A7
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2019
Hotel: Developers describe it as ‘boutique, with luxury amenities’
Continued from Page A1
In their conditional use appli-
cation, the hotel developers pro-
posed a solution: valet parking. This
would allow them to tightly pack
up to 30 cars in a parking lot across
from the hotel. The lot had previ-
ously been used by processing plant
employees.
The intention is not to gouge
guests with valet parking costs,
Turner said. Instead, the valet park-
ing option “was a very creative
solution to what we knew was a big
problem.”
The hotel will likely charge a
small parking fee for the service.
Developers are still examining other
options, including purchasing a lot
farther away, but they hoped that
including valet parking would be
enough to get the project approved
by the Planning Commission.
Commission President Sean
Fitzpatrick said this kind of valet
parking is untested in Astoria.
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t
allow it or shouldn’t consider it,”
he said. “I’m saying we don’t know
how it would work.”
But newly appointed Commis-
sioner Patrick Corcoran said this
kind of parking is an approach that,
depending on how it works out, may
become a model to address parking
problems elsewhere in the city.
Other details about the hotel have
not been publicly released . Even the
name has not been decided on yet,
Turner said.
Developers describe the hotel as
“boutique, with luxury amenities.”
Renovating the processing plant to
create a hotel will not increase the
footprint of the original building,
nor its height. Since the building is
not historic , renovation details will
be handled directly by city staff and
will not undergo a public design
review.
The hotel falls under the Urban
Core, the fi nal piece of the city’s
Riverfront Vision Plan, which
guides development along the river.
But the Planning Commission is in
the middle of developing codes and
guidelines for the area. The hotel
project was evaluated under exist-
ing codes.
As a condition of approval,
developers will need to improve
the section of the Astoria River-
walk that runs in front of the build-
ing. Processing plant operations
and frequent forklift traffi c resulted
in extreme wear and tear along the
popular riverfront trail.
Word of the hotel project fi rst
broke publicly last October, around
the same time the city was consid-
ering another hotel proposal — a
new four-story Marriott-brand hotel
by developer Hollander Hospitality
at the base of Second Street . That
project, the Fairfi eld Inn and Suites,
went through several redesigns,
multiple hearings, multiple denials
and multiple appeals before it was
approved in December by the City
Measles: ‘I think we gave
into fear right away because
of having such a young child’
Drilling: Governor made it an issue during her campaign
Continued from Page A1
Oregon’s fi rst moratorium on
drilling took effect in 1989 after the
Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s
Prince William Sound. Since then,
state legislators have renewed it
every decade, said Brian Doherty,
a Portland attorney who lobbies
at the Capitol for the petroleum
association.
Senate Bill 256 — sponsored by
three coastal legislators — would
make the moratorium permanent.
The c hief sponsors, state
Sen. Arnie Roblan, Rep. David
Gomberg and Rep. David Brock
Smith, modeled the legislation
after a law in California. Washing-
ton has no moratorium on oil and
gas drilling, despite Gov. Jay Ins-
lee’s opposition to exploration off
that state’s shore.
During a hearing Tuesday in
the Senate Committee on Envi-
ronment and Natural Resources ,
Roblan, the committee’s chairman,
said the committee could send the
legislation to a Senate vote soon.
There was no opposition to the
proposal during the hearing .
Oregon’s oil and gas reserves off
the coast would meet nationwide
demand for about a week, accord-
ing to an estimate by Ocean a, a
marine conservation organization.
The Oregon Coast is not seen
as a promising place to fi nd large
quantities of oil and gas, said Bob
Tippee, editor of Oil & Gas Jour-
Continued from Page A1
Two confi rmed cases of mea-
sles in Hawaii were in unvacci-
nated children who traveled to the
Big Island from Washington state,
a top Hawaii public health offi cial
said.
The viral illness is highly con-
tagious and can remain in the air
for up to two hours. Some 90 per-
cent of people exposed to measles
who have not been vaccinated will
get it, said Clark County public
health director Alan Melnick.
“We have an exquisitely con-
tagious disease, that can be really
severe and we have a prevention
for it that’s cheap, incredibly effec-
tive and incredibly safe,” he said.
“We wouldn’t be dealing with this
if we had vaccination rates up.”
So far, 31 of the 35 confi rmed
patients in Clark County had not
been vaccinated against measles.
And the region has been identifi ed
by health experts as an anti-vac-
cination hot spot. Clark Coun-
ty’s vaccination rate is 78 percent,
well below the 94 percent level
necessary to protect people who
can’t get vaccinated for medical
reasons.
Melnick blames misinforma-
tion shared on social media for the
California State Lands Commission
A drilling platform sits off the coast of California.
nal. For most companies, the cost
of drilling would likely outweigh
the potential for production, he
said.
“I suspect most operators would
fi nd the risk excessive in relation to
the potential reward,” he said.
Nevertheless, the proposal
by the Trump administration has
fueled debate over the moratorium.
Gov. Kate Brown made it an
issue during her re-election cam-
paign last year. In October, she
issued an executive order continu-
ing Oregon’s ban for the rest of her
term, which ends in 2022.
“Oregon has been a consistent
leader in environmental justice and
stewardship, and legislative action
is imperative in solidifying a pros-
perous future for our coast,” said
Jason Miner, the governor’s nat-
ural resources policy manager, at
the Senate hearing Tuesday . “Our
marine fi sheries, iconic scenery
and pristine environment are true
embodiments of what makes the
Oregon Coast worth defending.”
The Oregon Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO Media
Group, Pamplin Media Group and
Salem Reporter.
area’s lower than normal rates.
“What keeps me up at night is
worrying that we’re going to have
a child die from this, something
that’s completely preventable,” he
said.
That’s a worry shared by many
parents, especially those with
newborn infants. The vaccine is
generally not given to children
younger than 1.
Vancouver resident Megan
Jasurta hasn’t felt comfortable
leaving the house with her son,
11-week-old Tristan.
“He’s on house arrest,” she
said. Jasurta’s other two kids, who
are 3 and 6, are both up to date on
their shots, but she still has them
wash their hands when they come
home and change into new clothes
before seeing Tristan.
“I think we gave into the fear
right away because of having such
a young child,” she said.
For now, her family is avoiding
crowded areas and even decided
to delay their daughter’s birthday
party. She knows some people in
her community choose not to vac-
cinate their kids, and she says it’s
not worth putting her family at
risk.
Noelle Crombie of The Orego-
nian contributed to this report.
TAX
SEASON
SPECIAL
Est. 1987
Jan 31 st
35
Council in a 3-2 vote.
The Fairfi eld project became a
campaign issue in city elections and
a source of controversy in the com-
munity. A crowd usually turned up
at every meeting to speak against
the project.
The hotel proposed by the Adrift
and Buoy developers met with a
very different reaction . Initial news
of their plans drew praise from res-
idents, who pointed to the track
record of the people involved to
improve old buildings, involve the
community and provide well-pay-
ing jobs.
At the Planning Commission
hearing Tuesday, despite concerns
about parking, no one spoke against
the project.
15%
Off Now Apri thru
l
ON ALL
FURNITURE
%
off
1 DAY ONLY
Up To
%
75
off
Over 30
years in
Clatsop
County!
15th
Clearance
Items
Annual January
SALE!
Almost the Entire Store!
1116 Commercial, Astoria, Or
(503)325-5720
Hours:
MON-FRI: 8-6PM
SAT: 9-5PM
SUN: 10-4PM
Appliance &
Home Furnishings
“We Service
What We Sell”
503-861-0929
Follow us on Facebook & Instagram
529 SE MARLIN AVENUE , WARRENTON, OR
EXCLUDES FOOD, CONSIGNMENTS, LAYAWAY.
LIMITED TO STOCK ON HAND