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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2018
Lawsuit against Gearhart rejects zoning change on
mental health
ag land for new housing project
agency resolved Path still open
Suit had alleged
retaliation
By DERRICK
DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
A lawsuit by a former Clat-
sop Behavioral Healthcare
program manager who alleged
whistleblower retaliation and
violations of state medical
leave law has been settled.
Cheryl Varese, a program
manager in the mental health
agency’s developmental dis-
abilities unit, was fired in 2015.
She alleged she was targeted
for complaining about uneth-
ical and illegal management
practices and a hostile work
environment and for seeking
medical leave. She had sought
$600,000 in damages.
“The whole resolution is
completely confidential,” said
Amy Baker, the executive
director of Clatsop Behavioral
Healthcare.
Christina Stephenson, a
Portland attorney who repre-
sented Varese, did not respond
to requests for comment.
Varese was friends with
two other former Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare work-
ers who had sued the mental
health agency in federal court,
alleging top administrators
had engaged in discrimination
and retaliation. Those lawsuits
were settled earlier this year.
Varese had also filed suit
in federal court, but a judge
dismissed her case in March,
ruling that Varese “was on
the road to termination well
before she invoked her right
to protected medical leave and
irrespective of her decision to
do so.”
The federal judge did not
consider Varese’s claims under
state medical leave and whis-
tleblower protection laws, so
she filed a new lawsuit in Clat-
sop County Circuit Court.
A trial was scheduled for
January before the case was
dismissed earlier this month.
Varese also dropped her
appeal of the federal judge’s
ruling.
The lawsuits grew out of
a dysfunctional management
culture at Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare, the coun-
ty’s mental health contrac-
tor. Top administrators left
in 2016 and the agency, with
Baker as director, has worked
to rebuild its reputation in the
community.
to development
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
GEARHART — City
councilors were unconvinced
by property owners Palm-
berg Paving Co. that a zon-
ing change was needed to
promote higher density hous-
ing on a 27-acre property in
Gearhart.
The owners had hoped to
rezone 498 McCormick Gar-
dens Road in advance of a
sale.
After receiving flood
maps, soil analysis and hous-
ing data, among other docu-
ments, the Planning Commis-
sion held two meetings this
fall and received input before
recommending denial, said
City Planner Carole Connell.
Low elevation, drain-
age issues, questions about
soils and the property’s for-
mer industrial use led to con-
cerns from commissioners.
The change, from rural agri-
cultural to medium-density
residential, could have deliv-
ered 10 parcels on 7.5 build-
able acres, about 20 percent
of the site.
At Wednesday’s City
Council public hearing, the
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Pacific Way near Railroad Avenue in Gearhart, near the
southern border of the Palmberg property. Neighbors said
they feared the impact of a high-density development on
local roadways.
owners asked the council to
reconsider the Planning Com-
mission’s recommendation.
Heidi Palmberg Snidow
and consultant Li Alligood, of
Otak, sought to alleviate con-
tamination, traffic and quality
of life concerns.
Snidow stressed the fam-
ily’s decades of supporting
the community. “We really do
want to see the best for Gear-
hart in years to come,” she
said.
Snidow said the family
seeks to sell the property to
a developer “who can create
Oregon sues Trump administration
over withheld federal dollars
Fight over
immigration
By CONRAD WILSON
Oregon Public
Broadcasting
Oregon sued the Trump
administration Friday over
a requirement the state work
with immigration authorities
if it wants to receive more
than $4 million in federal
grants.
The U.S. Department of
Justice distributes Byrne JAG
grants, which are used by
jurisdictions across the coun-
try to help law enforcement
fund new initiatives and fight
crime.
Last
November,
the
Department
of
Justice
released a list of jurisdictions
it says weren’t complying
with a federal law that pro-
motes information sharing
between local law enforce-
ment and the federal govern-
ment when it comes to immi-
gration enforcement.
The list included both
Multnomah County and the
state of Oregon.
Portland Mayor Ted
Wheeler said he plans to ask
the City Council to sign onto
the lawsuit as well.
The lawsuit comes days
after Oregon voters over-
whelmingly rejected a bal-
lot measure that would have
scrapped the state’s 31 year-
old sanctuary law.
“Oregon voters sent a clear
message to the Trump admin-
istration this week: Orego-
nians support our sanctu-
ary laws,” Gov. Kate Brown,
one of the plaintiffs, said
in a statement. “The Trump
administration’s attempts to
withhold public safety dollars
from our state is unjust, dan-
gerous, and unconstitutional
… . We will not stand for this
administration’s attempts to
strong-arm our state by with-
holding critical public safety
dollars.”
Oregon is a sanctuary state
and prohibits local and state
resources from enforcing fed-
eral immigration law if a per-
son’s only crime is being in
the country unlawfully.
“Defendants have implied
in correspondence with Ore-
gon officials that these stat-
utes violate federal law
by preventing cooperation
between law enforcement
and immigration authori-
ties,” Oregon’s lawsuit states.
“But in the statutes requiring
defendants to distribute Byrne
JAG funds to states and local-
ities, Congress did not impose
any condition requiring states
to have laws that aid defen-
dants’ implementation of fed-
eral immigration policy.”
a residential community con-
sistent with the growth that is
and has been happening.”
The hearing was for a zone
change only, she added, and
any development would be
subject to city review.
But neighbors and city
councilors echoed the Plan-
ning Commission’s earlier
concerns.
Roads are too narrow for
the additional traffic, said
McCormick Gardens Road
resident Gloria Edler. “It’s
nice for a rural area — but
gosh, to add 50, 100 cars, I
can’t even imagine such a
thing.”
McCormick Gardens Road
homeowner Mary Chandler
said “the traffic on that road
is enough as it is. It could just
be a nightmare.”
City Councilor Pau-
lina Cockrum said she was
“uncomfortable moving for-
ward at this time with this
plan. We’ve being asked
to approve something with
many issues that are still
unknown. That makes me
uncomfortable.”
A motion to deny rezon-
ing was unanimously carried
by Cockrum, Reita Fackerell,
Kerry Smith and Mayor Matt
Brown. Councilor Dan Jesse,
as a neighbor to the property,
did not vote.
City officials, however,
left a path forward for future
development on the property.
The rural agricultural zone
does allow a “cluster devel-
opment” option, Connell
said, with each buildable acre
offering a 10,000-square-foot
lot.
“If they didn’t change
the zone, they could have
20 single-family lots on the
property in a cluster man-
ner through the Planning
Commission without a zone
change,” Connell said. “They
could do that now.”
The family of Dorothy Boyle would like to express
their thanks to the staff and residents of CRV and
residents of the Columbia House for their presence
in her life.
We are grateful for the great care from Dr. Law
and his staff and appreciate the many flowers,
memorials, and expressions of sympathy from
friends and family.
She lived a long and fruitful life and is now at home
with her Lord.
Dorothy Boyle
family
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