A6
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2021
Column: ‘The Astoria Column is our logo’
Continued from Page A1
But due to the close quar-
ters inside the Column, Pynes
said they withheld announc-
ing the reopening widely in
hopes of avoiding a “stam-
pede” of visitors all at once.
They plan to make an offi cial
announcement on Thursday .
Pynes said the sales of
parking passes atop Cox-
comb Hill, which cost $5 for
a calendar year, dropped sig-
nifi cantly last year due to the
closure of the Column. Some
visitors complained they
had to pay to park but could
not climb up to the viewing
deck of the 125-foot high
landmark.
“It was inconvenient and a
little bit of an irritant having
the monument closed,” Van
Dusen said.
But as most coronavirus
restrictions in Oregon are
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
The Astoria Column has reopened to visitors.
lifted, Pynes and Van Dusen
are thrilled visitors can return
to witness a “360-degree
view.”
“It’s great to see the kids
at the top throwing off air-
planes again,” Pynes said.
“You can hear the adults, too
... It feels great to be getting
back to normal.”
The “airplanes” are the
balsa wood gliders sold for
a dollar each in the gift shop
next to the Column. Thou-
sands of gliders are sold each
year.
Shawn and Lorrie Taylor
were two of the many peo-
ple who made the trip up
Coxcomb Hill since the Col-
umn’s reopening. The cou-
ple moved to Astoria last
year, but hadn’t been inside
and atop the monument in
over two decades . When
they heard about the reopen-
ing, they came back to get a
view from the top. T his time,
Shawn Taylor brought a
glider to throw off the view-
ing deck.
“The view is just stun-
ning,” Taylor said while
glancing out at the peaks in
the distance.
Pynes and Van Dusen
pointed to the history and sig-
nifi cance the Column brings
to Astoria, and are grateful
that it is reopened to the hun-
dreds of thousands of visitors
it draws every year.
“The Astoria Column is
our logo,” Van Dusen said.
“It is a wonderful piece of
art, along with a nice mon-
ument and a beautiful story.
We just hope everyone can
enjoy it.”
Land use: Some take issue with the approach
Continued from Page A1
Commissioners have said
the steps are necessary to
clarify roles and responsi-
bilities . But p lanning c om-
missioners and some people
involved with the advisory
committees have argued that
while the public process can
be messy, it is fundamental
to Oregon’s land use plan-
ning goals.
“In our capacity as mem-
bers of the governing body,
it’s our job to appoint var-
ious groups to fulfi ll our
mission of caring for the
people of the place,” Com-
missioner Lianne Thompson
said during a work session
in June. “Those appointed
positions are necessarily
more limited in scope and
authority.
“What I saw was that we
as a governing body had not
been clear enough in the role
defi nitions with which we
empowered you to work for
us and the people of Clatsop
County. So that’s why we
did the pause. That’s why we
said we have to clarify roles
and responsibilities.”
‘Aspirational’
The c oncerns raised were
mainly over policies pro-
posed in the Northeast and
Southwest Coastal advi-
sory committees. The county
referred to some of the pro-
posals as “aspirational” and
said the committees need to
stay within the boundaries of
the law.
Commissioner Courtney
Bangs and some in the tim-
ber industry also questioned
items in the draft of a plan-
ning goal that addresses for-
estlands . Public comments
about the goal described
the suggested policies as an
overreach and called the pro-
posed regulations of indus-
trial timberlands illegal.
Commissioners agreed on
a new framework with a tar-
get completion date of July
2022. Gail Henrikson, the
county’s community devel-
opment director, said param-
eters will be provided to
guide the process.
The citizen advisory com-
mittees will take six months
to focus solely on updat-
ing their respective com-
munity plans. The P lanning
C ommission and county-
wide advisory committee
will complete the review of
the goals together rather than
separately.
In early May, Henrikson
cancel ed Planning C ommis-
sion meetings scheduled for
May, June and July. In an
email to planning commis-
sioners, she said no applica-
tions had been submitted to
the county that would require
a hearing before August.
Henrikson said that, in the
meantime, county staff would
prepare new training mate-
rial for planning commis-
sioners and review the P lan-
ning C ommission bylaws.
A joint meeting between the
Board of Commissioners and
the P lanning C ommission is
planned for July.
The signifi cant changes
to the bylaws would include
removing variance review
from the P lanning C om-
mission’s scope of author-
ity, establishing term lim-
its and allowing the removal
of a planning commissioner
for two or more unexcused
absences. Other changes
include outlining respon-
sibilities for the chair, vice
chair and staff and guidance
for conduct and appearance
of bias.
“I was pleased to see such
common-sense rules and
responsibilities basically out-
lined by staff at the request
of the Board of Commis-
sioners,” Bangs said during
a work session in June. “You
addressed attendance and
decorum and respect and fol-
lowing Oregon state rules
and laws in conjunction with
the goals of the county gov-
erning body.
“So basically you’ve out-
lined similar expectations of
a traditional job, in my per-
sonal opinion. Work as a
team for a common goal, and
that goal is economic suc-
cess, health and well-being
of our county.”
Bangs said she was sad-
dened by a few emails she
saw in response to the draft,
calling the feedback “open
malice.”
Because
discussions
about P lanning C ommis-
sion bylaws and the com-
prehensive plan have taken
place during work sessions
— which typically do not
provide time for public com-
ment — feedback to com-
missioners has largely taken
place outside of meetings.
Nadia Gardner, the chair-
woman of the P lanning
C ommission, said in a state-
ment to The Astorian that
she is “very concerned about
inclusivity, transparency and
respect for volunteers and the
diverse voices of the general
public.”
“The c ounty has can-
cel ed Planning Commission
meetings for three months,”
she said. “In the meantime,
staff and the c ommission are
working and deciding on key
planning issues without our
input or citizen involvement
through open Planning Com-
mission meetings, where we
welcome public comments.
“Some of this work is
being done in ‘one-on-one
meetings’ and work sessions
that do not include public
involvement and comment.
Examples include amend-
ing our own Planning Com-
mission bylaws, the c om-
prehensive p lan update
process, aff ordable hous-
ing, and short-term rental
discussions.”
Fund: ‘It is a
blessing to have
this in Astoria’
Continued from Page A1
reaches patients from the
Long Beach Peninsula in
Washington state to Tilla-
mook and everywhere in
between.
“My main hope is for the
community to understand
how important it is and we
want it to keep going so we
can support cancer patients
through their journeys,”
said Kujala, who also
serves as the chairman of
the Clatsop County Board
of Commissioners.
Mari Montesano, an
oncology social worker at
the cancer center, assesses
the patients and families to
determine what resources
they need while going
through treatment.
“I try to exhaust all
other resources and funds
before going to Arm-in-
Arm, but it has helped
patients get through treat-
ment or have that support
during treatment to spend
time with family at the end
of their lives or to have
running water and electric-
ity,” Montesano said.
Montesano said one of
the cases that stays in her
mind happened a couple of
years ago.
“We had a family and a
parent was sick and had to
be in Portland to get special
treatment and the Arm-in-
Arm Fund helped pay for
the kids and the other par-
ent to stay in Portland to
be there,” she said, adding
that the sick parent ended
up dying there. “There are
no other resources for that,
so this fund allowed them
to be there.”
Other patients who
weren’t able to work
during their treatment have
used the fund to help pay
their water and power bills,
or pay down debts so they
could have a fresh start
fi nancially.
“It is a blessing to have
this in Astoria,” Kujala
said of the cancer cen-
ter. “You’ll hear time and
time again how grateful
( patients) are to do this
treatment in Astoria.”
Armington added it’s
important to have the can-
cer center in Astoria so
patients don’t need to drive
two hours each way to
Portland to receive 15 min-
utes of radiation. Instead,
they can get treatment
close to home in a location
that in itself is healing.
“Astoria is so beautiful,
and you can be in a place
where you can look out the
window and see the river ...
and get world-class cancer
care right there,” he said.
Outside the cancer cen-
ter is a healing garden with
a plaque on the wall ded-
icated to Mary Armington
for starting the fund.
“She’s grateful for what
she has and wants to share
it with other people,” Bill
Armington said .
He added the fund has
been in place for about
three years, but he doesn’t
think there’s much aware-
ness of it locally. He
encourages people to give
what they can or set up
recurring donations.
facebook.com/DailyAstorian
DEL’S O.K. TIRE
‘Very concerned’
Some planning commis-
sioners and citizen advisory
committee members told The
Astorian that while they are
not necessarily at odds with
all the changes made by the
county, they take issue with
the approach.
Projects: ‘I didn’t get everything I asked for’
Continued from Page A1
The money allocated to
the library renovation will
go toward needed upgrades,
including to the reading
room so it will comply with
Americans with Disabilities
Act guidelines.
The Columbia River
Maritime Museum will
receive a $304,378 grant
from state lottery bond pro-
ceeds for preservation of the
Lightship Columbia.
Clatsop Community Col-
lege will get $8.1 million
in general obligation bond
money for a maritime sci-
ences hall.
Chris Breitmeyer, the
college president, said he
is pleased the building was
approved for funding again.
“That was an appropria-
tion that was awarded a cou-
ple years ago but we had to
extend the deadline because
of the pandemic,” he said.
The college would have
needed to raise $8 million by
this year in order to get these
matching funds from state
lottery bonds. But the coro-
navirus pandemic came with
uncertainty, and would-be
donors were not ready to
contribute. The deadline
was extended and now the
college has more time to
come up with the matching
amount.
Cannon Beach will
receive $360,000 in fed-
eral virus relief money for
earthquake and tsunami
resilience.
In Arch Cape, the water
district will get $2 million in
infrastructure grant money
for the Arch Cape forest
project.
Phil Chick, the manager
for the water district, said
he’s very grateful for the
money.
The funds will help the
water district move forward
with the purchase of 1,521
acres of commercial timber-
land surrounding the Arch
Cape watershed. The dis-
trict is hoping this will help
conserve the forest and pro-
tect the source of the area’s
drinking water.
“We are going to have
an appraisal of the prop-
erty here, and are working
on getting that completed
this summer,” Chick said.
He added the forest man-
agement plan for the prop-
erty is expected to be com-
pleted toward the end of
summer.
State Rep. Suzanne
Weber said it was a chal-
lenging session but she and
her colleagues were able
to do a lot of good for the
region.
“I was very pleased,” the
Tillamook Republican said.
“You ask for all these things
and think, ‘I don’t have a
chance at all of this. I’m
a freshman legislator. I’m
most likely not going to get
anything for my area.’”
Weber didn’t get every-
thing she asked for, includ-
ing funding for a project in
Seaside.
“But, overall, I think we
did very well receiving state
funding through the lot-
tery and bonds and ARPA
(American Rescue Plan Act)
money for this area,” she
said.
Sen. Betsy Johnson, the
co-chair of the Joint Com-
mittee on Ways and Means,
has an important role in state
spending decisions.
The Scappoose Democrat
said she didn’t get every-
thing she asked for either,
including money for the Port
of Astoria, but she worked
with Weber and Rep. Brad
Witt, D-Clatskanie, to make
sure they could request proj-
ects from diff erent parts of
the region.
“With regrets, I didn’t
get everything I asked for
but I think we got a hell of
a good start,” Johnson said.
“Counties and municipali-
ties can’t aff ord to do these
big projects so that’s why
having federal help through
the ARPA money is so ben-
efi cial because now they’re
able to go in and eff ectuate
entire projects.”
The senator said she
plans to keep pushing for
the requested projects that
didn’t receive funding.
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