The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, November 20, 2018, Image 1

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018
146TH YEAR, NO. 102
ONE DOLLAR
City to
regulate
homestay
lodging
Leaders have struggled
to address illegal
short-term rentals
CITY TO SELL
MILL POND
PROPERTY
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
New developments in the Mill Pond subdivision could be built over the water.
Lots donated to the city in 2012
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
storia leaders are working with a
real estate agent to sell overwa-
ter property the city cannot afford
to develop and which it has strug-
gled to sell in the past.
The City Council approved a sales con-
tract Monday night with Area Properties.
In recent years, discussions about
selling city property have sparked com-
munity outcry. Last year, when the City
Council discussed the possibility of sell-
ing underused parkland, groups and indi-
viduals sprang into action, organizing to
adopt the parks and take over their care
and maintenance rather than see them
sold.
The possible sale of 12 overwater sites
in Mill Pond Village has not been contro-
versial at all.
Even Mill Pond homeowners who
attended a meeting in August when the
City Council last discussed the possibility
of a sale said they were just as perplexed
about how to “get rid of this issue.”
The city has paid more than $50,000
in homeowner association fees and other
expenses since the lots were donated to
the city in 2012. The last time city leaders
tried to sell the properties was in 2013.
They did not receive any offers.
On the City Council, opinion was
divided about how to go about trying to
sell the properties. Mayor Arline LaMear
and City Councilor Cindy Price voted
against the initial proposal in August,
preferring to talk first with adjacent prop-
erty owners in Mill Pond to gauge any
interest in purchasing the lots.
On Monday, LaMear stuck to this
approach.
Putting the lots up for sale to the gen-
eral public does not make any sense to
A
Structural elements support a home built over the water in Mill Pond Village.
her, she said.
“I can’t see why anyone would want
to buy them except maybe the people
in Mill Pond, to protect their view,” she
said.
Hers was the only dissenting view
Monday, and she cast the only “nay”
vote. City Councilor Tom Brownson
summed up the majority view when, after
listening to City Manager Brett Estes’
briefing on the topic, he simply said, “It’s
OK with me.”
One of the first conversations the real-
tor will have will be with the Mill Pond
homeowners association, Estes said
afterwards.
The city’s Mill Pond property is based
on two pier lots that stretch over Mill
Pond. On each pier lot there are six lots
or building sites. The City Council opted
for an agreement with Area Properties to
try to sell each pier lot for $45,000. It is
less money than what the city could make
if it tried to sell the building sites individ-
ually, but more realistic.
The pier lots are platted but not devel-
oped. Anyone looking to build on the
sites would first have to build out an
entire pier — a potential cost of more
than $3 million per pier, according to
some estimates.
The property came to the city in 2012,
when Portland developer Art DeMuro
died of cancer. DeMuro was president
of Venerable Group Inc. and his accom-
plishments included major renovation
work in Portland as well as the creation
of Mill Pond Village in Astoria.
See MILL POND, Page 5A
‘I CAN’T SEE WHY ANYONE WOULD WANT
TO BUY THEM EXCEPT MAYBE THE PEOPLE
IN MILL POND, TO PROTECT THEIR VIEW.’
Arline LaMear | Astoria mayor
The Astoria City Council is moving for-
ward to develop a license to regulate Airb-
nb-type vacation rentals in the city.
City councilors held the first reading of
two ordinances Monday night — one to
develop a homestay lodging license and
another to update the city’s transient room
tax ordinance.
For the last few years, city leaders have
struggled to address illegal short-term rent-
als in Astoria. City rules allow a type of
homestay lodging, where a bedroom or
two can be rented out of someone’s home
to tourists, but the renting out of entire
houses on a short-term basis is not allowed.
Still, such rentals flourish on websites like
Airbnb.
City staff say a license would help them
better monitor these type of rentals, enforce
city rules and give people who want to oper-
ate legally in the city a straightforward pro-
cess. Currently, the city struggles to identify
illegal rentals and collect the required tran-
sient lodging tax.
The City Council has gone back and
forth about the merits and dangers of allow-
ing homestay lodging rentals in the city at
all. Councilor Cindy Price has advocated
for a cap on the number allowed, while
Councilor Zetty Nemlowill suggested an
outright ban; they worry short-term rentals
take away housing options from residents
and change the character of neighborhoods.
Mayor Arline LaMear and Councilor
Tom Brownson have been more open to
homestay lodging, saying these types of
rentals are attractive to travelers and pro-
vide Astorians with the extra money that
allows them to stay in and maintain costly
historic homes.
On Monday, Brownson warned against
the possible unintended consequences of
the license. Some people who attended the
meeting echoed these concerns.
“There’s some good people here tonight
who I like and I respect and I don’t want
to create any hardships on short-term rental
businesses, but we need to protect our
neighborhoods,” Nemlowill said. “We need
to provide as much housing stock as we can
for Astorians.”
Price, despite her own misgivings, felt
the process outlined by staff reflected what
“smart cities everywhere are doing to keep
a lid on short term rentals.”
LaMear noted that the license is “very
definitely a compromise.”
A second reading of the ordinance will
occur in December and the city will be able
to start issuing licenses once the ordinance is
finalized. The proposal will require amend-
ments to the development code, however, a
process that can take around six months.
Under the proposal, a basic license will
cost $500 with a renewal cost of $150. A fire,
life and safety inspection, required with any
initial license application and renewal, will
cost $300 — if the property owner decides
to get the inspection through the city rather
than hire an independent inspector.
See LODGING, Page 5A
Plan floated to return sea otters to the Oregon Coast
Some fishermen
are concerned
By TOM BANSE
Northwest News Network
It’s been more than a cen-
tury since sea otters were
hunted to near extinction along
the West Coast. The cute ani-
mals were successfully rein-
troduced along the Washing-
ton state, British Columbia
and California coasts, but an
attempt to bring them back
to Oregon in the early 1970s
failed.
Now a new nonprofit has
formed to try again.
“For about 110 years now,
there’s been a big hole in
our environment,” said Peter
Hatch, a Siletz tribal member
living in Corvallis. “The sea
otter has been missing from
the Oregon Coast.”
Hatch recently joined the
board of a new nonprofit ded-
icated to bringing the sea otter
back to Oregon waters. The
group is named the Elakha
Alliance — “elakha” is the
Clatsop-Chinookan word for
sea otter.
“We are very heartened by
the idea that sea otters could be
brought back to this part of the
coast, brought back to make
their range whole again and to
make this place whole again,”
Hatch said in an interview at a
bluff overlooking the ocean in
Newport.
He pointed out to sea
toward Otter Rock, where a
hunter killed one of the last
wild Oregon sea otters for its
fur more than a century ago,
Hatch said. At one time, a soft,
luxurious sea otter robe would
have been among the most
valuable possessions a Siletz
person could own, he mused.
Hatch said other people are
excited by the prospect of rein-
troducing the otters. Sea otters
contribute to healthy kelp for-
ests by eating sea urchins, and
bring balance to the nearshore
ecosystem. Hatch believes
Tom Banse/Northwest News Network
See OTTERS, Page 5A
The only places to see sea otters in Oregon are at the Oregon
Zoo and the Oregon Coast Aquarium, where this otter lives.