4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2018
Rent: Rates in county are all over the map
Continued from Page 1A
But Smith still wants to
keep prices relatively low, and
she is not increasing rental
rates for existing tenants.
Prices are only going up for
units that are being remodeled
after people move away.
“I just want it to be an
affordable place to live,” she
said.
Rental rates in Clatsop
County are all over the map,
but increasingly tip toward the
higher end of the scale. Busi-
ness and social service orga-
nizations across the county
say the lack of workforce and
affordable housing is at the
root of a variety of problems,
from homelessness to unfilled
job postings. The housing
crunch is a familiar topic in
policy debates from Astoria to
Cannon Beach.
The Emerald Heights com-
plex, comprised of 83 build-
ings, is located on the eastern
edge of Astoria. Two-bedroom
apartments have gone for as
low as $695 a month in the
past. Now, the same apart-
ment, remodeled, will cost
between $800 and $825 a
month. Larger three-bedroom
apartments once cost $950
and, remodeled, will go up to
as high as $1,110 a month.
Water, garbage and electric-
ity are paid for by the property
owner. Remodeled apartments
include new paint, carpets,
appliances and countertops,
among other updates.
In Astoria this month, by
comparison, a small furnished
studio was advertised at $700
a month with no smoking or
pets allowed. A two-bedroom
apartment — one of three
units in a converted Victorian
— was advertised at $875. It’s
not available until June, but an
application was already pend-
ing. A one-bedroom in down-
town, with a view of the river
and all utilities paid for by the
landlord, was going for $1,250.
One-bedroom apartments
at a large complex near Youngs
Bay start at $925 a month. At
another site on the city’s South
Slope, a 1,200-square-foot
two-bedroom apartment costs
$950 a month — at Emer-
ald Heights, a remodeled
850-square foot two-bedroom
apartment will be $100 to $125
less than that per month.
Several large-scale hous-
ing projects are in the works
in Warrenton. Housing priced
for low-income renters and
the workforce will eventually
be available at the old Waldorf
Hotel next to Astoria City Hall
— but not until a massive reha-
bilitation and remodeling proj-
ect gets underway.
Emerald Heights remains
one of a handful of options for
people who don’t have a lot
of money to spare on move-in
costs and rent.
Kathleen Morgan, the
property manager at Emer-
ald Heights, said tenants are
adjusting to the logistics of
handling their own heating
bills. Last year, some tenants
worried about taking on the
additional cost, and it contin-
ues to be a concern for some.
Apartments at Emerald Heights.
Last year, one woman noted
any increase in her housing
costs would eat into her gro-
cery bill.
But with the new costs are
plans to improve livability at
the complex beyond remodel-
ing old units.
Morgan said Smith plans to
improve park areas on oppo-
site ends of the property, as
well as reopen a community
center near the administrative
offices. Managing the sprawl-
ing complex is no small task,
though.
“It’s like a little city,” she
said.
Buildings:
City focused
on downtown
Continued from Page 1A
Warrenton only has a nui-
sance ordinance on the books,
a set of rules that apply broadly
to any number of general prob-
lems. Those rules are working,
said Kevin Cronin, Warren-
ton’s interim city planner, who
previously was the commu-
nity development director for
Astoria.
“Where we fall short in War-
renton is we don’t have a der-
elict building ordinance,” he
said, adding that a property may
be vacant and a source of neigh-
borhood blight, but there is not
much the city can do to address
it under existing rules.
Cronin believes Warrenton
could use the Astoria ordinance
as a guideline down the road.
“It’s not like you can copy
and paste something into the
municipal code of the city of
Warrenton,” Cronin said, add-
ing, “It really comes down to
how aggressive the City Com-
mission wants to get with this.”
For now, city staff are focus-
ing on properties in the down-
town corridor where the com-
mission wants to spend more
resources to improve land-
scapes and beautify the city’s
entry points.
“We’re growing,” said City
Commissioner Tom Dyer, who
has been involved in help-
ing clean up one of the prop-
erties the commission recently
declared a nuisance — a long-
time eyesore across the street
from City Hall.
“A lot of people used to
know everybody and now they
don’t,” Dyer said. They knew
each other’s situations, they
knew what was going on or not
going on with a house or a lot.
But now, “the first impres-
sion of our city is what people
see,” he said. “We want it to still
have that charm of a downtown
and not just be a pass-through.”
Cronin has tagged a few
other properties after the city
received complaints and sev-
eral new nuisance declarations
could be forthcoming. “If you
just drive on Main Street, you
can see the huge difference
that’s happening right now,” he
said.
Dyer points to the commu-
nity library as the perfect exam-
ple of what happens when the
city doubles down on efforts to
improve livability. The library
moved from a failing building
in Hammond to a much more
visible location downtown last
year. Since moving, the library
has received much more use
and has been able to expand its
hours. It has became an anchor
point, Dyer said.
“It’s starting to attract people
to downtown,” he said.
He and the other commis-
sioners would like to be able to
install more sidewalks through-
out downtown, another way to
improve livability. But these
plans are hampered by logistics
— Warrenton sits alongside a
highway — and money.
Dyer is happy the city is
looking at properties down-
town. He hopes to find ways
city staff and commissioners
can help the community address
problem buildings, perhaps by
providing additional incentives
to clean up buildings.
“We want to have commu-
nity involvement,” he said.
For now, “one house at a
time,” he said.
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