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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, MAy 23, 2020
Lodging: County is taking
comments on the draft plan
Continued from Page A1
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Mara Dowaliby was crowned queen of the Astoria Regatta last year.
Regatta: Cancellation
hard to come to terms with
Continued from Page A1
“Fortunately, the pan-
demic does not stop us
from continuing to provide
leadership
opportunities
and scholarships to young
women in our community,”
Thorsen said.
“I’d like to thank every-
one who pledged their sup-
port for the Regatta and the
education fund.”
Mara Dowaliby, last
year’s Regatta queen and a
senior at Warrenton High
School, said the Regatta can-
cellation was even harder to
come to terms with than the
school closures.
“Regatta is such a fun
thing to do and I enjoy every
part of it,” she said. “This
was my queen year so it was
supposed to be a really fun
year because I get to sit back
and relax and just have fun
and enjoy it all.
“And now that’s kind of
taken away, which is really,
really sad. But I know that
Regatta is going to honor
us somehow and still make
something special for us.
I’m happy for that, but it’s
really hard to miss all that.”
Dowaliby said she was
looking forward to all the
events with the other girls
on the court this year. Zoey
Alexander, of Seaside High
School, Mia McFadden, of
Warrenton High School,
Gabrielle Morrill, of Knappa
High School, and Annal-
yse Steel, of Astoria High
School, made up this year’s
court.
“And I was really look-
ing forward to getting to
know them and hearing their
speeches and seeing them
grow,” Dowaliby said. “I’m
more sad for them because
they didn’t have the experi-
ence I did last year.
“Last year, Regatta, for
me, was incredible. We
had such a great year and I
wanted those girls to have
that same experience. Now
they won’t get that, which
is too bad. But they’re all
amazing girls and they’ll all
get through it and hopefully
be honored in some way.”
Seaside: Restrictions end Tuesday
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The discussion to remove
restrictions in place since the
city’s March 22 emergency
declaration over the coronavi-
rus came one week after city
councilors approved reopen-
ing the city’s beaches, water-
ways and parks. At that meet-
ing, an amendment to reopen
lodging fell short of approval.
Councilors felt that a prema-
ture opening of hotels, vaca-
tion rentals and campgrounds
could create a backlash
among local residents.
Seaside lodging owners
returned Wednesday to seek
immediate reopening.
“It’s retail and restaurants
that are dying here,” Mark
Tolan, of Seaside Vacation
Homes, said. “We will lose
our economy if we don’t take
action.”
Terrance Bichsel, chair-
man of the board of Best
Western Hotels and Resorts
and owner of Best West-
ern Plus Ocean View Resort
and Rivertides Suites Hotel,
said the lodging community
has been unfairly targeted
by the economic downturn.
“Our industry on the lodg-
ing side is in real trouble. We
are asking you to please let us
reopen, tomorrow,” he said.
Bichsel estimated a poten-
tial for a 25% to 30% occu-
pancy rate if the city opened
for Memorial Day. “Occu-
pancy would be minuscule at
best,” he said.
Even with an immediate
opening, lodging owners said
it would take time to get to
100% occupancy.
Lodging creates opportu-
nities for restaurants, Seaside
Chamber of Commerce CEO
Brian Owen added. “It’s
really, at this point, a must,”
he said.
Frank Erickson, a retired
radiologist, opposed the
reopening and said he
favored “strict coordination
with county and state rules.”
Reopening would bring
a spike in COVID-19 cases,
Erickson said. “That’s the
virology of it. I wish it were
different. It only takes one
person to spread these things
and your strong efforts are
only as good as your weak-
est employee,” he said. “This
virus is just looking for new
lungs. And it will find them.”
The City Council voted
down a proposal for an
immediate opening, opting
for a compromise measure.
Councilor Seth Mor-
risey said he sought a bal-
anced approach that takes
into account both residents
and interests of the business
community at large. “Work-
ing in conjunction with our
neighbor Cannon Beach is
the best solution to opening
safely,” he said. “I’m in favor
of removing restrictions on
overnight lodging on May
26.”
A Tuesday opening gives
the lodging industry the
opportunity to hire back staff
and restart operations as the
county moves toward a phase
two reopening process on
June 5, he added.
The city voted 5-1 to
remove restrictions on lodg-
ing, hotels, vacation rentals
and campgrounds beginning
at 6 a.m. on Tuesday
Barber and councilors
Morrisey, Randy Frank, Tita
Montero and Steve Wright
voted in favor of the resolu-
tion. Councilor Tom Horn-
ing voted against the plan,
advocating the city adhere to
county and state guidelines
on lifting lodging restrictions
rather than acting on its own.
Councilor Dana Phillips was
absent.
“This is a decision that
about half of the people
are going to be very happy
about,” Barber said after
the vote. “The other half are
going to be unhappy. I think
this is a good decision based
on what the lodging people
have requested. It doesn’t
fully implement their request,
but it’s very close.”
Airbnb: City said there was no clear directive
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The Oregonian reported
Thursday that following
inquires from a reporter,
Airbnb changed course.
“Airbnb is grateful to city
leaders for their efforts to pro-
vide economic relief to those
impacted by the COVID-
19 pandemic, including our
host community, and we are
working diligently to ensure
hosts receive the appropri-
ate tax refunds as outlined in
the city’s tourism relief pro-
gram,” the company said in a
statement.
Rahl said the company
called the city on Wednesday
and scheduled a meeting to
discuss the issue. He said that
although the city encouraged
Airbnb to return the money
to property owners, there was
not a clear directive.
“Could we have built a pro-
cess to try and figure out, OK,
what are all the homes that are
on Airbnb, where should all
this money return be returned
to? Yeah, I guess we could of
built that,” he said. “But our
rule on this was we’re going
to return the money to where
it came from.”
Money and Hura said that
before The Oregonian asked
questions, Seaside and Airbnb
were unwilling to fix the error.
“The most frustrating
thing at this point has been
the lack of being able to get
a clear response from either
Airbnb or the city,” Money
said. “I mean, the Airbnb’s
customer service system is
frankly a joke. It’s not in any
way, shape or form intended
on helping our customers
or their hosts. And the city,
frankly, isn’t a heck of a lot
better.
“You can’t get anybody on
the phone that has any deci-
sion rights that can actually
get anything done,” Money
said of Airbnb.
“And then you got the
city that just won’t respond
and doesn’t feel any sense of
accountability when frankly,
this whole thing just became
a problem because of their
actions, however unintention-
ally it was.”
Hura said the longer it
took to resolve the problem, it
became less about the money
and more about holding the
city accountable.
“The reason why I’m
involved is because of the
lack of integrity and the lack
of responsibility on our City
Council,” he said.
“These are the people that
are supposed to protect us.
It’s a gut-wrenching feeling
to know that the people that
are supposed to protect you
don’t even care. They turn
their back on you. The only
time they’ll communicate to
us is if we maybe don’t pay
our taxes on time — they’ll be
right there — they want their
money.
“But if we need any kind
of help or assistance from
them, they won’t even reply.
And it’s just embarrassing. It
is shameful.”
The state allowed the
county to enter the first
phase of reopening on
May 15, including gath-
erings of up to 25 people.
The decision also allowed
businesses such as restau-
rants, bars, gyms, child
care and salons to reopen
with limited capacity and
heightened sanitation and
safety requirements.
County
Manager
Don Bohn said the plan
to reopen lodging was
timed to coincide with
the expected lifting of
restrictions on nonessen-
tial travel by the state as
most counties likely enter
a second phase of reopen-
ing June 5.
The plan will allow
hotels, campgrounds and
vacation rentals to oper-
ate at 60% capacity during
a second phase from June
5 to June 25. Lodgings
would then be able to open
fully if the county enters a
third phase.
Bohn and Warrenton
Mayor Henry Balensifer
said the plan strikes a bal-
ance between public health
and economic concerns.
“We know daytrips will
increase after the travel
ban expires and Fort Ste-
vens opens,” Balensifer
said in a text message.
“As a result lodging then
would assist in manage-
ment of visitors, rather
than the current situation
where opening lodging
would entice people who
would then likely push
the limits on closed areas,
as has been seen in some
more remote areas that
opened where vandalism,
damage and human waste
issues have occurred.”
The plan comes after
Cannon Beach and Seaside
approved fully reopen-
ing lodging on Tuesday,
after the Memorial Day
weekend.
Bohn said the county
spoke to all five cities
about reopening, but that
the conditions in South
County led the two cities
to go in another direction.
The economies of Seaside
and Cannon Beach are
more dependent on lodg-
ing than other parts of the
county.
Astoria Mayor Bruce
Jones said he, Balensifer,
Bohn and Gearhart Mayor
Matt Brown felt it was
more prudent to wait until
a second phase of reopen-
ing before attracting more
visitors.
“Really the only release
valve we have avail-
able to us to restrict the
number of visitors com-
ing into the community is
the lodging piece,” Jones
said. “We can’t physically
restrict the number of day-
trippers coming into town
or coming through town,
but the lodging allows us
one relief valve where we
can reduce the total num-
ber of people coming into
town, and we think doing
so during phase one is
important.”
The phased reopening
of the county depends on
benchmarks like testing,
contact tracing, hospital
capacity and equipment
supply to treat a surge of
virus patients.
The county experi-
enced a spike in coronavi-
rus cases this month after
outbreaks at Bornstein
Seafoods in Astoria and
Pacific Seafood in Warren-
ton. State health regulators
still accepted the county’s
plan to partially reopen,
feeling the outbreaks were
contained.
“We have had more
cases, but we haven’t had
hospitalizations,”
Bohn
said.
The county and state
will continue watching the
health metrics that drive
reopening, Bohn said.
Jones feels the county and
cities, including Seaside
and Cannon Beach, will
work together if the health
situation worsens.
“This one issue of hotel
reopening dates is the only
issue where we have dif-
fered within the county,”
Jones said. “Other than
that, we’ve been in align-
ment on everything, and
we still have great profes-
sional relations between
all the cities and the
county.
“I would think if the
county’s (coronavirus) sit-
uation takes a turn for the
worst with a rash of hos-
pitalizations, then I think
you’ll see the cities talking
to each other in an effort
to come up with a reuni-
fied response.”
Seaside
and
Can-
non Beach have also
opened beaches to visi-
tors. The county, mean-
while, has closed beach
access to vehicles on its
two approaches at Sun-
set and Del Rey beaches
during weekends through
at least the second phase
of reopening.
“We have an adden-
dum to our reopening plan
that deals with the beach
access during phase one,
and we will be looking
at that as we go closer to
phase two, and having a
conversation with cities
about how we might man-
age beach access during
phase two,” Bohn said.
“We haven’t had that con-
versation yet.”
The county is taking
comments on the draft
plan — available at co.
clatsop.or.us — via email
at
commissioners@co.
clatsop.or.us. Public com-
ment will also be taken at a
special May 29 electronic
meeting of the Board of
Commissioners.