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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 2018)
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2018 145TH YEAR, NO. 172 Astoria eyes new code for homeless shelters Decision nears on Port oil contamination cleanup Pollution dates back to the early 1900s By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Warming center worried about future T By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Dozens of people had something to say last summer about whether the Astoria Warming Center should continue to provide emergency shelter on cold nights to home- less people, but the city’s development code was silent. The Astoria Planning Commission hopes to change that. At a work session Tuesday night, com- missioners discussed a possible code amend- ment that would create a conditional-use designation for emergency homeless shelters that house more than 10 people. The desig- nation would be permanent unless the use at the location changes. The warming center, which serves an average of 25 people on the nights it is open, operates on a temporary use permit that must be applied for each year. Approval is not guaranteed and it is difficult to plan for the future at one location or pursue outside fund- ing, board members have said. “The goal of this was to update our devel- opment code to provide some guidance on emergency warming shelters in our city,” said Planning Commissioner Daryl Moore, who had drafted a possible code amendment, hoping to provide a basis for discussion. The goal is not to make it harder to open shelters or pile on regulations, he added. “This would actually reduce the amount of regulation,” he said. Moore’s draft combined language other cities have used as well as some procedures and approaches the warming center has adopted. His draft did not allow shelters in high-density residential zones, where many churches are located and where the warming center is located now, in the basement of the First United Methodist Church on Franklin Avenue. Moore said he wanted to incorporate con- cerns that came up during discussions last summer from people who said a neighbor- hood was the wrong place for the shelter. But Commissioners Jennifer Cameron-Lat- tek and Brookley Henri, in particular, urged Moore and city staff to consider including high-density residential zones in the draft code amendment. Cameron-Lattek said the concerns Moore referenced come from “a particular R-3,” the city’s designation for the zones. Organiza- tions most likely to provide space to a shelter — churches — are located in high-density residential zones, she said. Including the R-3 zone in the list as commissioners continue to look at amending the code could generate more of a communitywide discussion about where warming centers could and should be located, she added. Dan Parkison, president of the Asto- ria Warming Center board, was not present at the Tuesday night meeting, but told The Daily Astorian that under the temporary use permit, “not only is our location not guaran- teed, our very existence is not guaranteed.” ONE DOLLAR EnviroLogic Resources Inc. Much of the former oil company infrastructure has been excavated from the Port of Astoria’s central waterfront, including parts of a former plant operated by ExxonMobil and Ed Niemi Oil Co. at the site of a present-day commercial complex. he state Department of Environ- mental Quality is nearing a deci- sion on the best method to clean up the historical petroleum contami- nation at the Port of Astoria’s central waterfront. Anna Coates, a natural resources specialist with the state, said the department will meet with the Port to get feedback and likely make a deci- sion in the coming weeks. Since the early 1900s, much of the central waterfront was occupied by large oil storage and distribution facil- ities, including pipes and storage tanks above and below ground. The heavi- est stretch of pollution runs beneath a commercial complex at the corner of Gateway and Hamburg avenues — the site of a former bulk oil plant run by Mobil and Ed Niemi Oil companies — and under the former Port offices, end- ing at the southeastern base of a slip between piers 2 and 3. In the late 1990s, a pipe leaked and created a sheen in the Columbia River, Coates said. In 2001, the state initiated negotiations with the Port, Niemi Oil, Harris Industries and McCall Oil & Chemical Corp. on an investigation of the pollution and feasibility study for cleanup. The investigation identified the main source of petroleum from a former ExxonMobil/Niemi Oil bulk plant, a documented diesel release from a McCall pipeline, an under- ground storage tank previously oper- ated by the Port and other nearby pipelines. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian See PORT, Page 4A An oil boom sits in the water near Pier 2 at the Port of Astoria. The Port of Astoria’s central waterfront used to be populated with bulk fuel plants, seen on the left in this photo. An oil sheen in the Columbia River in the 1990s initiated a multimillion-dollar cleanup effort nearing a final solution. Clatsop County Historical Society See SHELTERS, Page 4A Natural Grocers opens its doors in Warrenton The store is the chain’s 10th in Oregon By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Natural Grocers in Warrenton held a soft opening Tuesday and opens full time today. WARRENTON — Natu- ral Grocers, the region’s new- est grocery store, has opened at Youngs Bay Plaza. The 13,000-square-foot natural and organic store employs about 20 peo- ple, including Store Man- ager Brian Marchello. Previ- ously employed at Safeway, Marchello said he became interested in retailers like Nat- ural Grocers when his wife’s medical needs required his family to take a closer look at their diet. “We don’t allow just any product to (be) put in here on the shelves,” Marchello said of the retailer, which offers prod- ucts such as organic produce, grass-fed beef and free-range eggs. Along with groceries, Nat- ural Grocers has a vast array of vitamins, supplements and body care products. The store employs Michelle Larsen, a nutritional See STORE, Page 4A
