A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2021
‘Zoom bomb’ rattles Seaside School District
IN BRIEF
County to distribute free
face masks to help against virus
Clatsop County will distribute free KN95 face masks
Thursday to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The drive-thru handout events will take place between
2 and 4 p.m. at Elsie-Vinemaple Fire Station, Seaside
Fire Station, Astoria Aquatic Center, Cannon Beach
City Hall, Knappa Fire Station, Warrenton Fire Station,
Lewis & Clark Fire Station and Gearhart Fire Station.
When people drive to the front of the line, they will
be asked to stay in their car, hold up fi ngers to show the
number of masks needed and roll down the window to
receive the bag of masks.
— The Astorian
Wave energy project moves
a step closer to construction
The federal government has approved a lease for a
wave energy test site off the Oregon Coast.
An Oregon State University-led project called Pac-
Wave has worked for years to build an offshore facility
to test wave energy devices. The lease from the federal
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management moves the proj-
ect one step closer to construction, which could begin as
early as this summer.
Wave energy is quickly becoming a key piece to the
renewable energy puzzle. Waves are relatively more
consistent and predictable than other renewable energy
sources like wind and solar, which gives them enormous
potential.
“We like to think of wave as the slow and steady tor-
toise complement to the full speed and stop character of
wind and solar,” said Burke Hales, a professor of ocean-
ography at Oregon State and chief scientist for PacWave.
The industry has struggled to get off the ground. One
reason is because wave energy devices need to be tested
at scale in the ocean. Putting these large pieces of infra-
structure into the water requires a comprehensive regu-
latory process and a lot of money.
A fi rst-of-its-kind wave energy project proposed off
the coast at Reedsport actually fi zzled in 2014 due to
high startup costs.
The PacWave facility would provide a designated
spot in the ocean about 7 miles off the coast at Newport
to test wave energy technologies, eliminating many of
those costs.
— Oregon Public Broadcasting
Meeting disrupted
by slurs, profanity
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — During a
livestreamed Seaside School
District board meeting this
month, listeners were hear-
ing from board chairman
Mark Truax and Superin-
tendent Susan Penrod when
7 1/2 minutes in the screen
was hijacked.
“At this time the meeting
was interrupted by unknown
parties, using racial slurs
and profanity, as well as vio-
lent images,” the school dis-
trict wrote in board meeting
minutes. “Muting all par-
ticipants did not stop the
audio or video. All partic-
ipants were put back into
the waiting room while staff
discussed how to proceed.
After reviewing participants
and setting all to be muted,
the meeting was resumed.”
The resumption came
with an immediate apol-
ogy from the superinten-
dent. “I’d like to apologize
to everybody for what hap-
pened,” Penrod said. “Those
words and video were very
offensive. We do not tolerate
that and I’m very sorry that
happened.”
According to school dis-
trict policy, when a staff
member learns of a potential
bias incident, they will prior-
itize the safety and well-be-
ing of everyone impacted
and promptly report the inci-
dent to the building or pro-
gram administrator.
“Our district investigates
any incident that involves
hate or racist language,”
Penrod said before Tues-
day’s board meeting. “In
addition, we adopted the
policy named ‘All Students
Belong’ in December, which
requires us to report the
results of our investigation
to our staff and families.”
District policy mandates
responding staff “recognize
the experience of all per-
sons impacted, acknowledge
the impact, commit to tak-
ing immediate action, and
prevent further harm against
those persons impacted from
taking place.”
The administrator will
determine
responsibility
within 10 days of receiving
the complaint. Responses
aim to protect those impacted
and provide “accountability
and transformation for peo-
ple who cause harm.”
If any party is not satis-
fi ed with the outcome, they
may appeal the district’s
decision.
Penrod called the inci-
dent “very frustrating.”
The investigation con-
ducted by the district offi ce
and technology coordina-
tor Don Mespelt determined
the incident could have been
caused by one or many dif-
ferent people using soft-
ware to conceal their iden-
tities. Similar incidents have
happened in school districts
across the U.S. and at other
public meetings.
“We’re trying to work
with Zoom to uncover the
identities of the individ-
uals,” Penrod said. “The
school district is dedicated
to providing equitable, safe,
learning environments as
well as inclusive, welcom-
ing meetings, whether virtu-
ally or in person.”
For now, Zoom and
Mespelt recommend fol-
lowing Zoom security rec-
ommendations and best
practices to prevent further
intrusions. The school dis-
trict may choose to disable
the chat function during
public meetings.
“We’re reworking the
policy, the meeting format,
and a lot of it has to do with
public comment,” Truax
said. “We haven’t decided
what will be in place at the
March meeting. It will prob-
ably be if you have a ques-
tion, email it in beforehand.”
Lawmakers take aim at
loophole in state gun law
SALEM — So many people are buying guns in Ore-
gon these days that the state police are often unable to
complete background checks in time, allowing the sales
to proceed if the deadline isn’t met.
A handful of Democratic lawmakers have now put
forward a bill in the Legislature that would close this
loophole. It’s often called the Charleston loophole
because Dylann Roof was able to buy a gun that way,
and then murder nine Black people at the Emanuel Afri-
can Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South
Carolina, in 2015.
“You have the power to prevent a similar act of vio-
lence here in Oregon,” Sharon Risher, whose mother
and two cousins were killed in the church, said in vir-
tual testimony Thursday before the state House Judiciary
Committee.
In Oregon, it’s up to the state police to do a back-
ground check. And they are warning that they are
overwhelmed.
In 2019, the Oregon State Police completed 276,912
background checks, said Maj. Tom Worthy. In 2020, that
total rose by 51% to 418,061.
“We saw exponential growth that we’ve never seen
before,” Worthy told a committee of the Legislature on
Thursday. “I can tell you that the unit is not staffed for
that volume, and it would be impossible for us to stay
current based on our current employees that we have.”
— Associated Press
DEATHS
In Brief
Deaths
Feb. 17, 2021
COZART,
Melinda
L., 61, of Astoria, died
in Astoria. Ocean View
Funeral
&
Crema-
tion Service of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
McMULLIN, Gregory
Kay, 71, of Astoria, died
in Portland. Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Jewell School Board, 6 p.m., Jewell School Library, 83874
state Highway 103.
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., (electronic meeting).
TUESDAY
Clatsop Care Health District Board, 5 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District Board,
5:15 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Astoria Planning Commission, 5:30 p.m., City Hall, 1095
Duane St.
Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main
Ave.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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An apartment complex is planned for the empty lot next to Safeway.
Housing: ‘Think about Tongue Point’
Continued from Page A1
Astoria, at around 9,700
people with several large
apartment complexes in the
works, is also nudging up
against state requirements
for cities of at least 10,000
to add more middle housing
— everything between sin-
gle-family homes and mid- or
high-rise apartment buildings.
A majority of councilors
and commissioners appear
supportive of strategies in the
housing study to set minimum
zone densities, to the point
of prohibiting single-fam-
ily homes in higher-density
R-3 zones, which City Man-
ager Brett Estes said com-
prises most of the city’s vacant
buildable land.
“Think about Tongue
Point,” he said of the large
swath of undeveloped fed-
eral and private land. “That
whole area is zoned R-3,
multifamily.”
Under city codes, a subdi-
vision of single-family homes
could be built in Tongue
Point, Estes said. City s taff
recommended requiring at
least duplex-level density in
remaining high-density zones.
Planning commissioners,
including Daryl Moore and
Cindy Price, cautioned against
creating too much of an incen-
tive to tear down older but
nonhistoric homes . The only
protection from most old
homes being torn down is his-
toric designation.
“Astoria has a South Slope
that is not at all designated his-
toric, as far as I know,” Price
said. “But that place has beau-
tiful views as well, and is a lot
of R-2 that could be subject to
the sorts of economic incen-
tives for demolition and big-
ger buildings.”
Height and mass
Commissioners and coun-
cilors also appear receptive to
increasing the allowed height
and mass of buildings in high-
er-density zones, depending
on compatibility with sur-
‘THE WORST THING THAT
CAN HAPPEN IS TO HAVE THE
P LANNING C OMMISSION SPEND
A YEAR DEVELOPING CODE
AMENDMENTS AT OUR DIRECTION,
AND THEN AS SOON AS THERE’S
SOME COMMUNITY OPPOSITION
TO THOSE CODE AMENDMENTS,
WE ALL SAY, ‘OH NO, NEVER MIND.
WE WEREN’T REALLY SERIOUS
ABOUT IT.’’
Astoria Mayor Bruce Jones
rounding homes. The dis-
cussion brought up the for-
mer Central School site, two
blocks of medium-zoned
vacant land along Irving Ave-
nue where multiple hous-
ing proposals have fallen to
neighbor opposition.
Moore, who has served on
the P lanning C ommission for
six years, said building heights
have always been the biggest
point of resistance, but some-
thing he wants to address.
“I think the higher build-
ings don’t block views any
more than the lower build-
ings, except in extreme cir-
cumstances,” he said.
The City Council has
established a goal of building
mixed-use, affordable- and
market-rate housing project
at Heritage Square. Commis-
sioners and councilors appear
receptive to adding more
high-density housing in such
commercial zones.
They were also in favor
of lowering off-street park-
ing requirements, noting that
Astoria’s historic homes often
don’t meet the requirement
and utilize street parking.
“A lot of those homes
were built without cars in
mind,” City Councilor Tom
Hilton said. “If we’re going
to increase housing, we need
to streamline some of the
requirements we’re going
to put on future homeown-
ers and future development.
There has to be a way for us
to maybe encourage people to
get out of their cars, also.”
Megan Leatherman, the
city’s community develop-
ment director, brought up a
compact residential zone sim-
ilar to the Mill Pond neighbor-
hood the city established for
cottage cluster housing near
Safeway.
Councilors and commis-
sioners appear supportive of
more cottage clusters as part
of the missing middle hous-
ing between homes and multi-
family complexes. Warrenton
has approved codes for cot-
tage clusters.
“Cottage cluster housing
is a way to be able to achieve
higher densities, but maybe
not at taller heights,” Estes
said. “It’s used in infi ll situa-
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To address a defi cit of
single-family homes, Estes
queued up a discussion for
later by the City Council on
whether to expand the city’s
urban growth boundary east.
Astoria’s city limits stretch
east to Tongue Point, far
beyond the urban boundaries.
“If we are talking about
urban growth boundary swaps
or amendments to address
our state-noted defi ciency,
that will be to the south and
the west of Coxcomb Hill, in
what is many times seen as
our urban forest,” Estes said.
The process would take
several years and likely be
expensive enough to require
grants, Estes said.
Mayor Bruce Jones opted
to hold off on discussing
city expansion until a future
meeting.
The City Council brought
up recommendations to
increase density several years
ago, but pulled back after
community opposition. Jones
said councilors need to antic-
ipate community opposition
and stick up for good ideas
coming from city staff and the
P lanning C ommission.
“The worst thing that can
happen is to have the P lanning
C ommission spend a year
developing code amendments
at our direction, and then as
soon as there’s some commu-
nity opposition to those code
amendments, we all say, ‘Oh
no, never mind. We weren’t
really serious about it, ’” the
mayor said.
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