A2
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019
IN BRIEF
Warrenton, Gearhart voters
approve tax options for fi re districts
Voters in Warrenton and Gearhart on Tuesday approved
fi ve-year local tax options for rural fi re protection districts.
The Warrenton option would raise a maximum of
$280,000 over fi ve years for the fi re district. The estimated
tax rate is $0.51 per $1,000 of assessed property value in
the fi rst year.
The ballot measure was approved 68% to 32%.
The Gearhart option would raise an estimated $135,000
to $152,000 a year for the fi re district. The tax rate is $0.33
per $1,000 of assessed property value.
The ballot measure was approved 58% to 42%.
Columbia Memorial to open
Seaside clinic in January
SEASIDE — A Columbia Memorial Hospital primary
care and urgent care clinic at the Seaside Outlet Mall
could open on Jan. 6.
The new clinic will follow the model of Colum-
bia Memorial’s Warrenton clinic, offering primary care,
urgent care, X-rays and labs.
Erik Thorsen, Columbia Memorial’s CEO, told the
City Council he anticipates 25 to 30 new full-time family
wage jobs will open up through the clinic.
Columbia Memorial has a 10-year collaboration with
Oregon Health & Science University, which provides car-
diology, emergency, urology and general surgery care.
Lower Columbia Hispanic Council
hires new executive director
The Lower Columbia Hispanic Council has hired
Jenny Pool Radway as the new executive director.
Pool Radway moved from Denver, Colorado, where
she founded and directed Diverse Communities LLC,
which designed and implemented programs for interna-
tional and national organizations to encourage inclusion
and address systemic and institutional inequity.
She replaces Jorge Guttierez, who resigned in July.
— The Astorian
Ocean Beach Hospital
resolves survey issues
ILWACO, Wash. — A regular audit of Ocean Beach
Hospital revealed problems with hospital documentation,
equipment use and staff training.
The audit, completed by the state’s Department of
Health in March, resulted in the loss of the hospital’s che-
motherapy services. Other fi ndings have since required
hospital leadership to update its policies.
“We don’t look at this process as punitive. We look at
it as educational,” said Larry Cohen, the hospital’s CEO.
“The surveyors are very helpful.”
The state surveys Ocean Beach Hospital roughly every
18 months. The March survey lists 22 defi ciencies.
The hospital was required to submit a correction
plan to address the defi ciencies. None of the defi cien-
cies put patients in immediate risk, said Jessica Baggett,
the Department of Health’s external communications
supervisor.
— Chinook Observer
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
The Astoria City Council granted a new hearing for the developer hoping to build a Grocery Outlet.
Grocery Outlet gets a new hearing
Appeal will go
before City Council
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
The Astoria City Council
granted a new hearing for the
developer hoping to build a
Grocery Outlet .
The city’s Design Review
Commission unanimously
denied the store near the
Mill Pond neighborhood last
month, citing issues with
access from Marine Drive
and challenges it would pose
for pedestrians. Michael
Robinson, an attorney for
the developer, appealed the
denial, arguing it did not rea-
sonably explain how the proj-
ect could be approved.
City Manager Brett Estes
recommended at a City C oun-
cil meeting on Monday that a
new hearing is the best way to
allow for fresh public input.
The other option is an on-the
record hearing, during which
the c ouncil would review
existing materials but not take
new input.
Main & Main Capital
Group wants to develop a
new location for the national
grocery chain on a trian-
gle-shaped lot where Com-
mercial Street runs into
Marine Drive. The site is
just west of the new Astoria
Co+op grocery store slated to
open in December .
The developer can submit
a revised site plan in a new
hearing, which the c ouncil
could send back to the Design
Review Commission for a
new recommendation. The
120-day appeal period on the
Grocery Outlet project lasts
until Jan. 23, but the devel-
oper has stated they would
extend the appeal another two
months to provide enough
time, Estes said.
The only recent on-the-re-
cord hearing by the c oun-
cil was for a fi nal appeal of
the Design Review Com-
mission’s second denial of a
Mariott-brand Fairfi eld Inn
& Suites hotel franchise.
The fi nal hearing came after
the c ouncil had already sent
a revised design back to the
Design Review Commission,
providing exhaustive chances
for public input before ulti-
mately approving the pro-
posed hotel.
Estes and City Attorney
Blair Henningsgaard also rec-
ommended providing a new
hearing because of an ex parte
contact — meaning one-sided
and outside the hearing pro-
cess — by Commissioner
Sarah Jane Bardy that was not
disclosed until after the Oct. 3
public hearing on the store
and could have been used as
a basis for appeal.
Bardy commented after
the closure of the public hear-
ing on issues she had with
the cookie-cutter design sim-
ilar to other Grocery Outlets,
noting some online research
she did. That research should
have been declared during the
hearing as an ex parte contact,
Estes said. Allowing Bardy’s
comments in a new hearing
would cure the procedural
issue, he said.
Bardy said she didn’t real-
ize her Google searches were
considered ex parte contacts,
or that she necessarily agrees,
but that she would have noted
the research beforehand if she
had known. Her research into
other similar-looking Grocery
Outlet stores stemmed from
the developer’s claims that
their building was tailored to
the local aesthetic, she said.
Mayor Bruce Jones disal-
lowed public comment during
the decision Monday on what
type of hearing to hold, cit-
ing numerous attempts at ex
parte contacts with the City
Council.
Aside from any procedural
issues, Jones said, he pre-
ferred the new hearing as the
best way to allow adequate
public input. City Councilor
Roger Rocka said it seems
fair that a new plan would
be heard anew by the Design
Review Commission.
Bardy recently resigned
from the Design Review
Commission , citing time con-
straints and saying it was a
good time to step down with
no active projects before the
body.
Jones appointed Dul-
cye Taylor, the owner of Old
Town Framing Co., to replace
her. Taylor is also a for-
mer president of the Astoria
Downtown Historic District
Association and ran unsuc-
cessfully for mayor last year .
Cowlitz County blasts state over methanol plant permit
DEATHS
Nov. 2, 2019
COMINS,
Norma
Yvonne, 81, of Asto-
ria, died in Portland.
Caldwell’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
GARBER,
Nadine
Gladys, 81, of Astoria,
died in Astoria. Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
MEMORIAL
Tuesday, Nov. 12
MALCOLM,
Ned
Irwin and Geraldine Jean
(Haines) — Joint celebra-
tion of life at 1 p.m., Sea-
side United Methodist
Church, 241 N. Holladay
Drive in Seaside.
Memorial canceled
HAGNAS, Carl Axel
— Memorial and open
house at the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints,
350 Niagara Ave., origi-
nally scheduled for Satur-
day, has been canceled.
ON THE RECORD
DUII
• William Edward Gonzalez III, 21, of Seattle, was
arrested Wednesday on U.S. Highway 101 and Perkins
Lane for driving under the infl uence of intoxicants.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Northwest Oregon Hous-
ing Authority, 10 a.m.,
147 S. Main Ave., Warren-
ton.
Clatsop County Board
Established July 1, 1873
(USPS 035-000)
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of Commissioners,
12:30 p.m., work session,
800 Exchange St., Astoria.
Seaside Parks Advisory
Committee, 6 p.m., City
Hall, 989 Broadway.
Project at the
Port of Kalama
By KATIE FAIRBANKS
The Daily News
LONGVIEW, Wash. —
Cowlitz County offi cials
blasted the state Depart-
ment of Ecology for hold-
ing the proposed $2 billion
Kalama methanol refi nery to
a higher standard than other
projects and for asking for
information the agency has
already been given.
“I also fi nd it troubling
that the level of review
now superimposed on this
project is inconsistent with
how Ecology has addressed
greenhouse gas mitigation
within other, recent projects
with Ecology,” Elaine Plac-
ido, the county’s commu-
nity services director, said in
the letter sent to Ecology on
Monday.
The letter is a response
to an October request from
the Department of Ecology
for more information about
the plant’s potential impact
on global climate change
before the agency makes a
make-or-break decision on a
shoreline permit for the proj-
ect. Placido said she is “dis-
appointed” by the demands
for more information, saying
it sometimes exceeds what
state environmental rules
require or consists of infor-
mation that already has been
provided to the agency.
Northwest
Innovation
Works wants to build the
plant at the Port of Kalama
to convert natural gas into
methanol for shipment to
China for use in plastics
manufacturing.
The Department of Ecol-
ogy asked for specifi c details
on Northwest Innovation’s
proposed plan to offset the
project’s in-state greenhouse
gas emissions and an anal-
ysis of the project’s global
and in-state greenhouse gas
emissions.
The offset plans were
included in an environmen-
tal impact study released in
August, but the department
wanted more details. In her
letter, Placido wrote that the
county and the department
had agreed to would work
out further details once the
shorelines permit process
was completed.
In October , the Depart-
ment of Ecology also asked
the company to further
explain the environmental
study’s conclusion that the
plant would displace coal-
based methanol facilities.
The department additionally
requested an analysis of the
affects of using methanol as
a fuel, something opponents
to the project have voiced
concerns about.
Kent Caputo, North-
west Innovation Works gen-
eral counsel, said there has
been “confusion,” but the
company has been con-
sistent about the intended
use of methanol for plastic
manufacturing.
Placido said the August
study already addresses the
Department of Ecology’s
concerns. “This ...raises
concerns whether Ecol-
ogy undertook a thorough
and adequate review of the
information provided by
the county before tendering
its (Oct. 9) letter,” Placido
wrote.
The county is the review
agency for the metha-
nol project and has twice
approved a shorelines per-
mit for the project. The
Department of Ecology now
has to either affi rm that deci-
sion, reject it or approve it
with conditions.
Once Ecology reviews
the information and if it
fi nds the application com-
plete, it will notify the
applicants, said Jeff Zenk,
Ecology spokesman. The
department will then have
30 days to make a decision.
Northwest
Innovation
Works fi rst proposed the
project in 2014, pitching it
as a way to combat global
climate change by displac-
ing coal-based methanol
production in China. The
August report on the plant’s
greenhouse emissions said
the project would cause a net
annual net reduction global
greenhouse gas emissions of
13 million tons. That’s about
12% of the carbon produced
annually by all the cars, fac-
tories and other sources in
Washington state.
Columbia Riverkeeper
said in a statement Mon-
day the plant would lock
the state into decades of fos-
sil fuel use when the state is
trying to move toward clean
energy. It claims the August
study, conducted by a con-
sultant, is based on outdated
information.
“For fi ve years, NWIW
has tried to deceive the pub-
lic and regulatory agen-
cies about the purpose
and impact of building the
world’s largest fracked
gas-to-methanol refi nery on
the shores of the Columbia
River. Washington’s Depart-
ment of Ecology has repeat-
edly asked for basic infor-
mation, and NWIW has
once again refused to pro-
vide a complete, thorough
response.”
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