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DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 202
Warrenton
still dealing
with levee
system
ONE DOLLAR
Once a marvel, USS Plainview
now a pollution concern
City intends to fi x
encroachments
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The City Com-
mission plans to develop a new policy to
address encroachments on the city’s levee
system.
A recent inspection of Warrenton’s
nearly 11 miles of levees revealed several
issues. T here are moles everywhere and,
in several cases, there are structures built
into levee slopes.
One example the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers has rated as “unacceptable” is
a garage built into the levee right of way
off Main Avenue near Fourth Street.
If the garage is not addressed, it
could jeopardize the levee system’s sta-
tus within the federal Rehabilitation and
Inspection Program, which provides
rehabilitation assistance.
Mark Kujala, a Clatsop County com-
missioner and former Warrenton mayor
who has been acting as a levee con-
sultant for the city, estimates that most
See Warrenton, Page A7
Boat ramp
complicated
by easement
State project hits a snag
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
An easement from a local diking dis-
trict may complicate the state Department
of Fish and Wildlife’s plan to build a new
boat launch along the Klaskanine River.
The Clatsop County Planning Com-
mission approved a conditional use per-
mit on Tuesday to build what the depart-
ment calls “a primitive boat ramp” near
the intersection of Youngs River and Uno
Swensk roads. But Fish and Wildlife
must come to an agreement with Diking
Improvement Co. No. 9, which has juris-
diction over the land.
The property, which spans about 150
feet of the Klaskanine River, would
include a concrete boat ramp, a gravel
parking lot that could fi t about 10 to 15
vehicles with trailers, and riprap capped
with riverbed materials to emulate a nat-
ural bank.
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
The USS Plainview is a concern to the Washington Department of Natural Resources.
Former Navy ship
left in the mudfl ats
By LUKE WHITTAKER
Chinook Observer
H
UNGRY HARBOR, Wash.
— Less than 2 miles east of
the Astoria Bridge, on the
mudfl ats of Hungry Harbor, lays
what once was a modern marvel.
Launched in 1965, the USS
Plainview was the Navy’s biggest
and fastest hydrofoil, a 210-foot,
320-ton prototype built by Lock-
heed in Seattle. The sleek alumi-
num vessel was powered by twin
turbo fan jet engines, capable of
speeds exceeding 50 knots as it
rose 10 feet above the water on
three struts.
In December 1968, Popu-
lar Mechanics dubbed it, “The
biggest fastest fl ying boat yet.”
Design and construction cost
nearly $21 million, equivalent to
more than $80 million today.
Once considered an answer
for Soviet submarine warfare, the
Navy’s fascination with fast hydro-
foil ships was somewhat short-lived.
The experimental prototype was
abandoned due to cost a few years
later.
Now, the Plainview generates
agency concern as a possible source
of pollution.
In 1978, the ship was decommis-
sioned and sold to a private buyer
for $128,000. Later that year, the
The Plainview lifts its hull from the
waters of Puget Sound during tests by
Lockheed in Seattle in 1968.
vessel was brought by tug from the
Puget Sound to Young s Bay by Low-
ell Stambaugh, who purchased it as
an investment following a lucrative
salmon season.
Stambaugh , with help from his
brother, planned to turn the vessel
into a processing ship to add to their
expanding fl eet. He estimated the
ship could possibly pack 1 million
pounds or more of frozen
fi sh in a palletized layout. He esti-
mated it would take a $1 million loan
to turn the military vessel into a com-
mercial enterprise .
“My brother and I were ready
to renovate it and put it together,
but shortly after we bought it inter-
est rates went super high — they
exceeded 20 percent,” Stambaugh
recalled. “It seemed like a bad time to
borrow a million dollars, so I didn’t.”
See USS Plainview, Page A7
See Boat ramp, Page A5
Wendy’s opens in Warrenton
Fast food on Ensign Lane
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
General Manager Janai Hullette-Gromoll cut the ribbon for the
Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday
for the new Wendy’s in Warrenton, which opened today.
WARRENTON — Wendy’s opened to the
public this morning.
Restaurant e mployees and local dignitar-
ies from the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber
of Commerce cut the ribbon Tuesday on the
region’s newest fast-food chain .
The franchise along Ensign Lane in the
Warrenton Highlands retail center is Steve
Harris’ 26th.
The building is the eighth of Wendy’s
Smart 2.0 restaurants, designed for a smaller
footprint at 2,400 square feet compared to
3,400 square feet for a usual location, Harris
said.
“That’s kind of the push behind it,” he said.
“We have a single production line here. So
we’re going to be funneling more of the traffi c
through one line. It saves us about 50 hours a
week in labor. And it’s about $50,000 cheaper
to build.”
Wendy’s has more than 6,500 locations
globally. The Warrenton location is the second
on the Oregon Coast after Coos Bay.
Harris’ company runs 25 other restaurants
in the Pacifi c Northwest. He was attracted to
Warrenton by the year-round local population
and central location in a large shopping cen-
ter, he said.
The Warrenton location has so far added 41
employees, Harris said, 38 workers and three
managers. Leading them is Janai Hullette-Gro-
moll, the general manager, who moved from
Vancouver, Washington, to run the store.
See Wendy’s, Page A5