DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2018
145TH YEAR, NO. 176
ONE DOLLAR
Proposed
hotel gets
lukewarm
welcome
Issues raised about
design, exterior, size
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Jeromy Nelson works the counter at Hi Casual Cannabis in Astoria.
OREGON COAST HIGH
ON MARIJUANA SALES
Clatsop County sold $8 million
in pot products in the past year
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
W
ith their lower populations and higher rates of tourism,
North Coast counties sold some of the most marijuana
per capita in Oregon last year.
The 14 licensed marijuana retailers in Clatsop County sold
more than $8 million in products last year, part of the nearly $520
million sold statewide. The industry has grown to employ more
than 12,000 people, while the state has raked in more than $100
million in tax revenue.
There were six marijuana retailers in Astoria, four in Seaside,
one in Cannon Beach, two along U.S. Highway 26 and one in
Westport — more than 1 for every 2,800 people. Combined sales
equaled $208 per person, the sixth-highest rate in the state during
the first full year of recreational sales regulated by the Oregon
Liquor Control Commission.
Tillamook County ranked fifth, selling $5.6 million in mari-
juana products, equal to $214 per person. Lincoln County came
in third, at $13.6 million, $284 per person.
Stephanie Schlip, who manages Oasis Cannabis locations in
Newberg, Monmouth and Seaside, said her sales on the Oregon
Coast will often outstrip those in the Willamette Valley by 25
percent in the summer and lag behind in winter.
“I would say about 1 out of every 20 customers say they’re
from another state, and they’ve never been in a dispensary,” she
said.
Many were Californians before that state recently legalized
recreational sales, she said, Many were from Idaho, the only state
bordering Oregon where recreational marijuana is illegal.
North Coast marijuana sales, 2017
Counties in Northwest Oregon rank among the highest statewide
for per capita sales of marijuana and related products.
Clatsop (Pop.: 38,820)
• Total sales: $8.1 million
• Sales per capita: $208.13
• Rank (sales per capita): 6th
Tillamook (Pop.: 26,175)
• Total sales: $5.6 million
• Sales per capita: $214.49
• Rank (sales per capita): 5th
Source: Portland
State University
Population
Research Center
Lincoln (Pop.: 47,960)
• Total sales: $13.6 million
• Sales per capita: $284.26
• Rank (sales per capita): 3rd
Edward Stratton
and Alan Kenaga/
EO Media Group
Clatsop Co. marijuana sales by item, 2017
Concentrates:
$177,402 or 2.2%
Shake/trim:
$271,810 or 3.4%
Edibles:
$691,005
or 8.6%
Extracts: $1.6
million or 19.6%
Other*: $237,543 or 2.9%
Bud:
$5.1 million
or 63.4%
Total sales:
$8.1 million
* Includes tinctures,
topicals, combined
products, immature
plants, capsules, seeds
and transdermal patches.
NOTE: Percentages may
not equal 100 due to rounding.
See MARIJUANA, Page 4A
Source: Oregon
Liquor Control
Commission
Edward Stratton and Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
‘I THINK SALES ARE GOING TO INCREASE,
AND THEY’LL CERTAINLY GET A LOT HIGHER
AS WE TAKE AWAY FROM THE BLACK MARKET.’
Hollander Investments received a mostly
cold shoulder, but also thanks for providing
a chance for public input at a forum Mon-
day on a Fairfield Inn and Suites the com-
pany has proposed next to The Ship Inn on
the Astoria waterfront.
The company, based in Bellingham,
Washington, has built and operates proper-
ties in Puyallup, Everett, Tacoma, Seattle
and Portland. It bought the properties for-
merly occupied by The Ship Inn and Steph-
anie’s Cabin restaurants over the past couple
of years.
It recently submitted plans for a four-
story, 66-room hotel, repurposing The Ship
Inn building as a lobby, kitchen and part of
a dining area.
Attendees filled half of The Loft at the
Red Building meeting hall. Many took issue
with the style and boxy design of the nearly
45-foot-tall hotel and how it would block
views of the Columbia River and Asto-
ria Bridge. Several hoteliers and business
owners in tourist-related industries voiced
support.
The Bridge Vista portion of the city’s
Riverfront Vision Plan limits shoreline
development to 35 feet, or 45 feet with
See HOTEL, Page 3A
Kujala to
seek seat
on county
commission
Former Warrenton
mayor stepped
down last year
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Former Warrenton Mayor Mark Kujala
will run for a Clatsop County Board of Com-
missioners seat.
Kujala was the city’s first elected
mayor in 2014 after being
appointed to the post in
previous years. He served
as a city commissioner and
mayor for 12 years before
stepping down last year.
He
was
recently
appointed to state Depart-
Mark
ment of Fish and Wildlife
Kujala
Fish Passage Task Force
and serves on the Oregon
Community Foundation North Coast Lead-
ership Council.
Don Morse | director of the Oregon Cannabis Business Council, a trade association
See KUJALA, Page 3A
City Council approves zoning change for Astoria Co-op
Concerns over
traffic persist
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Amid concerns about traf-
fic, a majority of the Asto-
ria City Council on Monday
upheld a Planning Commis-
sion decision to rezone the site
in Mill Pond where the Asto-
ria Co-op Grocery plans to
expand.
The decision moves the
grocery store along to the
next steps before it can break
ground. The project still must
undergo design review.
Mayor Arline LaMear was
the only “no” in the 3-1 vote
Monday. City Councilors Tom
Brownson, Bruce Jones and
Cindy Price voted to amend
the zoning at the 1 acre site
from mixed use, where retail is
permitted as a conditional use,
to local service, where retail
is permitted outright. Coun-
cilor Zetty Nemlowill, the gro-
cery store’s marketing director,
cited a conflict of interest and
sat in the audience during the
hearing and vote.
Jennifer Bunch of Wickiup
Consulting, representing the
landowner, argued the zoning
is a natural progression from
commercial to residential. The
site, located off Marine Drive
near 23rd Street, is bordered
by a more industrial zone to
the west and the Mill Pond res-
idential area to the east.
But some Mill Pond res-
idents and property owners
are unhappy about the Asto-
ria Co-op’s plan to use Steam
Whistle Way, a narrow street
that runs behind the site con-
necting 23rd Street to 29th
Street, as an access road to the
store’s parking lot. Despite the
co-op’s commitment to widen
the street, residents said it still
may not be wide enough.
Under the co-op’s plans
now, people would turn off
Marine Drive, onto 23rd Street
Astoria Co-op Grocery
See CO-OP, Page 4A
The Astoria Co-op Grocery wants to expand to Mill Pond.