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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2019)
A7 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2019 Homes: Prices and sales are slowing nationally to $15,000 for down pay- ments and closing costs to fi rst-time buyers mak- ing no more than 80 percent of the area median income — $49,600 for a family of four. Cindy Peake, a home- ownership and housing spe- cialist with the group, said the program helps about two people a month but faces the same challenge of fi nding houses inexpensive enough. Continued from Page A1 working full time used to be able to afford a mortgage on the North Coast , but home ownership is increasingly out of reach , especially for people in lower-paying ser- vice sector jobs . An increase in housing prices is commonly driven by economic development and improving incomes, but not on the North Coast . “We have an infl ux of income for a few months out of the year,” Woodford said of the tourist season. “We’re two hours from Seattle, an hour from Portland. That’s really the only justifi cation we have with our real estate prices continuing to go up. We don’t have any economic boom here. We haven’t had any huge mill come in.” Looking forward Affordability A 30-year mortgage pay- ment on a $323,000 home would cost just over $2,000 a month with a 10 percent down payment, a nearly 4.9 percent interest rate, taxes and insurance, Woodford said. The borrowers would need a verifi able income of nearly $69,000 a year, a tall ask for many working families . “You almost have to have a logger, or a fi sherman or a mill worker, and then a wait staff or a motel-ho- tel worker,” Woodford said. “The two of them will maybe get up into that $60-, $65,000 range where they can actually afford a house payment.” Andrea Mazzarella , a for- mer service sector employee, has been a real estate agent for two years, now with RE/ MAX River & Sea. She focuses largely on fi rst-time homebuyers, many with budgets of $250,000 or less. “Typically houses $250,000 and under, and really anything under Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Home prices in Warrenton are slightly higher compared to Astoria, according to numbers from the Clatsop Association of Realtors. 400 Northwest Oregon home values 264.5 (Thousands of dollars) Clatsop Tillamook Columbia Oregon $326,700: Up 6.1% from Nov. 2017 307.9 300 278.1 202.6 $303,900: Up 9.3% from Nov. 2017 200 255.1 180.2 Source: Zillow 100 March 2008 2009 Edward Stratton and Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group 2010 2011 $300,000, will get multiple offers,” she said. “There’s more buyers than we have homes in that price range, 2012 2013 2014 2015 especially.” Her clients often submit handwritten letters about their lives and dedication to 2016 2017 2018 Nov. 2018 the community, along with photos of their families, in the hopes of standing out . A big part of getting houses for locals amid out-of-town competition is educating sellers about the importance of legacy and supporting the community, she said. “The part that gets me feeling like a crazy person is when I see people want- ing to make decisions elevat- ing tourism, but not realizing people who work in the tour- ist industry can’t afford to live here,” she said. Lower-income buyers have some sources of fed- erally backed, low-interest mortgages, such as a the U.S. Federal Housing Administra- tion and U.S. Department of Agriculture. The challenge, though, is fi nding houses at a low-enough price to qualify . Among its other pro- grams, Community Action Team provides grants of up Home prices and sales are slowing nationally as many potential buyers are priced out. Industry forecasts are showing a similar slowdown locally, Woodford said. “We’ll probably dip down in the near future,” he said. “Will we go back down into the ($200,000 range)? I don’t think that we will. I just think the speed at which we recov- ered can’t be sustained.” But how to create hous- ing that working-class peo- ple can afford is still elusive. “The challenge right now is that affordability fac- tor,” said Debbie Morrow, an executive offi cer for the realty association who mon- itors transactions. “Typi- cally new homes being built right now, they’re more of the higher-end homes. When you have issues like labor shortages, and you have the tariff issue, the high cost of construction, builders are building more of the high- end homes because they need to be profi table.” She and Woodford have pointed to a need for more modest, smaller homes, along with condominiums and multifamily develop- ments that can help hold housing prices down. Devel- opers are starting to better understand the need for low- er-cost options , Woodford said. “People just want a house that will keep them warm,” he said. LNG: County could lose revenue from timber sales off federal land Continued from Page A1 Opponents who over- fl owed the Jackson County Expo Padgham Pavilion included state Sen.-elect Jeff Golden of Ashland, who also spoke at the rally in the nearby Olsrud Room prior to the hearing. Golden suggested to the crowd of LNG opponents that they schedule meetings with elected offi cials with “clarity and tenacity,” tell- ing them their activism has the power to stop the project funded by Canadian energy corporation Pembina. “When the people lead, the leaders will follow,” Golden said. Allie Rosenbluth, a community organizer with Rogue Climate, estimated the turnout at the rally was more than 1,000. The organization ordered 70 pizzas, among other refreshments. Of the 485 Oregon water- ways that the proposed pipeline would be installed beneath, 88 of them are in the Rogue Basin, according to Rosenbluth. Water concerns Talent Mayor Darby Ayers-Flood and City Coun- cilor Emily Berlant said that although the pipeline won’t run through their town, it will run beneath the source of its water in the Upper Rogue. “We can’t push this far- ther along,” Berlant said. Other elected offi cials, who voiced concern as indi- viduals and on behalf of their constituents, included Julian Bell with the Ash- land Parks and Recreation Commission, Phoenix City Councilor Stuart Warren and Medford City Councilor Kay Brooks. Brooks noted that the Rogue Valley has a “sig- nifi cantly water-dependent economy.” She touched on her experience growing up in rural Alabama, and how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 impacted tour- ism in the South. “Our economy turned into the BP payout econ- omy,” Brooks said. The Department of State Lands’ Ali Ryan Hansen said this latest application to install a pipeline across Oregon to a proposed LNG facility near Coos Bay has rerouted sections of the pipe- line away from private land- owners into public lands and combined its potential soil disruption in the pipeline’s channel and terminal phases into one phase. “They basically com- bined applications,” Hansen said. Potential jobs Dozens of propo- nents, many in neon sweat- shirts and hardhats printed with union affi liation, also attended the hearing but typ- ically took a more subdued approach. Daniel Del Reao described himself as a “voice for working fam- ilies,” saying he worked today and drove his own vehicle before asking rhetor- ically how many of the peo- ple opposed were members of the “active workforce?” The comment drew audi- ble guffaws from an audi- ence consisting of people from college to retirement age. Lou Christian, with UA Local 290, said the pipe- line means more than 1,400 jobs for men and women in his craft of plumbers and steamfi tters. He also said that similar to cars, natural gas pipelines are far safer than they were a generation ago. In a morning meeting before the hearing, Jackson County offi cials expressed concerns about the pipeline that were similar to many of the concerns shared by residents. The Jackson County Board of Commissioners reiterated its objection to the project on the grounds that eminent domain could be used against unwilling property owners. County offi cials plan to research the project further and submit detailed com- ments to the state in a few weeks. But for now, County Administrator Danny Jor- dan said the pipeline would cross the property of 26 pri- vate landowners in Jackson County, three county-owned properties and federal land. Core: New development is supposed to ‘be respectful’ Continued from Page A1 Out of scale Early designs of the Fair- fi eld project were criticized for being boxy and generic. Some people, including city councilors and city commit- tee members, said a later design that attempted to mimic historic industrial and cannery buildings was still out of scale with the area. Hastie and city staff have proposed new codes for the Urban Core, including one that directly addresses vari- ation in building facades. Non industrial buildings will need to include design fea- tures along facades visible from a public right of way or from the Astoria Riverwalk. These buildings will also need to have a similar mass- ing, scale and confi guration as adjacent or nearby histori- cal buildings. Bridge Vista has historic properties and structures. Urban Core includes a signif- icant and densely developed historic district downtown. New development in the Urban Core is supposed to “be respectful.” But in a presentation about the his- tory of Astoria’s constantly evolving waterfront build- ings, historian John Good- enberger reminded the Plan- ning Commission there are several ways to hit that goal. He pointed out examples throughout Astoria’s history of how, as buildings have risen and fallen, there have been efforts to perfectly match past construction, to compliment the past but not replicate it, or to contrast with past construction, but in a way that still suits the area. When the Fairfi eld proj- ect was under discussion, city leaders referred often to the Cannery Pier Hotel as an example of a large hotel that “got it right ” and respected Astoria’s historic charac- ter. Built by the late archi- tect and entrepreneur Rob- ert “Jake” Jacob , the hotel stretches out over the r iver next to the Astoria Bridge. It was designed to evoke the historic cannery that once existed there, but with modern touches and a sort of visual illusion of greater size. On Tuesday, Gooden- berger called the hotel’s design a “brilliant stroke” by Jacob . Whose past? But trying to perfectly preserve or replicate history can raise questions, he said. Such as: Whose past are we going to replicate? The Scandinavian heritage? The architecture of native tribes? The Astoria of the 1950s? Some historic forms or designs are tied to era-spe- cifi c uses and do not trans- late well in modern times or can diminish the value of real historic buildings, Goodenberger said. When talking about repli- cating history, he said, “you can fi nd yourself in a trap really fast. ” Since trees have to be cut along the pipeline route and couldn’t be allowed to regrow, the county could lose shared revenue from timber sales off federal land. On the other hand, Pem- bina says the pipeline route would generate $20 mil- lion annually in tax revenue for Jackson, Douglas and Klamath counties. Jordan said drilling beneath the Rogue River north of Shady Cove would be disruptive and loud for the neighbors living nearby. Drilling fl uid could spill, jeopardizing the river. With the pipeline cross- ing approximately 78 wet- lands and waterways in Jackson County, Jordan said construction could cause more sediment in water. “If there’s erosion, we’re going to have more sedi- mentation and turbidity,” he said. Sediment in water is harmful to fi sh. The state has put pressure on the county and cities to reduce erosion into the Rogue River and its tributaries. Vickie Aldous of the Mail Tribune contributed to this report. SMASH YOUR DEBT AND SHOW YOUR DEBT WHO’S BOSS. VISA PLATINUM CREDIT CARD With a Platinum Visa Credit Card, you can give your debt the final K.O. 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