ENCORE DANCE BEHIND HOLIDAY TOY DRIVE COAST WEEKEND
145TH YEAR, NO. 119
ONE DOLLAR
DailyAstorian.com //
Astoria looks
at permits for
Airbnb-type
rental housing
Tug escorts needed if oil
tanker traffic increases
An attempt to curb
illegal operations
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
People looking to offer Airbnb-type rentals
based out of houses and apartments in Astoria may
be required get a permit in the future.
The Astoria City Council discussed new, stricter
requirements for rental operations during a work
session Wednesday. A proposal detailing a permit
structure and amendments to city code could be in
front of the council to discuss — and vote on —
sometime in the next three months.
A draft permit process staff presented Wednes-
day builds on Astoria’s minimal requirements for
homestay lodging and represents an attempt to curb
illegal rentals — an issue cities across the country
have struggled with since the rise of vacation rental
advertising platforms like Airbnb and VRBO.
‘THIS ISN’T THE LAST
BITE OF THE APPLE,
BUT IT PROVIDES US
WITH THE ABILITY
TO START PUTTING
SOMETHING IN
WRITING NOW.’
Brett Estes | city manager of Astoria
“This isn’t the last bite of the apple, but it pro-
vides us with the ability to start putting something
in writing now,” City Manager Brett Estes said.
Astoria does not allow vacation rentals — where
an entire house is rented out — in residential neigh-
borhoods, but does allow a short-term rental option
referred to as homestay lodging. The city asks peo-
ple setting up homestay lodging in their house or
apartment to file a business license with the city,
submit lodging taxes to the Finance Department
and meet off-street parking requirements. The
homes also must be owner-occupied with an owner
on site when guests or renters are present.
A permit for homestay lodging would apply
across the city’s zones and require people to sub-
mit more information, making it easier for staff and
police to track rentals, address issues as they come
up and ensure an operation is in compliance, Estes
and City Planner Nancy Ferber said.
A permit may not be able to cut back on people
who rent out illegally, Estes said, but “if there’s a lit-
tle bit of a hammer to say if you sign up and you don’t
have the permit, there is a penalty associated with
it. … Word will get out, ‘Hey you really need to go
through the city process to avoid any of these issues.’”
‘Changes daily’
City councilors disagree about the degree to
which Airbnb-type rental practices and homestay
lodging reduce available housing or impact the
economy. They do worry about the overall effect on
the community and the illegal operations that bypass
city requirements such as paying the lodging tax.
Right now, city staff have compliance informa-
tion on only 15 hosts, but are working to investi-
gate other rental operations to determine who is and
who isn’t following the rules. The Finance Depart-
ment saw $9,900 in lodging tax collected from the
Coast Guard
The Argent Cosmos, 557-foot tanker loaded with ethanol and glycol, ran aground in January near Skamokawa,
Wash. A recent report by the Washington Department of Ecology pointed to river mile 39, near Skamokawa and
the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge, as the most dangerous spot on the Lower Columbia River for transiting ships.
Study finds risk of oil spills low, but concerning
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
T
he risk of oil spills on the
Columbia River is very low, a
new study into vessel traffic and
safety has found, but more tethered tug
escorts might be needed if new marine
terminals increase tanker traffic.
Less than 5 percent of the 1,400
vessels on the lower stretch of the
river each year carry bulk oil as cargo,
equating to more than 470 one-way
trips. Most of the oil traffic carried
refined products upriver to terminals in
Oregon and Washington state.
The study, issued to the Washington
Legislature in November, identified
five proposed bulk terminals creating a
potential of up to 1,379 additional one-
way trips, mostly by tankers. Most of
the terminal projects are in Washing-
ton state, including coal in Longview,
methanol in Kalama and calcium car-
bonate in Woodland. A methanol refin-
ery has been pitched for Port Westward
near Clatskanie.
Opposition has grown fierce against
a proposed oil-by-rail terminal by oil
giant Tesoro Corp. and transportation
firm Savage Cos. at the Port of Van-
couver. The terminal could receive up
Wikimedia Commons
About half of bulk oil-carrying vessels on the Columbia River were articu-
lated tug barges. The barges include a notch in the bow, into which a tug
hooks to propel and navigate.
to 300,000 barrels and send out one
ship per day bound for West Coast
refineries.
The last major oil spill on the
Columbia River was March 1984,
when the SS Mobil Oil grounded on
Warrior Rock near St. Helens, spilling
200,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil. Rud-
der failure and improper maintenance
were determined as the cause.
After the Exxon Valdez struck Alas-
ka’s Bligh Reef in 1989 and spilled 11
million gallons of oil into Prince Wil-
liam Sound, the Oil Pollution Act of
1990 gave shippers 25 years to phase
out single-hulled vessels. Tankers now
have an outer hull and an inner, redun-
dant layer in case of a failure.
The risk of oil spills is very low,
said Brian Kirk of the Department of
Ecology. But his department found
that, in 2006 figures, a large spill could
cost Washington state $10.8 billion
and 165,147 jobs.
See TANKERS, Page 7A
See AIRBNB, Page 7A
Medical data analyst to run for county commission seat
Davis ran for
school board in
Astoria in May
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
An Astoria medical data
analyst has announced his
candidacy to replace Clatsop
County Board of Commission-
ers Chairman Scott Lee in the
May elections.
Andrew Davis will be run-
ning for Lee’s District 1 seat,
which covers much of west-
ern Astoria as well as War-
renton and Hammond. Lee
announced last year that he
Andrew Davis
would not seek re-election.
Davis, 40, first became
involved in politics while he
was living in his hometown of
Bloomington, Indiana, about
10 years ago, citing his disen-
chantment with former Presi-
dent George W. Bush’s admin-
istration. He served two years
on the Bloomington Commis-
sion on Sustainability — a citi-
zen committee under the city’s
economic development depart-
ment — and worked part time
for a community access televi-
sion channel.
A delegate for the Demo-
cratic Party of Oregon, Davis
will spend much of the next
few weeks advocating for
Measure 101. The measure, up
for a vote in January, will deter-
mine whether health insurance
premium taxes approved by
the state Legislature to finance
Medicaid will be upheld.
Davis moved with his wife
to Astoria in February 2015
after spending three years
in South Korea as a teacher.
He worked as a data ana-
lyst at Clatsop Behavioral
Healthcare, the county’s men-
tal health contractor, for a lit-
tle more than a year before
leaving last year in the midst
of rapid staff turnover at the
agency.
“I think the environment
there was not entirely healthy
for a little while,” Davis said.
“There were lots of disputes
between labor and manage-
ment about what direction they
wanted to take the shop, and I
didn’t feel particularly happy
there at the time.”
He then joined Greater Ore-
gon Behavioral Health Inc. as
an analyst studying where to
best allocate money for med-
ical resources. The agency
oversees Clatsop Behavioral
Healthcare. He said he has
established productive rela-
tionships with current lead-
ership at the mental health
agency and even helped train
new employees who assumed
his old position.
“I don’t foresee any diffi-
culty with me working with
them,” he said.
Should he win the elec-
tion, Davis may need to recuse
himself from some decisions
involving behavioral health
contracts.
See DAVIS, Page 7A