recover, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission reduced the num- ber of deer permits for out-of- state residents from 600 to 400 in the area where Clark oper- ates, cut the hunting season to 22 days and limited hunters to killing older bucks. See HUNTING, Page 4A Keith Kohl/ Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Elk feed at the Wenaha Wildlife Area near Troy in Janu- ary. Wildlife managers in some Western states cut back hunting this fall in areas where big game herds suffered above-normal losses during the 2016-17 winter.