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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, MARcH 18, 2021
Seaside student-athlete tests positive for virus
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — A stu-
dent-athlete has tested posi-
tive for the coronavirus, Sea-
side High School Principal
Jeff Roberts said.
The Seaside School Dis-
trict sent a note to parents
Tuesday afternoon inform-
ing them of the positive case.
The case comes as the
school district is prepar-
ing to open the new high
school campus to students
on Thursday.
The student has not been
in the campus building, nor
has anyone from that resi-
dence been in the building,
Roberts said at the school
district’s board meeting on
Tuesday.
“With this environment,
there’s a cost to doing busi-
ness,” he said.
All students and staff that
came in direct contact with
the student have been noti-
fied and are required to quar-
antine at home. Roberts said
they are not to attend prac-
tice. “We will continue to
work with the local health
authority to provide as much
information to those families
as we can and to get them
back into the building when
it’s safe to do so,” he said.
Fort George: ‘We’re still building back’
continued from Page A1
Just a few blocks east, the
owners of Buoy Beer Co., the
other major brewer in town,
are jacking up the roof of the
former Video Horizons for an
expanded brewhouse. They
are also planning to turn a
nearby warehouse into a new
location for sister company
Pilot House Distilling.
‘Kingpin’
Nemlowill and Harris
drove their first 8.5-barrel bre-
whouse — nicknamed “Sweet
Virginia” — home from the
East Coast and opened a
small pub in the Fort George
Building on Duane Street. In
2009, they bought almost the
entire city block, including
the Lovell Building, where
they installed a 20-barrel com-
mercial brewhouse — “Lit-
tle Miss Texas” — and con-
tinued an ascension into one
of the state’s premier craft
breweries.
A decade later, the Lovell
Building was filled to the brim
with tanks and a canning line.
Walls of bulk-ordered cans
filled the upstairs, along with a
growing barrel-aging program
in the basement.
Nemlowill and Harris
bought a plot of land in War-
renton for a new distribution
hub. But when the seafood
company owners of Astoria
Warehousing decided to con-
solidate operations to Kent,
Washington, Fort George saw
an opportunity and purchased
what Nemlowill now calls
Fort George Waterfront.
Central to the new brewery
is the 60-barrel brewhouse —
nicknamed “Kingpin” — Fort
George bought at auction after
Portland’s BridgePort Brew-
ing closed in 2019.
Kingpin can turn out 60
barrels of wort — the sugary
liquid extracted from grains
and used in fermentation —
in a batch. Just as important
is the large bank of fermen-
tation and conditioning tanks
arrayed around the main ware-
house. They include fermenta-
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Chris Nemlowill walks outside Fort George’s new distribution
site on the Astoria waterfront.
tion tanks brought from down-
town, lagering tanks from
BridgePort and more condi-
tioning tanks manufactured in
Vancouver, Washington.
“This is opening up our
opportunity to have a lot more
variety,” Nemlowill said. “We
can make more lagers. We can
make more barrel-aged beers.
We can experiment a lot more,
because we’re going to have
more capacity over in the
Lovell Building.”
While Fort George Water-
front efficiently pumps out the
hits, Little Miss Texas and the
Lovell Building will transition
into a research and develop-
ment brewery.
Michal Frankowicz, who
started serving and cooking at
Fort George 12 years ago, has
worked his way up to head
brewer overseeing a brewing
staff of more than 15. Franko-
wicz said he’s excited about
the possibilities downtown
now that Fort George has an
efficient production facility
for its flagship beers.
“There’s two spots on that
(downtown) block that have
19 to 21 taps, and one that has
14 taps,” Frankowicz said.
“We’ll have an array of beer
for people to come check out,
for our locals to have a place
to come hang out, to always
have something new for
them.”
Next to Kingpin is a new
German-made canning line
that can seal more than 260
beers a minute. Speedier
canning is essential for Fort
George, which Nemlowill
said has been selling about
95% of beer in cans since the
pandemic restricted public
gathering spots. The brewery
has stockpiled several million
cans in the warehouses in case
factories shut down during the
pandemic.
At the far end of the main
warehouse, Fort George has
built out a large cold storage.
In addition to its own beer, the
brewery handles distribution
throughout the North Coast
and coastal southwest Wash-
ington state for more than 30
craft breweries and cideries,
along with a growing wine
portfolio.
Brad DePuyt, who started
eight years ago serving beer
on weekends and working
on the canning line at Fort
George, has worked his way
up to senior vice president of
operations for the company,
overseeing a growing distri-
bution business. By the end of
the year, he said, Fort George
will nearly double to 11,500
square feet of cold storage,
allowing everything it handles
to stay cold.
“And that’s cool for things
like kombucha or items that
have to be cold-stored … It
just kind of puts quality at the
top,” DePuyt said.
Transition
The new brewery comes
at a time of leadership tran-
sition for Fort George. Nem-
lowill has been the sole owner
since October. Harris contin-
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Thousands of cans of beer sit in the Fort George warehouse.
Edward Stratton/The Astorian
Brad Green, who worked
for Astoria Warehousing,
transitioned to maintenance
work for Fort George Brewery.
ues working for the brewery,
with plans to retire in the fall.
Zack O’Connor, who like
DePuyt started as a server
nearly a decade ago, has also
been elevated to senior vice
president, overseeing human
resources and the brewery’s
three downtown pubs.
Fort George was forced to
furlough around 140 people a
year ago because of the pan-
demic, going to a bare-bones
crew of around 30. O’Con-
nor said it was one of the
worst days of his life, but that
the company is back to about
two-thirds of its prepandemic
employment.
“We’re still building back,
and this last reopening for
dine-in was good news,” he
said. “It was really fun to be
able to recall some of our
amazing staff again. And then
we’ve actually welcomed a
couple new team members
as well. So we’re not back to
where we were prepandemic,
but we’re moving in the right
direction.”
One of Fort George’s new
hires during the pandemic
was Brad Green, who worked
on the production line at Asto-
ria Warehousing palletizing
labeled salmon cans. Green
now helps maintain the brew-
ery’s waterfront and down-
town campuses.
Green hasn’t given much
thought to being the lone
holdover from Astoria Ware-
housing, besides being thank-
ful for having a job and happy
the warehouses stayed in
operation.
“I think Astoria has enough
hotels,” he said. “Tourist dol-
lars are one thing, but you also
— unless you want to have a
service economy, which is
nothing but take care of tour-
ists — you need a manufac-
turing base here, for tax rea-
sons, for the economy here.”
“It’s nice to see these
buildings being reused for
close to their intended pur-
poses, I mean as a production
facility to produce whatever,”
Green said. “It’s different
businesses, different people,
but it is kind of interesting to
be a link to the past.”
Fishhawk Lake: Project would cost more than $4M
continued from Page A1
A state investigation
blamed the draining for
sucking fish through the
drainpipe and increased tur-
bidity downstream, dump-
ing sediment and depleting
the dissolved oxygen in the
water. State biologists esti-
mated that 30,391 fish were
killed, including 20,539
endangered coho salmon,
4,047 steelhead trout, 5,346
cutthroat trout and 459 trout
of undetermined species.
The state Department of
Environmental Quality fined
the homeowners association
and required a water qual-
ity management plan and a
10-year schedule for becom-
ing compliant with environ-
mental standards.
The state Department of
Fish and Wildlife is seeking
a separate claim against the
homeowners association for
the fish kill, but has not dis-
closed more information.
The homeowners asso-
ciation hired law firms
Schwabe, Williamson &
Wyatt and Hart Wagner and
called for a hearing to con-
test the Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality’s pen-
alty. The lawyers argued that
instead of being reckless, the
association drained the lake
in response to pressure from
state agencies to repair the
drainpipe and avoid a total
failure of the dam in a major
flood.
The lawyers argued that
the association timed the
draining of the lake with
the low-flow period of Fish-
hawk Creek, adhered to
the state’s in-water work
period and installed curtains
downstream of the dam to
decrease turbidity. They
blamed the state for a lack of
follow-up regarding permit-
ting and other guidance, and
said the association “rea-
sonably believed the state’s
silence to be tacit approval
of its plans to proceed.”
“There is no evidence
to support DEQ’s claims of
significant negative impacts
to Fishhawk Lake’s aquatic
life,” the lawyers wrote.
“DEQ estimates of damage
are grossly inflated based
upon misassumptions and
extrapolations from limited
and unreliable evidence.”
The homeowners asso-
County reports seven
new virus cases
The Astorian
Clatsop County reported seven new coronavirus
cases over the past few days.
On Wednesday, the county reported one new
case.
A man in his 30s living in the northern part of the
county was recovering at home.
On Tuesday, the county reported six new cases.
The cases include three girls under 10 and a male
between 10 and 19 living in the southern part of the
county.
The others live in the northern part of the county
and include a woman in her 40s and a man in his
30s.
All six were recovering at home.
On Friday, the county incorrectly identified a
new case as a man in his 20s living in the northern
part of the county. The man is in his 30s.
The county has recorded 798 cases since the start
of the pandemic. According to the county, 18 were
hospitalized and six have died.
Tax: There could be
difficult choices ahead
continued from Page A1
a call comes in. The district
lacks daily staffing, as well
as a dedicated fire marshal,
someone who is able to
review development plans
and consistently provide
fire inspections for hotels
and other businesses that
need this documentation for
insurance purposes.
Funded
primarily
through property tax rev-
enue, the fire district was
not interested in pursu-
ing another bond measure
that would only continue
to draw money from locals,
while the city says it is not
able to take on the cost and
logistics of running its own
fire department.
But there is a discon-
nect between what peo-
ple assume the fire district
can provide and what it can
consistently offer, Reck-
mann said.
“I believe it is the expec-
tation of visitors that we
have a surf and a rope
team,” he told city coun-
cilors. “When they come
and they hike the trails and
they’re in the water, I don’t
think anyone gives it a sec-
ond thought: Do we have
those services if they get in
trouble? Or, who is going to
come pull them out of the
water?”
Meanwhile, the city,
local businesses and res-
idents have their own
expectations.
Going forward, if the fire
district is not able to boost
revenue streams and fund
personnel, “the only other
thing we can start doing is
looking at services we pro-
vide,” said Garry Smith, the
president of the fire district
board.
“All that we’re really
required legally to supply
is structural firefighting,”
he reminded the City Coun-
cil at a recent work session.
“We don’t have to do wild-
land firefighting. We don’t
have to do (emergency
medical care). We don’t
have to do surf rescue.”
The fire district doesn’t
Business: ‘I don’t want to have
any more issues with him’
continued from Page A1
ciation plans to begin con-
struction this year of a new
spillway over one side of
the dam and a fish ladder
tunneled through the other.
The project would cost more
than $4 million and finish in
2022.
County and state lead-
ers and agencies, including
the Department of Fish and
Wildlife, have backed the
project. The association is
applying for state and fed-
eral grants based on safety
and the project’s benefits to
fish passage.
“Beginning construction
is contingent upon permit
and approvals being issued
on time and resolution of the
state’s claims,” said Nicole
Case, a member of the
homeowners association.
want to give up providing
these services, Reckmann
said, but there could be dif-
ficult choices ahead.
Last year, the district
responded to 466 calls for
service, an increase over
prior years. Of those, 77%
— 344 calls — came from
nonresidents.
The fire district saw a
dip in calls when Cannon
Beach largely shut down
to tourism in the spring
and summer as coronavirus
cases spiked across Ore-
gon. Call levels shot up in
September when visitors
returned and remained high
through the end of the year.
Already this year, for Janu-
ary and February, the num-
ber of calls is higher than
what the district saw in
prior years.
When
Reckmann
recently reached out to
businesses through the
Cannon Beach Chamber of
Commerce, he was told by
some not to put the question
of a food and beverage tax
on the ballot. But city lead-
ers believe it is the best way
to facilitate a fully public
and transparent process.
City and fire district
leaders have some work to
do before a formal ballot
proposal moves forward,
however. They would like
to be able to answer certain
questions first. For exam-
ple, it isn’t clear how much
money the tax would raise
or exactly how revenue
generated should be split
between the district and the
city.
Still, Mayor Sam Steidel
believes visitors need to
help pay their part. Besides,
he said, many are already
visiting from areas that
have a sales tax. He expects
a small tax like the one pro-
posed would barely register.
To him, it is a no-brainer
how people should vote on
such a proposal.
“I think it’s the residents
that are the ones footing the
bill for all the tourists who
want to go swimming in the
ocean when it’s only like 4
degrees out there,” he said.
with this, if we’re sure that
it’s three cars a week.”
Gutierrez agreed to the
change in language to limit
customer vehicles, plead-
ing with the city to adopt
language clear enough to
stop what he described as
continual harassment by
Fulton.
“If you guys do this,
I don’t want to have any
more issues with him,”
Gutierrez said. “… I don’t
want him taking any more
pictures of me, record-
ing me and just constantly
doing this on a daily basis.
I’m tired of it. I’m tired of
turning around and seeing
him down at the property
line.”
While approving Guti-
errez’s business, the City
Council broached the pos-
sibility of limiting future
auto-detailing businesses
in residential areas. City
Councilor Joan Herman
said she appreciated the
deal struck in Gutierrez’s
case, but that the develop-
ment code likely intended
to prohibit such busi-
nesses and should be clar-
ified more around service
on automobiles, appliances
and other large equipment.
“I think, going forward,
it would be more clear to
include as a prohibited
business a detailing busi-
ness,” Herman said. “Mr.
Gutierrez’s business is
safe. It’s in, so that’s not
an issue. But … I kind of
think that was the intent of
the development code.”