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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 2019)
A8 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2019 Spur 104: Some object to development restrictions Continued from Page A1 requirements of where things should go, Cronin proposed prescriptive caps on the number of homes and square footage of commercial space . But commissioners, worried the plan would restrict property rights without directly addressing traffi c , tabled the issue until their next meeting Nov. 14. “I understand the intent of the overlay, but I don’t see the root of the issue being addressed,” Commissioner Ryan Lampi said. “It’s tough for me to restrict devel- opment based on a fear of the unknown, and we have rules … and codes in place to limit development and do the proper traffi c studies.” Commissioner Ken Yuill, who owns about one-fi fth of the developable land in the Spur 104 area, has recused himself from voting on the issue. B ut he acted as the voice of about 25 property own- ers in the neighborhood who have been reticent to attend Planning Commission meetings. A resident there since the 1960s, Yuill has seen the neighborhood evolve from woods and the site of a proposed alumi- num plant into a retail center, with Home Depot visible from his backyard. He helped push for the expansion of sewer service to Spur 104 in the 2000s and the zoning change to commercial mixed-use. But residents, each with various ideas for their properties, wonder how the city will site and pay for parks and infrastruc- ture improvements, and what will happen to their property rights if development in the neighborhood bumps up against pro- posed caps . “The whole aspect is that people were going to be more restricted on what they can do with their property,” he said. “People don’t like the restrictions.” Yuill said he understands the need to plan out the neighborhood, but shared Lampi’s opinion that the overlay zone does nothing to directly address potential traffi c issues. He and others have pushed for system development charges to pay for recommended traffi c improvements, such as a dedicated left-turn lane or three-way stop where Ensign Lane con- nects with Spur 104. Locals have also pushed for a round- about at the intersection of Highway 101 and Highway 104, although there is no state money for such an improve- ment, Cronin said. The conversation has focused more on how to improve the intersection of Ensign Lane and High- way 104. Cronin said their are two options to address traffi c: limit land uses as he sug- gests, or build your way out of the prob- lem with infrastructure. “That is much more costly than try- ing to limit the land use side,” he said of the latter. “And I don’t think I articulated that clearly enough at the last meeting.” Warrenton has multiple overlays, such as one delineating development rules in the tsunami inundation zone. But Spur 104 would be the city’s fi rst for a neighborhood. Cronin estimates the city will spend around $100,000 in urban renewal funds on planning for the Spur 104 neigh- borhood, money that will be paid back through future property taxes. The city wants to see a return on its investment by maximizing people’s land value with good planning, he said. “We want to put some parameters around how that (development) is going to happen, so we can create a very beauti- ful, unique neighborhood,” he said. “And that is a much different concept than me, as an individual property owner, just sell- ing it off to the highest bidder and letting the next guy fi gure it out. So that’s the rub. It’s a hard jump for people to make.” The master plan for Spur 104 will be an agenda item for the Planning Com- mission on Nov. 14, when Cronin said they must make a formal motion to deny or approve it with conditions and send the recommendation to the City Com- mission for review in December. A section of Ken Yuill’s land borders with the Home Depot in Warrenton. Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian Grocery Outlet: Developer objects to commission’s denial Continued from Page A1 Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian Fort George Brewery will expand into the Astoria Warehousing complex. Fort George: Has grown to more than 160 employees Continued from Page A1 “It’s very important to us,” Nemlowill said of the tax break. “We purchased a large amount of property that really needs a lot of work, and we’re going to have to invest a lot of money back into the property to … clean it up and make it a place where we can create all these jobs.” Fort George, which has grown to more than 160 employees, has used other tax incentives and urban renewal funds to help invest in the renovation of its Duane Street campus. It worked with Business Ore- gon to install a canning line, promising to create 14 full- time jobs and adding 36, Nemlowill said. Enterprise zone Fort George received a $12 million low-cost loan from U.S. Bank for its purchase and expan- sion into Astoria Warehous- ing through the federal New Markets Tax Credit pro- gram secured by regional lender Craft3 for investment in high-poverty rural areas. The company is also benefi t- ting from a $1 million grant approved by the state Legis- lature for cleanup of histori- cal contamination at the site. The brewery plans to move most of its brewing, canning, cold storage and dis- tribution to the main build- ing at Astoria Warehous- ing. It is buying a 60-barrel brewhouse from the shut- tered BridgePort Brewing Co. in Portland, building out an 11,000-square-foot cold storage and eventually adding a 4,000-square-foot taproom in another vacant warehouse looking out on the Astoria Bridge. Nemlowill said all those projects pencil out to the $12.5 million required investment. He is confi dent Fort George will have the demand for 35 jobs, saying that some of the old Asto- ria Warehousing employees have expressed interest in coming back to work for the brewery . Clatsop County, Warren- ton and the Port of Astoria originally approved the Clat- sop Enterprise Zone in 2015. The Astoria City Council, which initially rejected the enterprise zone over mistrust of the Port, expanded it last year to include most of the city’s waterfront and support the development of North Tongue Point by Hyak Mar- itime into a shipwright hub. Hyak has yet to apply for a tax break . All four partners in the Clatsop Enterprise Zone must vote to accept a written agreement for Fort George’s request, Astoria City Man- ager Brett Estes said. Asto- ria and Clatsop County, the two entities overlaying the Astoria Warehousing prop- erty, would then approve the company’s application, he said. The 15-year property tax break for the new equip- ment and taproom would cumulatively cost more than $617,000 in revenue through 2035, according to the county . Over that time , county taxing entities would still receive more than $1 million in property taxes on the Astoria Warehous- ing buildings, growing from nearly $57,000 in 2021 to more than $86,000 in 2035. The question is whether offi cials believe Fort George would make the investments without the tax incentive , Astoria Mayor Bruce Jones said. If not, then county taxing districts aren’t ulti- mately losing something they wouldn’t have had oth- erwise, he said. Uncertainty at business park Warrenton City Commis- sioner Rick Newton com- miserated with Nemlowill over the money Fort George has spent trying to build a distribution campus at the North Coast Business Park, saying the tax break is a way to help ameliorate those losses. “I think we would be foolish not to back you,” Newton said. Fort George bought 10 acres at the county busi- ness park in 2016 for a new distribution campus . The c ounty c ommission last year approved a 40-acre conser- vation easement in Warren- ton to help the project move forward. But Fort George saw the cost of building there balloon to $10 million, and Astoria Warehousing fi t bet- ter with the company’s back- ground of repurposing old buildings, Nemlowill said. Fort George has all the permits to build in Warren- ton, but isn’t sure what it will do with the property, Nem- lowill said. It plans to sell or lease its current w arehouse in Warrenton, where there is interest in a food hub, he said. Kevin Leahy, the director of Clatsop Economic Devel- opment Resources and man- ager of the Clatsop Enter- prise Zone, lauded the value of supporting homegrown entrepreneurs like Fort George that invest in their communities. “The most successful businesses are really the ones that have the expan- sion,” he said. “It is clear from the (Design Review Commis- sion’s) decision that more guidelines were satisfi ed than were not satisfi ed,” Robinson wrote in the appeal. “Nevertheless, the (commission) departed from this announced stan- dard and denied the appli- cation even though the majority of the guidelines were met.” He asked the City Council for a de novo — or new — review of the appeal so the developer can submit new evidence showing how it can com- ply with the city’s devel- opment codes and receive a new staff report. If the City Council denies the appeal, the developer could take the issue to the state Land Use Board of Appeals. The Design Review Commission found the store did not fi t with the historic character of the Gateway Overlay Zone . Commissioners also took issue with pedestrians on Marine Drive and from the store’s parking lot hav- ing to cross a driveway on striped paths to reach the entrance, similar to access at Safeway. Commission Presi- dent Jared Rickenbach fl oated the idea of elimi- nating access from Marine Drive as a condition of approval, arguing that would address the major- ity of people’s concerns . Instead, the fi nding was cited in the 5-0 vote to deny the project. Robinson argued the commission’s denial fails to explain why Gro- cery Outlet’s design is not pedestrian-oriented, the appearance is unfi t- ting with the communi- ty’s character and a sim- ilar-looking co-op was approved nearby. He also took issue with con- cerns over traffi c conges- tion, arguing that city staff and the state Department of Transportation have concluded direct access off Marine Drive would lessen, not increase, congestion. City Manager Brett Estes said the request for a de novo hearing will likely be on the City Council agenda on Nov. 4. Leaders: ‘We would like to continue to expand it’ Continued from Page A1 “That’s bad news for many of our kids and their families, bad news for everyone who cares about future crime and really bad news for taxpayers.” Clatsop County schools will not know how much of the Student Success Act money will be allocated locally until March. “I know with the Stu- dent Success Act there’s opportunities, but even when I look at the num- ber of slots possible there is still not enough to cover statewide what we need to have, so we would like to continue to expand it,” Hoppes said. Workman pointed to the ability for pre kinder- garten to cut the propor- tion of children at risk for problematic behavior and reduce the likelihood for later infractions . “ … The three prob- lems we are continually facing — funding, access and quality — are going to keep our early educa- tion system from deliver- ing the results taxpayers expect,” Workman said.