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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 22, 2019)
A2 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2019 IN BRIEF New school activity bus will debut in Seaside SEASIDE — A new activity bus will join Seaside’s fl eet of school buses this school year. With extended leg room and overhead storage, “it’s like an airplane,” Michelle Wunderlich, a school board member who head’s the transportation committee, said with a laugh. “Except it doesn’t take off.” On Tuesday evening, the school board unanimously approved the $187,343 purchase of the bus. The hope is the extra space will allow students to get more rest on their way home after sporting events, specif- ically on school nights. League games regularly require student-athletes to ride for more than an hour each way. During the playoffs, students can ride up to fi ve hours. Providence Seaside unveils plans for new emergency rooms SEASIDE — Fred Loser remembers when things were so quiet at Providence Seaside Hospital that they would send doctors home for lack of business. “When I came here in 1990 and ‘91, there were days when there was nobody here. With a full staff, they’d send people home to save expenses,” the Seaside resi- dent said. “Now look at it — you can’t even get in the door.” Today, emergency room manager Cherie Echelbarger said the emergency room sees about 10,000 patients a year. “Transforming our emergency services is going to be really monumental here at Providence and the care we are able to provide the people who use our services here,” said Don Lemmon, the chief executive of Provi- dence Seaside. The $5 million project is expected to be completed in June. Washington hosts free day at parks Washington State Parks is hosting a “free day” Sunday in honor of the National Park System’s 103rd birthday. Day-use visitors will not need to purchase a Discover Pass to visit state parks. A Discover Pass — $30 annually, $10 for a day pass — is usually required with any vehicle entering a state park in Washington. The pass is still required on Wash- ington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Department of Natural Resources lands. Herman holds meet and greet Astoria City Councilor Joan Herman is holding a “Meet the Councilor” event from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednes- day in the Flag Room of the Astoria Library, 450 10th St. All are welcome to come, or drop in, and ask any questions or share concerns about city-related projects. For questions, email Herman at jherman@astoria.or.us — The Astorian DEATHS Aug. 20, 2019 HUTT, Mary, 94, of Warrenton, died in War- renton. Hughes- Ransom Mortuary is in charge of the arrangements. Aug. 16, 2019 GEISLER, Donna Lee, 68, of Knappa, died in Portland. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. MEMORIAL Friday, Aug. 23 MATTHEWS, Michael “Skip” — Memorial at 4:30 p.m., on the dock, at the end of Sixth Street, on the Columbia River. ON THE RECORD DUII • Eric Dawane Smith, 30, of Astoria, was arrested Tuesday morn- ing on 45th Street and Lief Erikson Drive for driving under the infl u- ence of intoxicants. His blood alcohol content was 0.14%. • Brian Douglas Campbell, 36, of Glad- stone, was arrested Sun- day on the 400 block of W. Marine Drive for driving under the infl u- ence of intoxicants. His blood alcohol content was 0.17%. Disorderly conduct • Kelsey Dawn Nguyen, 22, was arrested Monday on the 800 block of W. Marine Drive for disorderly conduct in the second degree. • Trace Morris, 47, was cited and released Sunday at Providence Seaside Hospital for dis- orderly conduct. Strangulation • Travis Lee Row- land, 34, of Seaside, was arrested Monday in Sea- side for strangulation. PUBLIC MEETINGS THURSDAY Sunset Empire Transportation District Board, 9 a.m., Astoria Transit Center Conference Room, 900 Marine Drive. Established July 1, 1873 (USPS 035-000) Published Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday by EO Media Group, 949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503-325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103-0210 DailyAstorian.com PAINTED LADY Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer Dancers took over the Painted Lady Lavender Farm in Ilwaco on Saturday for the eighth annual belly dance festival. Hood to Coast goes green Move toward sustainability By KATHERINE LACAZE Seaside Signal O rganizers of the Hood to Coast Relay are making strides during this year’s race to adopt more sustain- able event management practices and mitigate waste. The roughly 200-mile relay draws about 19,000 participants, along with thousands of volunteers and spectators, who travel from Timberline Lodge on Friday to Seaside on Saturday . “We have a responsibility, but also the ability to reach a lot of people within the race community, so we can help drive social change,” Hood to Coast spokesman Dan Floyd said. “There’s so much we can do at our own event.” Although the orga- nizers have internally attempted small measures for improved waste manage- ment over the past decade or so, they are undertaking a more concerted effort this year through a partnership with Elysium Events, a sus- tainable event management company out of Portland. Elysium founder and owner Lindsey Newkirk said in this initial year, they are using “a little bit of a softer approach to just try to get people information,” and bring awareness to the mas- sive amount of waste cre- By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Astorian The Astoria City Council tentatively denied a project that would have converted a 5-unit apartment building on Commercial Street into Airb- nb-style rentals. The unanimous decision upheld a Planning Commis- sion vote in June to deny the application from Steward- ship Homes LLC. The Tigard company appealed the Plan- ning Commission’s denial, saying the commission’s concerns over lack of park- ing and the loss of long-term rentals did not apply. But city councilors added to the list at the appeals hear- ing Monday, saying they did not believe the use was MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. Printed on recycled paper UTILITY Subscription rates Eff ective May 1, 2019 MAIL (IN COUNTY) EZpay (per month) ...............................................................................................................$11.25 13 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$37.00 26 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$71.00 52 weeks in advance ........................................................................................................ $135.00 Out of County Rates available at 800-781-3214 DIGITAL EZpay (per month) .................................................................................................................$8.00 get into a recycling stream — rendering it too diffi - cult to sort — the entire load will be sent to a land- fi ll, Newkirk said. Elysium has a strategy for helping in this area by providing back- of-house sorting to remove contaminated items. Groups of students from Glencoe High School and Roosevelt High School have volun- teered to help with sorting in exchange for bottles and cans that can be depos- ited for money at the Ore- gon Beverage Recycling Cooperative. As Newkirk pointed out, however, “It’s all the more environmentally preferred to prevent waste from occur- ring in the fi rst place.” Par- ticipants are encouraged to use a refi llable water jug or bottle instead of single-use, disposable plastic bottles, and buy snacks in bulk or put together homemade snacks in reusable contain- ers, as opposed to individu- ally wrapped items. a good fi t for the neighbor- hood. They questioned how the project would benefi t the city. City Councilor Roger Rocka noted the two-story building’s proximity to a community park and the First Baptist Church. Though located in a commercial zone, the feeling of the neighbor- hood is decidedly residential, he said. Councilor Jessamyn West pointed to the c ouncil’s goals established earlier this year, one of which is to support efforts to increase Astoria’s long-term housing supply. The councilors did com- mend Matt Gillis, of Stew- ardship Homes, for his care of other buildings he owns in the city. Gillis and Garrett Ste- phenson, the lawyer repre- senting Stewardship Homes, said they understood the con- cerns about housing . “But,” argued Stephen- son, “I think, at a very central level, that’s a citywide prob- lem and that’s not for this application to solve.” Nor is there any require- ment for Gillis to offer hous- ing at affordable or work- force rates, he noted. A ban on converting res- idential units into short-term rentals was not under con- sideration when Stewardship Homes submitted its appli- cation, Stephenson said. He also argued against using the perceived lack of on-street parking as grounds for denial. But concerns about hous- ing remained a sticking point for city councilors and peo- ple opposed to the project. Sara Lu Heath, execu- tive director of the Astoria Downtown Historic District Association, wrote that the association has heard “from our membership that there is not adequate workforce housing in Astoria, and this is hindering attempts to hire, expand, and in some cases just keep normal business (hours). Losing this asset is not in the best interest of our year-round community.” City staff will rewrite their fi ndings to refl ect the City Council’s arguments. The City Council plans to fi nalize its denial of the appeal at a special meeting on Tuesday. ROCKFORD ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by The Astorian become the property of The Astorian and may not be reproduced for any use without explicit prior approval. MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ated at large events, such as the “Mother of All Relays.” The main challenges with Hood to Coast are the num- ber of people out on the course and the numerous exchange points that man- ifest almost as individual “minievents along the way,” Newkirk said. One step this year is implementing a strategy to ensure recycling is done correctly through build- ing awareness and dissem- inating useful information. Organizers are providing a sorting guide with tips on reducing waste at exchange points where vendors are serving food and bev- erages. Participants can access the guide using the recently introduced race app — which also provides safety and course informa- tion to keep people updated about weather or last-minute changes. Many people may not be aware, for instance, that if too many contaminants Astoria shoots down vacation rental project Circulation phone number: 503-325-3211 Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR COPYRIGHT © Entire contents © Copyright, 2019 by The Astorian. Hood to Coast Race Series Runners at the starting line of the Hood to Coast Relay. Teams also can sign an online pledge to commit to preventing creating waste. If every van were to convert to reusable water jugs and bot- tles, they could collectively avoid an estimated 157,000 single-use disposable plas- tic bottles throughout the course of the race. The implementation of these strategies will allow organizers to establish met- rics for determining the event’s average resource recovery rate and gauging waste reduction efforts in the future, as well as identifying new sustainable solutions and waste prevention incen- tives that could be used. “This year, we’ll at least be able to create a baseline,” Newkirk said. “We can use that baseline for creating goals for increasing that recovery rate over time.” This will be the 30th year Hood to Coast has used Seaside to host the p arty at the beach for participants. Like the varied terrain and starting point at Timber- line Lodge on Mount Hood, Floyd said, the party on the beach is one of the iconic aspects of the event that peo- ple have come to expect . “They defi nitely like coming and experiencing a lot of the same things,” he said. “We are selling people on the venue as much as the actual race.” Teams fi lter into town from early morning until night during the second day of the race, and the public is welcome to join the party. • WATERPROOF • NON-METALLIC SAFETY TOES • OIL & SLIP-RESISTANT SOLE • AVAILABLE IN MENS D (MEDIUM) AND EE (WIDE) Follow us on $ 150 ASTORIA: 239 14th Street • (503) 325-3972 • www.gimresshoesastoria.com
