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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2018
Debt: Smithart moved to East Coast
Continued from Page 1A
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The new owners of the Circle Creek RV Resort are planning to expand
and develop the southern portion of the property.
Bidders must have cash or
a cashier’s check. The high-
est bidder will receive a bill
of sale and the right to what-
ever amount Smithart is
owed by Param as part of its
judgment against the hotel’s
owner, the Port of Astoria.
Circuit Court Judge
Dawn McIntosh has ruled
that the Port is obligated to
lease Param the hotel for two
years, beginning in Novem-
ber, with a five-year exten-
sion option. The head of the
company, Ganesh Sonpatki,
had tried unsuccessfully
since 2014 to take over oper-
ation of the hotel from Smi-
thart, offering to pay off the
debts he had accumulated
with the Port, city and county
in exchange for his remain-
ing lease. The Port Commis-
sion voted to accept the trans-
fer of the lease, but the deal
fell apart.
When Param takes over
the hotel, the company would
pay $580,000 into an escrow
account to satisfy its prom-
ise to pay Smithart’s debts,
according to the judgment.
The Port would receive
$273,180 for back-due rent
and revenue sharing, the city
$115,858 for lodging taxes
and the county $4,633 for
property taxes. The remain-
der — $186,327 — would go
to Smithart.
But the Port has appealed
the court’s decision. The bid-
der in Thursday’s auction
likely wouldn’t see a return
on investment until after the
case is resolved.
Smithart, who has moved
to the East Coast, questioned
why the city isn’t waiting for
the court case to be resolved.
“It’s a good ol’ boy net-
work,” Smithart said, adding
the collection effort by the
city might not have happened
if he had better connections.
Smithart could have filed
for bankruptcy, but he said
didn’t feel it would be right.
He previously had a plan to
repay his debt to the city but
quickly fell behind.
“If the sale would have
gone through with Ganesh
like it was supposed to, then
the Port and city would have
been paid,” he said.
RV park: ‘I believe
in the economics
of the North Coast’
Continued from Page 1A
Roper sold the property to JO OR
Properties and Circle Creek Partners,
registered to Loren Landau, a prin-
cipal broker with Commonwealth
Real Estate Services. The company
manages manufactured and mobile
home communities throughout the
Pacific Northwest, including Four
Winds Mobile Estates and Neawanna
Mobile Home Park in Seaside. Com-
monwealth last year acquired Alder
Creek Village, a 42-space, 55-and-
older manufactured home commu-
nity in Warrenton, for $4.5 million.
The interest in Circle Creek stems
from his growing up in southwest
Washington and visiting the Lower
Columbia River region as a child,
Landau said.
“I believe in the economics of the
North Coast,” he said, adding that RV
parks have also become more attrac-
tive as state tenant laws become more
unfavorable for landlords.
The 44 spots at Circle Creek RV
Park occupy the northern half of the
property, with a field to the south.
Circle Creek Partners plans to invest
in aesthetics and double the park’s
size in that southern field, hopefully
starting construction in the fall after
the busy season is over, Landau said.
The hope is to have the additional
spaces available by next summer.
The southern part of the resort is
occupied by fire pits and picnic tables.
Oregon Department of Forestry
As Democrats in the Legislature propose a ‘cap-and-trade’ carbon measure, timber
companies and several lawmakers are advocating for a bill that would require the
Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Forestry to evaluate using
natural ecosystems to absorb and store carbon as an alternative.
Carbon: Oregon’s wildfires produce more
emissions than industrial sources, vehicles
Continued from Page 1A
carbon while promoting eco-
nomic development, as well
as using tax incentives for
companies to reduce carbon
emissions.
Under House Bill 4109,
the study would also examine
regional approaches to reduce
carbon emissions “other than
adopting or participating in
a greenhouse cap-and-trade
system.”
Oregon’s annual wild-
fires emit more carbon mon-
oxide, nitrous oxide, fine
particulates and volatile
organic compounds than
industrial sources or vehicles,
said state Rep. David Brock
Smith, R-Port Orford, the
bill’s chief sponsor.
Supporters of HB 4109
carbon sequestration to fight
climate change, the science
isn’t yet conclusive as to the
best return-on-investment for
carbon sequestration, said
Catherine Macdonald, the
nonprofit’s Oregon conserva-
tion director.
The study should be
expanded to include Ore-
gon State University and to
examine the most effective
methods to increase carbon
sequestration, she said.
A work session on HB
4109 is scheduled for Thurs-
day, which is the legislative
deadline for the proposal to
be approved by the House
Agriculture Committee.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
F EBRUARY 20
Bill: Financial relief could allow more
investment in expansion and employees
Clatsop County
District Attorney
Continued from Page 1A
“Right now, the way the
system’s set up, it’s not a profit
center for the distillery,” Cary
said. “It’s a profit center for the
state.”
A Legislative Fiscal Office
report estimated the bill would
cost the state $3.4 million in
revenue between 2019 and
2021. The loss could be greater
if distilleries reorganize and
add to the 55 tasting rooms
under the $250,000 threshold.
But both Cary and Selberg
said the financial relief could
allow them to invest more in
expansion and employees. The
bill has received broad indus-
try support, including from
the Oregon Distillers Guild,
a craft-distilling trade group.
Selberg was one of two distill-
ers to testify during the bill’s
first public hearing Monday in
Salem.
The state’s largest distiller,
Hood River Distillery, maker
of popular brands Pendleton
Whiskey and HRD Vodka, has
come out against the bill. The
company argues the bill could
undercut the liquor control
commission and invite large,
out-of-state competitors.
“We believe this legisla-
tion weakens the state sys-
tem,” Hood River CEO Ron-
ald Dodge told Willamette
Week. “We didn’t start out
with a state subsidy, and we
have still been able to bene-
fit from Oregon’s system. The
short-term gains included in
argue it would encourage dis-
cussions about thinning over-
stocked federal lands that are
prone to catastrophic forest
fires.
There’s also an opportu-
nity to direct harvested tim-
ber toward novel products
such as cross-laminated tim-
ber, or CLT, which is used for
larger-scale buildings.
These objectives can be
accomplished without sacri-
ficing viewsheds or native fish
— otherwise, projects would
just wind up in court, said
Ken Humberston, a mem-
ber of the Clackamas County
Board of Commissioners.
However, the bill encoun-
tered some mild criticism
from the Nature Conservancy,
an environmental nonprofit.
While the group supports
Josh Marquis
A Columbia Forum Presentation
Josh Marquis is about to start his 25th year as Clatsop
County’s District Attorney. First appointed by Gov. Barbara
Roberts in 1994 after the recall and criminal conviction of
his predecessor.
A graduate of the Honors College and Law School of the
University of Oregon, he has spent most of his 37 years as a
lawyer as a prosecutor, fi rst in Eugene, then Newport, and as
Chief Deputy DA in Bend before coming to Astoria. He also
spent time as a newspaper reporter and speechwriter in
Los Angeles and two years as a criminal defense lawyer. He
lectures and teaches to lawyers and others across the nation and overseas and has been
asked to testify four times before Congress. Marquis served as President of the Oregon
District Attorneys Association and Vice President of the National DA’s Association,
on whose board he still serves 21 years later. He is married to City Councilor Cindy
Price. For more than 20 years he’s been a jazz programmer at KMUN and appeared in
SHANGHAIED IN ASTORIA every year since 1994.
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The Daily Astorian
Larry Cary, owner of Pilot House Distilling, said a bill let-
ting him avoid state fees on the first $250,000 in tasting
room sales each year would help his company expand.
this bill do not outweigh the
potential serious, long-term,
harmful consequences.”
The cut in state fees would
come on the heels of the
Republican tax plan cutting
fees on distilled spirits from
$13.50 to $2.70 per gallon
for the first 100,000 gallons
produced.
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