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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 2018)
146TH YEAR, NO. 55 ONE DOLLAR WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 Moore to retire as county manager Administrator was hired in 2016 By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian Clatsop County Manager Cameron Moore will retire in January. Moore, an experienced admin- istrator, was hired in 2016 to help bring stability to a county that had nine managers in 16 years. A perfor- mance review from the county Board of Commissioners last year — written by Scott Lee, the board’s chairman — was largely positive, but Moore has clashed with some commissioners. “I thought Cam did a great job,” Lee said. “I’ve really enjoyed working with him, one of the best county man- agers I’ve been able to work with.” Moore has been at odds with Com- missioners Lianne Thompson and Kathleen Sullivan. While the two commissioners have asked for more open discussions about county deci- sions, Moore has accused them of improper interactions with county staff. Moore offered to resign at one point last year but was asked by the majority of the five-member board to stay. The infighting peaked publicly in April, when Moore skipped a board meeting, writing in an email that the commissioners had made him their “verbal punching bag.” He later apol- ogized for skipping the meeting. “I thought he handled those rough spots with commissioners very well,” Lee said. Thompson and Sullivan could not immediately be reached for comment. Moore, the former chief execu- tive officer for the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, replaced Scott Somers, who resigned in 2015 to take a job in Maryland. After he was hired, Moore described the county manager post as his last and indicated he planned to retire in the county. See MOORE, Page 7A Urban Core talks take shape WABBIT WILD Overwater development, parking are concerns By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Rabbits gather near a resident’s garden in Cannon Beach. Bunnies are a sensitive subject in Cannon Beach By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian C ANNON BEACH — Broaching the topic of bunnies in Cannon Beach is kind of like asking some- one about their politics. “Some you’re just scared to ask,” Sandy Fitzpatrick said. Anyone who has spent time around Tolovana State Park has likely seen doz- ens of brown, black and white rabbits speckling the lawn around Mo’s Restau- rant and Tolovana Inn. They’ve become celebrities of sorts — often referred to as “the Tolovana bunnies” — inspiring fan pages on Facebook and even a campaign to name them as the city’s official critter. But for neighbors like Fitzpatrick, what was once a cute novelty has become a never-ending frustration. Instead of a bunny here or there, people are seeing 10 to 20 at once on their properties. Instead of grass and flower gardens, front lawns are covered in thick layers of rabbit pel- lets and burrow holes. “When it was like eight bunnies, it was still cute. It was fine. But this?” Fitzpat- rick said. “It’s gotten to the point where we can’t maintain our yard. There’s a point you have to ask, are there too many bunnies?” After years of backyard complaining, one of the neighbors, Merrie Postlewait, approached the City Council this month Cannon Beach resident Kelly Fitzpatrick inspects damage done by rabbits to her property. on behalf of the neighborhood, asking for some kind of intervention. “This is a man-made problem, that men have the responsibility to elim- inate,” Postlewait wrote in a letter. “Health and safety issues, property dam- age issues, economic issues and property owners rights are being disregarded and ignored.” Origin story The bunny infestation can be traced back to the 1980s, when a few given to a local family either escaped or were released, according to the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum. Bunnies did what they do best, and Concern about development over the Columbia River and a lack of parking domi- nated the discussion Thursday night about a city plan that will guide future development along downtown Astoria’s waterfront. Several people who attended a town hall meeting at Clatsop Community College’s Columbia Hall argued overwater develop- ment is too costly for most developers to attempt. Though city code allows for such devel- opment — a fact many in the room demon- strated they wanted to change — “the finan- cial practicality is almost zero,” said Trila Bumstead, president of the broadcast com- pany Ohana Media Group. Stringent environmental requirements for overwater development and the cost of meeting seismic codes present further barri- ers, argued Fishhawk Fisheries owner Steve Fick and developer Chester Trabucco. Other attendees were wary, pointing to recent proposals to build new hotels along the waterfront and the specter of a number of riverfront condo plans in the early 2000s that could have significantly changed Asto- ria’s appearance and public access to the river. Thursday’s meeting marked the begin- ning of a lengthy public process and was intended as a time for the city’s consultants to begin to collect feedback and questions from the community about what people want to see happen — or not happen — in the Urban Core. The Urban Core includes the water- front from Second Street to 16th Street and is the final piece of the city’s Riverfront Vision Plan, which shapes land use policy along the river. The Urban Core includes a mix of commercial, residential and overwa- ter structures. It is unique from other areas outlined by the Riverfront Vision Plan in that it sweeps up and includes portions of downtown. The City Council has already adopted design and development standards for the other three sections of the Riverfront Vision Plan: Neighborhood Greenway in Alder- brook, Civic Greenway from Pier 39 to the eastern edge of downtown and Bridge Vista in Uniontown. When a final set of standards is adopted for the Urban Core, it could dictate every- thing from what kind of buildings and busi- nesses are allowed to what, if anything, will be allowed over the water. See RABBITS, Page 7A See URBAN CORE, Page 7A Flavel home nears restoration Tours set for next weekend By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian When Greg Newenhof died earlier this year, Jeff Newen- hof knew instantly that he needed to finish his elder brother’s dream of restoring the long-vacant Flavel home at 15th Street and Franklin Avenue. The Newenhofs’ company, City Lumber, is partnering with the Clatsop County His- torical Society to offer self- guided tours of the house on Sept. 22 to show off progress and raise money for another project to honor Greg Newen- hof’s memory: a biography of the Flavel family to be writ- ten by local historian John Goodenberger. “For me, the book fills a void,” Jeff Newenhof said. “There isn’t a definitive story on the Flavels, and John’s the guy to write it.” Greg Newenhof acquired the Flavel home in 2015 from the estate of Mary Louise Fla- vel. Jeff Newenhof estimates that his brother put in thou- sands of hours after work and on weekends restoring the 117-year-old, four-story, Colo- nial Revival-style home. By the time of his death, he had already replaced much of the home’s siding, broken win- dows and doors; had the roof, chimney and flooring repaired; rewired the inside; and built new steps. He planned to sell his original residence to fund the restoration and eventu- ally move into the historical structure. “He was about a month away from moving in,” Jeff Newenhof said. The home is filled with intricate woodwork and other markers of the Flavels’ wealth, such as a maid’s quarters, a buzzer system for ringing the help, a multistory dumbwaiter and 3-by-10-inch old-growth fir beams spanning the entire Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian The exterior of the Flavel home has also undergone exten- sive work to repair years of neglect. main floor. Little markers of the family have also been left behind, such as clothes in the closet and the remnants of a trapeze swing and musical instruments in the attic. See FLAVEL HOME, Page 7A