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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2019
Uniontown plan heads to City Council
Reconfi gurations
planned for
Marine Drive
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
A master plan for the
Uniontown neighborhood
is headed to the Astoria
City Council after planners
ensured any on-street park-
ing lost as the busy thor-
oughfare is reconfi gured
would be replaced.
The city began work in
2017 on Uniontown Reborn
to improve traffi c fl ow and
pedestrian safety along
Marine Drive, a busy four-
lane road through which
U.S. H ighway 30 and U.S.
Highway 101 both fl ow.
The city convened an advi-
sory stakeholder committee,
including local businesses,
to help guide the discussion.
The plan recommends
cutting a westbound lane
along Marine Drive; add-
ing a turn lane between the
Roundabout and Doughboy
Monument; widening side-
walks; improving access
for people with disabilities
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Cars pass along Marine Drive outside of Three Cups Coff ee in Uniontown.
and adding a median ref-
uge for people crossing at
Bay Street; and adding bike
lanes, planting strips and
lighting. It would create a
new overlay zone to guide
design and development in
the neighborhood.
The City Council will
hold a public hearing on the
Buoy: Managing
buoys is part of the
Aids to Navigation
Continued from Page A1
“At the time it wasn’t
working, so if you’re in a
fog or a storm you might
not be able to see it — it
was of no use,” U.S. Coast
Guard Petty Offi cer Steve
Strohmaier said.
These types of buoys are
the largest ones the Coast
Guard maintains . The con-
crete sinker it connects to
weighs 18,000 pounds.
Most of the time, buoys
are only connected to
the sinker by a chain, but
because the water is so deep
where this buoy sits, it is
also connected by a nylon
rope. Without the rope, the
chain would cause the buoy
to sit lower in the water or
possibly submerge due to
the weight of the chain.
The buoy is also unique
because it has a whistle. I f
the light on top is not vis-
ible due to fog, the whistle
is audible to mariners.
“All of these character-
istics make servicing this
navigation aid a unique
evolution,”
Strohmaier
wrote in an email.
“When Coast Guard
members service aids
as large as this, safety is
paramount. It is never a
quick or easy task when
a 35-foot, 18,500-pound
object attached to (a) mov-
ing chain is placed on the
deck of a buoy tender.
There are a lot of mov-
ing parts. Then combine
that with rolling waves or
inclement weather.”
Usually, the Coast
Guard c utter Elm, which
is based in Astoria, would
handle buoy work in the
Pacifi c Northwest. B ut
since the Elm was under-
going routine maintenance,
the c utter Aspen, a 225-
foot buoy tender from San
Francisco, had to attend to
the buoys on the Oregon
Coast.
Although it is not ideal,
ships can still detect buoys
without the light or the
radio beacon. The propel-
ler-like object that spins on
top of ships is a radar that
detects objects or land near
the ship.
“Even if there were no
light, no sound, no radio
beacon, they can actually
ping off of structures,”
Strohmaier said.
“So on their radar,
it would show up as an
object. Most of the time
they can identify, ‘OK , if
we’re going at this trajec-
tory, that object showing
up should be that buoy.’ So
out at sea, it has nothing
to bounce off of, but when
it’s close to land, it’s either
going to bounce off land,
or a buoy, or a structure or
other boats.”
Buoys are usually
replaced every three to
fi ve years after becoming
weathered by conditions at
sea. Older buoys are either
refurbished or recycled.
“There are a lot more
people out on deck, get-
ting their hands dirty work-
ing with the buoys, making
sure they are safe, operat-
ing and putting them back
in,” Strohmaier said of the
repair work. “And you can
see you’re making a dif-
ference right away. You’re
taking this old ... buoy and
taking it out and putting a
new one right back in and
you can see that difference
right away.”
The Coast Guard also
relies on other mariners to
let them know when there
is an issue with buoys ,
Strohmaier said.
Managing buoys is part
of Aids to Navigation —
one of the missions of the
Coast Guard oftentimes
overlooked.
“Navigation aids are
not one of the things peo-
ple always think of when
they come to the Coast
Guard, but it’s still one of
the missions that we serve
the American public with,”
Strohmaier said.
“A lot of the freighters
and ships that are coming
in and out still rely on these
pieces of equipment out
there on the water.”
plan Sept. 30, with a second
reading and possible adop-
tion in October, said plan-
ning consultant Rosemary
Johnson.
Business owners worried
about the loss of parking
on the south side of Marine
Drive that would result from
the reconfi gurations.
Another concern was the
elimination of left turns at
Bay Street, which provides
access to several nearby
buildings, to make room for
an enhanced crosswalk and
refuge for pedestrians cross-
ing Marine Drive. The plan
has been amended to allow
left turns while adding a
pedestrian refuge.
“I believe all of our fears
in Uniontown now have
been taken care of, so thank
you so much,” Diana Kirk,
owner of the Workers Tav-
ern and housing in Union-
town, told the P lanning
C ommission on Tuesday.
Michael
Duncan,
a
regional planner and grant
manager with the state
Department of Transpor-
tation, gave a formal writ-
ten endorsement of the proj-
ect from state transportation
planners, albeit without any
promise of money.
“We’re probably about
six years out before fund-
ing would be identifi ed for
something like this, and
actual design and construc-
tion would be more of that
eight- to 12-year range,” he
said.
Planning Commissioner
Cindy Price said she hopes
the master plan can be
revised, considering how
much Astoria has changed
over the past decade and
how much more it could by
the time design begins. The
plan is the best that could
be put forward at this time,
with the understanding fund-
ing, travel patterns and other
factors can change, Duncan
said.
Duncan agreed to look
sooner at the concern by
Kirk and other business
owners about the shaking
caused by passing trucks hit-
ting the perpendicular cross-
walks and stop lines. Plan-
ning Commissioner Sean
Fitzpatrick said he and other
commissioners were taken
on a tour and could feel the
impact of the trucks in front
of Workers Tavern and at
the crosswalk near Under
the Bridge Cigarettes. Kirk
claims the vibrations have
caused cracked windows in
her property.
Fitzpatrick asked whether
continental crosswalks, with
bars parallel to traffi c with
cutouts for tires, could be
painted in front of Hauer’s
Lawn Care & Equipment
instead of the perpendicular
style. Those style of cross-
walks are usually reserved
for mid block crossings, but
there are exceptions from
a property damage or nui-
sance standpoint, Duncan
said.
Pond: ‘It’s also a gift back to the community’
Continued from Page A1
North Coast Auto Service
would coincide with Asto-
ria Regatta celebrations in
August.
The museum has fi elded
several concerns — mostly
expressed on social media
— about the pond, includ-
ing the fear that a motor-
ist might careen off Marine
Drive and crash into the
water . Jones dismissed this
particular worry.
“You would have to
physically turn your wheel
two revolutions,” he said,
noting these kind of acci-
dents have not happened at
the site when it was an auto
service . Landscaping along
the perimeter will provide
a visual barrier as well, he
said.
Others have wondered if
the pond will be abused by
the community or become
a place for people who are
homeless to camp out.
One man who gave testi-
mony during a public hear-
ing on a proposed Grocery
Outlet nearby joked about
how the store could pro-
vide affordable toiletries to
the homeless “after they’re
done using the new bath-
ing center at the m aritime
m useum.”
Jones said the museum
has purposefully minimized
infrastructure that might
allow people to hide or
camp at the park. Museum
staff will monitor the site
and, like the museum’s
other properties, the pond
and park will be part of the
Astoria Police Department’s
Property Watch program.
Property Watch allows
police to act on a property
owner’s behalf to deal with
issues after hours. The pro-
gram was rebooted two
years ago to address aggres-
sive panhandling downtown
and has primarily been used
as a tool to curb issues tied
to the homeless population.
Museum administrators
hope the pond becomes a
popular community hub.
“It’s for the museum
campus, but it’s also a gift
back to the community,”
Jones said.
On Tuesday, the Planning
Commission approved the
fi nal public step the pond
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Construction of the pond continues outside the Columbia
River Maritime Museum.
project needed to move for-
ward: a variance to install a
historic sign.
The sign, a 32-foot-long
milled old growth timber
with “Columbia River Mar-
itime Museum” spelled out
in steel letters, was used
when the maritime museum
moved into its location on
the waterfront in the 1980s.
A donation from one
of the board members at
the time, the sign was fi rst
placed out in front of the
main building on the west
side but was later moved
to a second site near the
bar pilot boat, the Peacock,
according to Sam Johnson,
the museum’s executive
director . Its new home will
be up near the road in front
of the pond.
“It’s moved steadily
east,” Johnson said.
The pond and park are
located near the museum’s
Barbey Maritime Center, at
the far end of a large parking
lot some distance from the
museum . Michelle Dieffen-
bach, of Rickenbach Con-
struction , told the Planning
Commission the sign could
pull double duty as a sort of
gateway to the community.
www.clatsopcc.edu/CEL
Join CMH as CCC presents
the 6 th Annual
Conference on
Extraordinary
Living
Saturday, Sept 7th
8:30 am to 1:30 pm
Clatsop Community College
in Columbia Hall
1651 Lexington Ave, Astoria
•
Morning coffee and goodies
•
Free lunch
•
Free blood pressure checks
provided by Clatsop Care
This year’s Conference on
Extraordinary Living (CEL) for
people ages 50+ will feature
a keynote address titled
“Around Oregon: Trains”
followed by three breakout
sessions with four informative
presentations in each breakout.
Breakout topics include Natural
Healthcare, Tai Chi, Exploring
the Internet, Paint Party,
ENCORE sampler, and more!
•
Two shuttles from Seaside
(departing from Suzanne
Elise and the Bob Chisholm
Community Center at 8 am)
Lawsuit: ‘I hope you will ensure the public is properly warned’
Continued from Page A1
“ The environmental con-
ditions causing my son’s
death may never happen
again,” Moore said in a letter
to the city. “But if they do,
I hope you will ensure the
public is properly warned so
that no other family suffers a
similar tragedy. ”
Attorney Rick Freud, rep-
resenting Seaside, and City
Manager Mark Winstanley
declined to comment.
For more information or to pre-register,
visit clatsopcc.edu/cel or call 503-338-2411
Josh Gilmore
A lawsuit was fi led over a drowning in Seaside in 2016.
Clatsop Community College is an affirmative action, equal opportunity institution. ADA accessible. For the complete Non-Discrimination and Accommodations statements, please visit
https://www.clatsopcc.edu/ada. Clatsop Community College es una institución de igualdad de oportunidades y de discriminación positiva. Para las declaraciones completas de No-
discriminacion y de Ayuda a las personas discapacitadas, por favor visite https://www.clatsopcc.edu/ada.