7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2018
Deer: City can’t do much about population Store: Location
could open in the
fall of next year
Continued from Page 1A
Halverson once found him-
self prying a wooden fence
board loose trying to free a
deer that had caught its hoof
between the boards when it
tried to jump the fence. The
deer had been hanging nearly
upside down when Halverson
arrived.
After hearing from peo-
ple in her downtown ward
about deer-related encoun-
ters over the years, City Coun-
cilor Cindy Price told the City
Council in June: “At some
point, it would probably be
useful for us to have a con-
versation about that just to say
whether we love them or hate
them.”
“Some people, like me,
feel like we’re lucky to live in
a town, an actual town, with an
abundance of wildlife on land
and in the rivers,” Price said
Thursday. “Others wish one
could shoot firearms within
the city limits and get rid of
them.”
In 2012, the City Coun-
cil consulted with state wild-
life biologist Herman Bieder-
beck about deer and potential
problems that arise when peo-
ple feed them. Biederbeck
has been consulted frequently
over the years regarding elk
problems in Warrenton and
Gearhart.
At the time, Astoria had
only one oddly specific ordi-
nance on the books about
Continued from Page 1A
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
A deer walks through a backyard in Astoria.
feeding wildlife. The ordi-
nance dated from 1985 and
forbade the feeding of pigeons
in Uniontown. The city would
later amend the ordinance to
also prohibit the feeding of
deer, elk, raccoons, opossums,
seagulls, bears, cougars and
coyotes in city limits.
City councilors worried
about the size of the local
deer population in 2012, too,
and asked Biederbeck about
a variety of options to control
the herds that included dart-
ing deer with contraceptives
or trapping and relocating the
animals. None of these solu-
tions was ever pursued.
Remember the raccoons?
Ultimately, Price doesn’t
think the city can do much
about the deer, except perhaps
be lenient when people erect
temporary fencing without a
permit to keep deer out of vege-
table gardens.
If deer populations are
growing in town, Price isn’t
worried. Remember all the rac-
coons Astoria used to have?
Price does. For a while their
bandit-masked faces seemed to
peer around every corner.
But in 2010, an outbreak of
distemper, a highly contagious
disease, ravaged the local rac-
coon population. People called
Astoria 911 Dispatch report-
ing raccoons that were acting
strange and looking ill. Police
officers killed at least eight sick
animals at one point.
Deer have their own diseases
to wrestle with. There is deer
hair loss syndrome, caused by
a louse. Deer scratch at and rub
affected areas and the disease
can lead to death when coupled
with pneumonia or other para-
site issues, Biederbeck told the
City Council in 2012.
So when it comes to the deer,
Price reasons now, “there’s a
natural phenomenon that will
take care of the population if it
gets too large.”
Center: Klean has rented for nearly two years
Continued from Page 1A
Klean is also behind on
rent at the downtown office it
has rented for more than three
years and has been locked out,
but still has furniture and other
equipment inside, Fitzpatrick
said.
“If they get caught up, they
are welcome to continue busi-
ness there,” he said. “Other-
wise, I’ll put the space up for
lease or figure out a new use.”
Based in Los Angeles,
Klean has locations in Asto-
ria, Portland, Bend, La Pine
and Long Beach, Washington,
where it runs an inpatient treat-
ment center. The company’s
possible departure puts into
jeopardy the region’s only out-
patient treatment center with a
dedicated sober living facility.
Earlier this year, Sun-
spire Health closed the two
drug treatment centers it oper-
ated at Astoria Pointe above
Uniontown and the Rosebriar,
a female-only facility on 14th
Street. The closure left Clatsop
County with no inpatient treat-
ment options.
Other outpatient drug and
alcohol treatment centers
include North Coast Recovery
on 30th Street, Potentials on
Pier 39, Choices Counseling in
the Red Building and Awaken-
ings by the Sea in Seaside.
The treatment options
are slimmer for low-income
patients on the Oregon Health
Plan, the state’s version of
Medicaid, with Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare and Choices
the main avenues for drug and
alcohol treatment.
Wendy Hemsley, the CEO
of North Coast Recovery and
the neighboring North Coast
Medical Clinic, said she only
knows of one other sober living
facility in the county, the inde-
pendently run Oxford House in
Warrenton.
“I would love to do an inpa-
tient center,” she said. “We
need the services. I just don’t
have the financial ability to do
it.”
Alan Evans, the CEO of
social service group Helping
Hands, said the issues faced
by struggling treatment centers
boil down to health insurance
companies.
“The struggle is it becomes
about money and it becomes
about survival,” he said. “It
changes from serving the peo-
ple to keeping our doors open.”
The issue is nationwide and
part of why organizations like
his avoid dealing with private
health insurers when possible.
“Our organizations can’t count
on them,” Evans said.
Hemsley echoed Evans’
comments about how subjec-
tive and erratic health insurers
can be when reimbursing for
treatment. Patients also often
can’t afford the out-of-pocket
deductibles to pay for treat-
ment, she said.
Evans lauded the work done
by Clatsop Behavioral Health-
care and Choices, which is
partnering to provide treatment
while Helping Hands will pro-
vide housing at a new homeless
facility in Uniontown, he said.
District: ‘This is not a unique problem’
Continued from Page 1A
Zone 1, for instance, has
been particularly hard to
fill. The zone that represents
the southwest portion of the
county was vacant well before
this month’s election.
“That is not a unique prob-
lem,” said John Byers, agri-
cultural water quality pro-
gram director for the state
Department of Agriculture.
Conservation
districts
emerged in the fallout of the
1930s Dust Bowl, which
featured dust storms that
destroyed crops and led to
mass farmer migrations out of
the Midwest. Clatsop County
grappled with its own set of
challenges in that period, as
strong gusts blew sand from
the coast as a result of unre-
stricted livestock grazing on
dune grasses.
Today, the conservation
district largely works with
agriculture producers on
water quality issues, Ogier
said.
“Water quality seems to be
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the one the state is more con-
cerned with,” she said. “Mak-
ing sure erosion doesn’t get
into the runoff is our main
issue.”
If eligible candidates apply
for the two open positions on
the board, they likely would
be appointed at a meeting next
year.
Fitzpatrick has rented the
Alameda complex to Klean
for nearly two years, after
three years of renting to Asto-
ria Pointe. Tenants in the apart-
ments have mostly been good
neighbors and have not caused
many issues, he said.
“In general, I am open to
renting to people in recovery,”
he said.
While he didn’t want to sue
the company and endanger the
sober living space, Klean left
him no choice, Fitzpatrick said.
Planning commissioners
agreed with developer Wes
Giesbricht and John Nygaard
Jr., of Warrenton Fiber, that
the commission had leeway in
interpreting city codes that ask
for three different materials on
storefront facades and screen-
ing for outdoor storage. Gies-
bricht and Warrenton Fiber are
partners in Trondheim Acres
LLC, which owns the roughly
17-acre property behind Les
Schwab Tire Center off U.S.
Highway 101 where Tractor
Supply Co. — a national chain
— plans to build.
But Cronin maintained
that the code is very clear and
that ignoring these two items
leaves the project open for
appeal.
“This is a perfect test case
for how Warrenton manages
growth over time and what
that growth looks like,” Cronin
said afterward.
City staff is upholding
development standards as writ-
ten in city code. The Planning
Commission can decide differ-
ently, but deviation from the
code makes the city’s decisions
vulnerable to appeals, he said.
Sticking by the sections of
the code — even if they seem
like minor points — was Cro-
nin’s attempt to “put in a line in
the sand,” he told the Planning
Commission.
Giesbricht and Nygaard
argued that the chances of
appeal are low. Only one per-
son is on the record in opposi-
tion to the project — Warren-
ton resident Henry Willener
— and he now supports it after
receiving guarantees from the
developers.
Planning commissioners
did stand by Cronin on another
condition, though: To mark
a future sidewalk and plant-
ing strip on a platted but not
yet constructed road as “future
improvement” on developers’
plans. To Cronin, this put an
intention in writing.
Giesbricht argued that any
future development would
come in front of the Plan-
ning Commission again and
commissioners could require
improvements. Nygaard noted
the makeup of the commission
might be very different at that
point.
“Why tie the hands of the
future?” Giesbricht asked.
The Planning Commis-
sion wants the Tractor Supply
Co. project to go forward, but
Warrenton has been bitten by
developers in the past, Com-
missioners Ryan Lampi and
Mike Moha replied. Moha ref-
erenced a project where the
developer had promised to
put in streetlights as a future
improvement, but, when it
came down to it, refused
because there was nothing in
writing.
The developers are not
being required to make the
improvements now and Trac-
tor Supply Co. is not being
asked to pay for them, Lampi
said. The commission just
wanted something put on the
record.
Giesbricht said he did not
want the entire project to hinge
on this one point and accepted
the condition.
Tractor Supply Co.,
founded in 1938 and based
in Tennessee, plans to build a
19,097 square-foot building
and hopes to be open in the
fall of next year. The store, as
well as a storage area and park-
ing lot, will be built on about
3 acres.
The Planning Commission
discussed the Tractor Supply
application at a meeting last
week, but continued the pub-
lic hearing to Thursday after
a standoff between the devel-
opers and Cronin. The com-
missioners instructed Cronin
to work with developers on a
solution.
2019 Master Gardener
Volunteer Training Program
January 10 - March 16, 2019
Classes will be held:
Thursdays (6pm-9pm)
Saturdays (9am-12pm)
Social time 5:30 - 6pm Thursdays
Clatsop Community College, Astoria
WANTED
CLASS SIZE IS LIMITED,
SO PLEASE
GAME MEAT PROCESSING REGISTER SOON !
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
Debbie D’s will be at
Cash & Carry in Warrenton
at 10:00 a.m. every Saturday
to pick up and deliver
meat for processing.
20 lb. min • Each batch individual
Please call or leave message by
Friday so we know to expect you!
DEBBIE D’S Jerky & Sausage Factory
2210 Main Avenue N. • Tillamook, OR • 503-842-2622
MU S IC F E S T & AUCTI O N
FUNDRAISER
Saturday, November 17 th • 5:15 to 7:30pm
Star of the Sea School Auditorium
Corner of Grand & 14th in Astoria
ENJOY A FREE FAMILY
NIGHT OF FUN
Free music, Free Munchies,
Free Drinks & laughs. While
bidding on many, many
great auction item.
MUSIC PROVIDED BY:
BARBIE G.
Accoustic Folk
ED CHASE
Music Machine Inc.
The Best DJ in Town!
Cash & local checks only
Admission: 2 Cans of Food or a Donation
for St. Vincent De Paul Food Bank
Sponsored by Catholic Daughters of the Americas Court 151
Proceeds going to Local Astoria Charities
For more information
and to register go to:
extension.oregonstate.edu/mg/clatsop/how-join
Contact:
Linda Jones
OSU Clatsop County Extension
2001 Marine Drive
Astoria, OR 97103
503-325-8573
linda.jones@oregonstate.edu
Deadline is December 14, 2018
Master Gardeners are trained by the best……OSU instructors, Extension faculty and local experts. Classroom
training (20 classes) is combined with 55 hours of required volunteer time working with veteran Master Gardeners
in the field. Interns will graduate and become certified as Master Gardeners with an exceptional knowledge base
of gardening in our challenging coastal climate. Certified Master Gardeners can remain active by joining the
local MG chapter, and volunteering on projects such as demo gardens, horticulture related community outreach,
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Successful gardening is a lifelong educational process. Join other folks who have the same interests, and enjoy
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