COAST RIVER BUSINESS JOURNAL: BOATLOADS OF BUSINESS INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2018
146TH YEAR, NO. 73
ONE DOLLAR
Design
for new
hotel gets
another
rejection
A 2-2 vote stalls project
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin, far left, visits with inmates at the county jail last November.
For county jail bond, a
struggle to break through
New jail competes
with money for
schools, recreation
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
s Clatsop County officials pro-
mote a November bond measure
to relocate the county jail, a lot of
the questions they’re facing have little to
do with the actual facility.
The $20 million bond would
relocate the jail from Duane Street in
Astoria to the shuttered
North Coast Youth Cor-
rectional Facility in
Warrenton. It is the
third time since 2002
that the county has tried
to upgrade the 38-year-old, overcrowded
jail.
If the bond fails this time, competing
priorities could be the primary reason.
“Well, a jail bond is never a very popu-
lar measure because it affects a very small
group of people in the community,” said
Clatsop County District Attorney Josh
Marquis, who supports the bond. “One of
the greatest concerns is, since this is the
third time we’ve asked in 15 years, why
should I say, ‘Yes?’”
Marquis and others in law enforce-
ment have long lamented the number of
A
The visitation room at the Clatsop County Jail sits empty.
people released from the jail each week
because of overcrowding. Officials have
cited several studies over the past two
decades that have highlighted a need for
more jail beds. The studies also pointed to
a cramped, inefficient operating environ-
ment for deputies at the jail.
Nearly nine people each week were
released early from the 60-bed jail last
year, according to Clatsop County Sher-
iff’s Office statistics. If the bond passes,
the new facility would allow for 148 beds
with an ability to expand in the future.
“We have a unique opportunity, with
the immediate closure of the (youth cor-
rectional) facility, to take over the foot-
print and use a lot of the walls and some
of the facilities,” Marquis said. “I don’t
think that’s going to be around in five
years.”
See JAIL BOND, Page 7A
‘THERE SEEMS TO BE KIND OF A SPLIT WITHIN THE COMMUNITY
ABOUT WHETHER THEY WANT IT OR NOT. THERE’S PROBABLY
15 REASONS PEOPLE CAN COME UP WITH AS FAR AS THEIR
RETICENCE TO JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON.’
Plans to build a four-story hotel along
the Columbia River have failed for a second
time.
Astoria’s Design Review Committee
was split 2-2 at a hearing Tuesday night on
whether to approve a new design for Hol-
lander Hospitality’s 60-plus room Fairfield
Inn and Suites. The size of the hotel was the
primary issue. With only four committee
members present, the split vote resulted in a
tentative denial of the project.
Mark Hollander, the owner of Hollander
Hospitality, who attended the hearing, would
not say if he plans to appeal the decision to
the City Council.
Hollander appealed to the City Council
after the Design Review Committee and the
Historic Landmarks Commission shot down
a previous version of the hotel in July. But
at the appeals hearing, instead of arguing the
merits of the hotel’s design, architects pre-
sented entirely new plans. The City Coun-
cil sent these new plans back to the Design
Review Committee.
The old design featured a standard Marri-
ott-brand look that critics derisively called “a
cigar box.” The design would have incorpo-
rated The Ship Inn restaurant as a lobby and
dining area. The new design got rid of The
Ship Inn and was intended to evoke Asto-
ria’s 19th-century cannery buildings, featur-
ing details found in other historic structures
— a response to feedback received at previ-
ous meetings, developers said.
“We’re trying to bridge the gap between
the old and the new,” said Craig Riegelnegg,
with Carleton Hart Architecture. The city
pointed the developer to a specific “working
waterfront” style, he added.
Hotels are an outright permitted use
where Hollander wants to build, but the area
falls under Bridge Vista, a section of the Riv-
erfront Vision Plan that outlines design and
height requirements intended to preserve
public views and access to the river.
Most everyone — from critics to city
board members — agreed Hollander’s new
design was an improvement.
But committee members Sarah Jane
Bardy and Hilarie Phelps voted against the
project, arguing that the scale of the hotel
did not suit the area. Size remained a stick-
ing point for many who testified against the
project.
Hollander is not interested in further lim-
iting the size of the building.
“I’ve gone round and round to try and
ask this town what they want within the
code and that’s what I feel I’m presenting,”
he said Tuesday. “We’re at this point where
I don’t know how much more we can keep
designing this thing and accomplish what
you demanded within your code.”
“I appeal to the fact that I tried to listen to
the community,” he added. “I know there’s
been opposition but I’ve been in this town
Henry Balensifer | Warrenton mayor
See HOTEL, Page 5A
School bond campaigns take different approaches
More money behind
Astoria campaign
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The political action committees cre-
ated to stump for the Astoria and War-
renton school bond measures on the
ballot in November
have taken different
routes to get the mes-
sage out.
Yes for Asto-
ria Kids, a commit-
tee supporting a $70 million bond, has
raised nearly $29,000 as of Tuesday.
Yes for Warrenton-Hammond Kids,
formed to stump for a $38.5 million
MEETING
The Warrenton-Hammond School
District has scheduled a meeting for 7
p.m. Oct. 17 in the high school library
to gather feedback and unveil con-
ceptual plans for a new campus and
middle school that would be funded
by a $38.5 million bond in November.
bond, has so far raised $4,700.
The Astoria campaign’s contribu-
tions include numerous local busi-
nesses, several based in Warren-
ton. The Warrenton campaign has so
far reported only a single contribu-
tion from a major business, Bergerson
See SCHOOL BOND, Page 5A
DLR Group
The Warrenton-Hammond School Board is asking voters for $38.5 million
in bonds to fund the purchase of a new master campus and build a middle
school. Future bonds would relocate the school district’s other campuses.