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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022
Timber: Appeals court ruling can be District 5: Ideological makeup
appealed to Oregon Supreme Court
of the nonpartisan board has
Continued from Page A1
The statute also directs
that forests be managed for
the greatest permanent value
to the state, rather than to the
counties, which means the
text falls short of the clear and
unmistakable intent of mak-
ing a contractual promise, the
ruling said.
For that reason, a Circuit
Court judge in Linn County
wrongly refused to dis-
miss the class-action lawsuit
against the state government,
the ruling said.
“The Court of Appeals
decision today is a victory for
Oregon’s environment as well
as for sound forest manage-
ment,” state Attorney Gen-
eral Ellen Rosenblum said.
“The court agreed with the
state’s legal position in recog-
nizing that Oregon’s forests
serve a full range of environ-
mental, recreational and eco-
nomic uses that the Depart-
ment of Forestry has authority
to balance in order to secure
the greatest value to all
Oregonians.”
John DiLorenzo, an attor-
ney for the counties, vowed
to challenge the ruling before
the Oregon Supreme Court
because it “does not align
with the law or the evidence
we presented at trial.”
The ruling doesn’t take
into account the economic
and social damage that rural
communities have suff ered
after the state government
changed its logging policies
without input from the coun-
ties, he said in an email.
Oregon’s leaders have
decided the timber economy is
inconsistent with their “urban
values,” but the resulting
problems must be addressed
to bridge the urban-rural
divide, DiLorenzo said.
“The lack of productive
become more conservative
Continued from Page A1
Picasa
The Oregon Court of Appeals has overturned a $1 billion
jury verdict against the state government that sought to
compensate counties for insuffi cient logging on state forests.
employment in these com-
munities has led to substance
abuse, violence, lack of edu-
cational opportunity and
general hopelessness and
despair,” he said.
A jury determined the s tate
violated a contract requir-
ing it to maximize revenue
from forestlands donated by
the counties in the 1930s and
‘40s after a month long trial in
2019.
State forests must be man-
aged for the greatest per-
manent value by law, but
more than a dozen counties
claimed the Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry impermis-
sibly expanded that defi ni-
tion beyond its original intent.
In 2017, the Clatsop County
Board of Commissioners
voted 3 to 2 to opt out of the
lawsuit, citing a need for more
balanced forest management.
Under language adopted
in the late 1990s, the greatest
permanent value was changed
to include environmental and
recreational considerations
that restricted timber harvests,
shortchanging the counties
and tax districts within them
of revenues, the plaintiff s
claimed.
Attorneys for Oregon
appealed the jury verdict on
the grounds that the coun-
ties didn’t have an enforce-
able contract that dictated
how state forest offi cials must
manage the nearly 700,000
acres of donated property.
The law governing state
forestlands pertains to matters
of statewide concern that can-
not be challenged in court by
the counties, state attorneys
claimed. As political subdivi-
sions of the state government,
the counties cannot sue over
such state policies.
Federal
environmental
laws enacted since the prop-
erty was donated, such as the
Endangered Species Act, also
eff ectively limit how much
timber can be extracted from
state forestlands, according to
state attorneys.
The counties claimed
that Oregon forestry offi cials
weren’t obligated to create
habitat for federally-protected
species that resulted in log-
ging restrictions. In any case,
the counties said the state
government can alter for-
est management policies but
must still pay them damages
for breaching the contract.
Counties provide health
care and other functions
under contract with the state
government, so they must be
able to rely on such agree-
ments being enforceable, the
plaintiff s said. If the coun-
ties had known the state gov-
ernment could re interpret the
contract’s terms at will, they’d
never have donated such huge
amounts of forestlands.
Ordinance: ‘My concern is to defend the
rights of both the housed and the unhoused’
Continued from Page A1
“It’s a start,” Roxanne
Veazey said. “In the long run,
what they did in putting all
those people in the Necani-
cum lot didn’t do any service
to those people. They’re not
going to walk over into the
bathroom to use the restroom,
they’re going to use the
bushes. Then they’re going
to take whatever comes out
of their sewage and they’re
going to put it in the trash.”
The ordinance is intended
to protect the safety of res-
idents and regulate the use
of public and private prop-
erty by establishing time,
place and manner guide-
lines for homeless camping.
It puts in place a permit pro-
gram for temporary overnight
camping on both residential
and nonresidential proper-
ties. Vehicles, including vans
or motor homes, would need
to be registered in compli-
ance with vehicle insurance
responsibilities.
Without locations for peo-
ple to go, “then basically the
public streets are fair game,”
Police Chief Dave Ham said.
“The fact is that if we don’t
have locations to identify
for somebody to go with the
least impact on the commu-
nity, neighbors, houses in the
area, then they’re going to
go wherever they please. We
have to either provide shelter
or we have to provide public
locations for them to be able
to camp.”
Overnight camping per-
mits, from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.,
would be valid for three
weeks, at which time they
could be renewed.
While individual parking
or camping locations were
not designated, proposed
locations for limited numbers
of permitted vehicles include
parts of Shore Terrace, Neca-
nicum Drive, parts of Broad-
way, Avenue G and Mill
Ponds Park.
Camping would be pro-
hibited at all public park
areas, public parking lots,
restrooms or publicly owned
properties within residential
zoning districts, along with
U.S. Highway 101, Avenue
U, Wahanna Drive, First Ave-
nue to Avenue A, Necanicum
Drive and other locations.
Violators could be fi ned $25
per day.
‘Don’t push it off to
somebody else’
Many in the vocal audi-
ence at the City Council
meeting said they were con-
fused by confl icting court rul-
ings and interpretations of the
law.
“Don’t push it off to some-
body else,” James Hoff man, a
resident, told city councilors.
“Do your job. D o what you’re
supposed to do by being in
these seats. Fix it. I’m tired of
seeing junk, needles, drugs,
everywhere we go. I’m tired
of being harassed.”
The 10th and Necanicum
“RV experiment” is a disas-
ter, Bruce Rosebrock, a resi-
dent, said.
“Needles, drugs, RVs with
‘for rent’ signs, increased theft
in the neighboring blocks,” he
said. “Who pays for the stor-
age? Who pays for the demo?
Lots of unanswered ques-
tions. Get this ordinance right
and vote ‘no’ tonight until
you have the right parameters
in place. If this City Council
gets it wrong and this town
goes down the toilet, that’ll
be quite a legacy for all of
you.”
Others questioned how the
city would force campers to
move, the expense associated
with the process, daytime
parking issues and the poten-
tial lure of “free camping” for
people from outside the area.
“I don’t understand why
they just get to be there for
free,” Linda Iles Martin, a
resident, said. “You don’t get
to camp for free, everybody
has to pay something. That’s
just part of our civilization,
of our society. And these peo-
ple are trying to screw up our
societal program here. You
just don’t get to go camp in
front of somebody’s house.”
Throughout the process,
city offi cials have said that
without an ordinance with
options for the homeless, the
camp on Necanicum could
not be cleared. But Josh Mar-
quis, a former Clatsop County
district attorney, said those
interpretations were incor-
rect. He challenged the tenet
that the city needed to enact
the ordinance before starting
eviction.
“I think this is a really seri-
ous misunderstanding,” Mar-
quis said.
The C ity Council ulti-
mately relied on advice from
City Attorney Dan Van Thiel
to proceed with the reading of
the ordinance before putting
it to a vote. “I’m suggesting
that we get this off the table,”
he said.
Mixed response
City c ouncilors were
mixed in response.
City Councilor Tita Mon-
tero, an organizer and mem-
ber of the homeless task
force, asked for a new look
at the ordinance. She said the
camp on Necanicum could be
cleared with or without the
ordinance. “It’s our property.
We have the right to put rules
on anybody who was staying
on that property,” she said.
“I’m also very concerned that
we have yet to hear from CIS
(Citycounty Insurance Ser-
vices), our insurance com-
pany, on a review of this
ordinance. We have passed
an ordinance without proper
review. I’m very disturbed
about this.”
City Councilor Dana Phil-
lips also voiced concerns that
more study was needed.
City Councilor Randy
Frank said it “was the right
thing to do. ” City Councilor
Steve Wright said the mea-
sure was the best way to give
police the tools to enforce
regulations.
Mayor Jay Barber and
Frank, Wright, City Coun-
cilor David Posalski and
City Councilor Tom Horn-
ing voted for the ordinance.
Montero and Phillips voted
against it.
The ordinance goes into
eff ect in 30 days.
City c ouncilors agreed
to consider additional pub-
lic comment for amendments
in a workshop scheduled for
May 9 before the next City
Council meeting.
“My concern is to defend
the rights of both the housed
and the unhoused,” Barber
said. “And I think we’ve got
to work together to refi ne this
ordinance so that it covers
both bases.”
an innkeeper from Sea-
side who sits on the Port
of Astoria’s Airport Advi-
sory Committee.
At a candidates’ forum
at Clatsop Community
College last week, Dillard
noted that some issues
before the county — such
as homelessness and a
lack of aff ordable hous-
ing — have worsened
over Thompson’s two
terms. “I’m here because
I represent change,” he
told the audience.
Elected in 2014,
Thompson is vice chair-
woman of the Colum-
bia-Pacifi c
Economic
Development District and
works with the Associ-
ation of Oregon Coun-
ties. Earlier this month,
Clatsop County collabo-
rated with the association
to create a list of more
than a dozen parcels of
surplus county land that
could be used for hous-
ing, child care and other
social services.
“A lot of people
don’t have necessarily a
big-picture or a long-term
view,” she said, “and I
do.”
In an interview with
The Astorian, Dillard
said he wants to support
local businesses recover-
ing from pandemic shut-
downs. He also wants the
county to move beyond
an emergency mindset —
for example, by resuming
in-person meetings of the
Board of Commissioners
at the Judge Guy Boying-
ton Building in Astoria.
“The county building
is hosting some home-
less people at each of
the doors, but they’re not
having meetings there,”
he said. “Now why is
that, in April of 2022?”
Dillard said he and
his wife had been look-
ing to get more involved
in the community. About
six months ago, he began
attending c ity meetings in
Seaside. When he learned
the county’s District 5
seat was open, he chose
to run .
“I’m at a place in my
life where I can serve, and
I’m willing to devote time
to the county,” he said.
As in the District 3
race in Astoria between
Commissioner Pamela
Wev and Nathan Pink-
staff , a deck mechanic,
the District 5 election
features an incumbent
facing off against an
opponent with sharply
diff erent political views.
In the District 1 election
in Warrenton, Commis-
sioner Mark Kujala, the
board chairman, is run-
ning unopposed.
Since Thompson fi rst
took offi ce , the ideologi-
cal makeup of the nonpar-
tisan board has become
more conservative.
Given the political
divides in her district
and countywide, Thomp-
son, who at the forum
did not return fi re at Dil-
lard, said she is “commit-
ted to building and main-
taining connection and
cooperation.”
“If I align with one
side and want to demon-
ize the other side, I don’t
think I’m a good com-
missioner,” she told The
Astorian. “So I went for
the middle — the high
road, the ridge line — not
the swamp at the bottom
of the hill.”
A divisive issue in her
district is the burgeoning
vacation rental industry .
Although the county has
permitted scores of short-
term rentals in unincor-
porated areas, the devel-
opment code does not
recognize rentals as an
explicit use except in
Arch Cape.
The Board of Com-
missioners is weighing
options on where to allow
vacation rentals and how
to regulate them.
County staff , based
on board direction, has rec-
ommended making short-
term rentals a recognized
use in both commercial and
residential zones. A Plan-
ning Commission recom-
mendation, however, would
limit them to commercial
and multifamily residential
zones — and only as a con-
ditional use — while elimi-
nating them from other resi-
dential zones.
Before she decides on the
issue, Thompson said she
needs more information —
for example, the extent to
which rentals eat into hous-
ing stock that could be used
by long-term renters. People
looking to ban short-term
rentals in residential zones
have tied the lack of avail-
able housing, in part, to the
region’s rental market.
“There may be an impact,
but I want us to have data
before we take actions that
have unanticipated conse-
quences,” she said earlier
this month .
Dillard said in an inter-
view that he would have
approved the Planning Com-
mission’s recommendation,
aligning himself with the
belief, expressed most vol-
ubly by residents in South
County’s Cove Beach neigh-
borhood , that short-term
rentals are prohibited by
default.
The Board of Commis-
sioners was scheduled to
discuss the issue again at a
meeting Wednesday night as
a moratorium on new vaca-
tion rental permits was set to
expire.
On aff ordable hous-
ing , Dillard said the county
should try to create incen-
tives for developers. “Is there
a way where we can step in
and say, ‘OK, this is some-
thing that the county sees as
a priority? How can we help
this along?’” he said.
As a commissioner, Dil-
lard said he would use his
position to push back against
what he believes are exces-
sive regulations from Salem.
Asked why he should
be elected, Dillard cited his
diverse background, includ-
ing his experience owning an
IT fi rm and founding a non-
profi t that serves the home-
less. “I can work at the com-
munity service level. I can
work at the business level. I
get things done,” he said.
Thompson pointed to
her “wide and deep admin-
istrative background in
government.”
“Somebody can come
into it and have an idea about
how it works, but I know the
inside way that things oper-
ate,” she said.
Thompson believes that,
when progress on major
issues is incremental, the
best course of action is not
necessarily to remove the
person working on them.
She said she has been “build-
ing capacity” at the county,
in particular through the
networking she has done to
begin bringing resources to
the region .
“It’s like a gardener
who plants a seed, and just
because it hasn’t poked
through the earth and borne
fruit yet, you don’t say, ‘Oh
that’s worthless,’ and rip it
out. You continue to nurture
it so that it grows and pro-
duces the results that it prom-
ises,” she said. “Because I
think I can promise results.
I think we’re working eff ec-
tively toward those. It’s just
a longer-term gain.”
As of Tuesday, Thomp-
son had more than $11,000
in contributions. Dillard had
raised more than $4,000.
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