DailyAstorian.com // Tuesday, March 2, 2021
148Th year, NO. 105
$1.50
CORONAVIRUS
SEASIDE
A pitch
for paid
parking
downtown
A potential revenue
source for city
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — Dozens of beach towns
have effectively managed parking inven-
tory and captured revenue with a sea-
sonal paid parking program, business-
man Adam Israel told the City Council in
February.
“I think it would be a great fit, a great
solution for downtown,” he said. “The
long-term goal would be to build a sec-
ond- or third-level parking structure, and
use those funds to help pay for that park-
ing structure.”
The system works with an app, Passport
Parking, now used in a 40-space parking
lot on Avenue A next to the Elks Lodge.
Seaside Park ‘n’ Pay LLC would man-
age the 225-space parking lot adjacent to
the Seaside Civic and Convention Center.
The paid parking season could run from
March through October. Proposed hourly
rates are $1 a day Monday through Thurs-
day and $2 per hour on weekends.
See Parking, Page A6
Recreation
restrictions
ease in Seaside
Moves come amid
lower risk for virus
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — As Clatsop County
moved into the lower-risk category for
the coronavirus on Friday, the Sunset
Empire Park and Recreation District has
lifted restrictions at the Sunset Pool and
child care facilities.
“We’re really hopeful and optimis-
tic based on the daily counts the county
is providing,” Skyler Archibald, the park
district’s executive director, said. “We
have hopefully made it through the last of
our forced closures.”
The pool has reopened and closed
six times since March 2020. “I’m grate-
ful and appreciative to our staff, the
county health department, which have
been great, and our patrons, which have
accepted the changes and challenges of
being open and still kept their patronage
really high,” Archibald said.
hailey hoffman/The astorian
The entrance to Ecola Creek Forest Reserve in Cannon Beach.
Fire protection options under
debate for Ecola Creek Forest Reserve
The forest shelters
Cannon Beach’s primary
water source
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
C
ANNON BEACH — The arrow
on a fire danger sign in Ecola
Creek Forest Reserve rests dead
center on a green wedge labeled “low.”
But a debate is simmering about how
best to protect the forested acres that
shelter the city’s primary water source
as the threat of catastrophic wildfires in
Oregon seems to grow each year.
City emergency management staff
and the rural fire protection district are
pushing for improvements to roads in
the reserve. Right now, they say, the
roads are in need of
repair and options are
limited if they have to
respond to a fire.
However, in a draft
update of the reserve’s
management plan, the
city’s Parks and Com-
munity Services Committee recom-
mends minimal to no road enhance-
ment. They, along with some city
councilors, worry that improved access
will only invite more people to the
reserve and increase the risk of some-
one sparking an accidental fire.
They point to data collected from
the Oregon Department of Forestry that
shows fires on the coast have tended to
be accidental and human-caused, often
associated with logging-related activ-
ities like burning slash piles but also
campfires and smoking.
They also examined data from the
National Park Service for the agency’s
Fort Clatsop unit that concluded the risk
of wildfire on the North Coast was gen-
Katie Frankowicz/The astorian
A fire danger indicator at Ecola Creek Forest Reserve put the risk at ‘low’ in February, but
city leaders are examining how best to protect the forest from wildfire going forward.
erally low given annual rainfall, cooler
temperatures and humidity levels.
But Rick Hudson, the emergency
manager for Cannon Beach, points to
power lines that cut through the reserve
— a potential fire hazard — and the fact
that people already wander on roads
and trails. He respects the parks com-
mittee’s work and agrees that “people
are responsible for being irresponsible.”
To him, that means plans and infra-
structure like roads are even more nec-
essary, especially as the climate shifts
and the state continues to see fires like
the ones that burned across Oregon last
year.
“It’s impossible to keep human
beings out of that environment,” he told
The Astorian. “It’s already open.”
Damp places
of 1933, which destroyed more than
300,000 acres of timber in what is now
the Tillamook State Forest, are the oft-
cited examples — wildfire is not some-
thing many residents worry about
from year to year. North Coast forests
are notoriously damp places and some
spots on hiking trails will stay muddy
almost year-round.
But last year, 1.1 million acres
burned across Oregon, fueled by warm
and dry conditions associated with cli-
mate change and unusually strong
winds. In August and September, much
of the West was burning.
On the North Coast, evidence of the
massive fires raging elsewhere arrived
in the form of thick smoke that blot-
ted out the sun and caused tempera-
tures to drop. Timber managers shut
down recreational access to forestlands
Though the coast has burned before
— the infamous Tillamook Burn fires
See Reserve, Page A6
See Seaside, Page A3
Serving seniors, fostering connection
Limited by virus,
senior center adapts
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
very day, people stop by the
Astoria Senior Center, peer
through the glass door and ask
executive director Larry Miller, “So
when do you expect to be open?”
The answer: He’s not sure.
The senior center temporarily
closed almost a year ago because
of the coronavirus pandemic, shut-
ting down weekly activities and
opportunities for seniors to con-
nect, socialize and easily access a
variety of resources. Now, Clatsop
County’s risk level, which had tog-
E
Katie Frankowicz/The astorian
Roger Hayes, who works for the Loaves and Fishes meals program housed
in the Astoria Senior Center, has seen how the coronavirus pandemic has
made things more difficult for seniors.
gled between high risk and extreme
risk this winter, dropped to the cool
green of lower risk and vaccine
distribution has begun among the
elderly.
“That tells me that perhaps
something is going to happen,”
Miller said.
The pandemic has been hard on
seniors. Age and health concerns
place them in the high risk cate-
gory for the virus. Many already
were living in isolation before the
pandemic hit, reliant on places like
the senior center for regular social
interactions or even for help with
getting to the grocery store.
Though Miller will occasionally
let someone in to use a computer
for necessary business, the only
seniors who now routinely enter
the building are the volunteers who
help Roger Hayes prepare lunches
for delivery and pickup with the
Loaves and Fishes meals program
that operates in tandem with the
center.
See Senior center, Page A3