»INSIDE
149TH YEAR, NO. 130
WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2022
$1.50
County extends
vacation rental
moratorium
Commissioners agree on
new operating standards
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Astoria has three wastewater treatment lagoons in Alderbrook.
For Astoria breweries, wastewater
a byproduct of success
City working with
businesses to preserve
treatment lagoons
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
A
s craft breweries in Asto-
ria have soared over the past
decade, so has the impact on
the city’s wastewater treatment .
T hree treatment lagoons on the
east end of Alderbrook progressively
treat wastewater before it is released
into the Columbia R iver. Built in the
1970s, t he lagoons were not designed
to treat industrial waste, which is
higher strength and usually has dra-
matically higher concentration of sol-
ids than residential or other commer-
cial waste .
When breweries, cideries and
distilleries began cropping up, the
potential impact of large quantities
of wastewater on the treatment sys-
tem was not known. Over time, as
production increased at Fort George
Brewery and Buoy Beer Co. — the
city’s largest breweries — the con-
centration of suspended solids from
the hops, barley and yeast used in the
brewing process started to strain the
system.
By 2019, the city estimated the
lagoons received enough solids for
23,000 people, more than double the
city’s population .
The city was facing costly upgrades
to increase capacity and signifi cant
THE PROGRAM
REQUIRES ALL
EXISTING AND NEW
FERMENTATION
CLUSTER BUSINESSES
TO HAVE INDUSTRIAL
DISCHARGE PERMITS,
WHICH SET THE
LIMITS. IT WILL ALSO
INCLUDE A NEW
RATE STRUCTURE
THAT WILL CLASSIFY
DIFFERENT
USERS BASED ON
CONCENTRATION OF
WASTEWATER.
environmental fi nes if treated waste-
water pumped into the river was not
clean enough for federal standards.
The impact caught the city and the
two breweries by surprise.
“Back when we didn’t know what
it was doing, or the volumes were
smaller — it was just kind of creeping
up on us — we could look at it and
say, ‘Wow, this is scary,’ or, ‘Hey, our
limits are getting up there,’” said Jeff
Harrington, the city’s public works
director. “But now we’re bumping
right up against the edge.”
The city began working with the
two breweries, the state and others to
develop solutions, including an indus-
trial pretreatment program, which
limits the amount of industrial waste
that can enter the treatment lagoons.
The program requires all existing
and new fermentation cluster busi-
nesses to have industrial discharge
permits, which set the limits. It will
also include a new rate structure that
will classify diff erent users based on
concentration of wastewater.
The city is moving forward with
another project to increase capac-
ity, which is expected to be complete
by 2025. Until then, the remaining
capacity has been dedicated to exist-
ing businesses. New breweries will
be required to treat wastewater to the
level of a residential user before it
enters the lagoons.
The C ity Council is expected to
approve an ordinance in the coming
weeks that will formalize the program
and set a framework. Separate reso-
lutions will detail specifi c aspects,
including the limits and rate structure.
The fi rst public hearing on the
ordinance will be held Monday night.
Some business leaders and brew-
ery owners feel the new regulations
and wastewater fees could make fur-
ther expansion in Astoria too costly,
or make it too expensive for new ven-
tures to enter the market. There are
also concerns that businesses will be
left to compete for capacity.
The Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners on Wednesday night
extended, for the second time, a morato-
rium on new vacation rental permits.
Last August, the board approved a
moratorium to give the county time to fi g-
ure out where and how to regulate short-
term rentals, which in recent years have
multiplied in unincorporated areas from
Clatsop Plains to Cove Beach, Knappa
to Jewell. An extension was approved in
December.
The board’s decision to extend the
freeze by another 120 days — ending on
Aug. 26 — came as the last extension
was scheduled to end.
The board can lift the moratorium
sooner if it resolves the most controver-
sial issue: In which zones should vaca-
tion rentals be a recognized use?
At Wednesday’s meeting, county
commissioners tackled two pieces of the
vacation rental issue.
They approved revisions to the oper-
ating standards for short-term rentals in
the c ounty c ode.
The standards address nuisances such
as noise, litter and parking. Owners must
post a good-neighbor fl yer that spells
out rules around campfi res, speed limits,
quiet hours, trespassing and other con-
duct . They must also display information
about power outages and the possibil-
ity of disasters such as wildfi res, tsuna-
mis and landslides. The standards out-
law permit transfers; new owners must
apply for new permits and have units
re inspected.
If complaints arise, property agents
or representatives must contact renters
within 20 minutes. They must respond in
person within an hour for serious com-
plaints — such as a failing septic system
or too many occupants on the grounds
— and within 24 hours for milder ones,
according to the county staff report.
People who make knowingly false or
unsubstantiated complaints will face a
fi ne, the staff report says.
As a housekeeping matter, commis-
sioners also voted to move the operating
standards for Arch Cape — the only zone
where vacation rentals are an explicitly
recognized use — from the Land and
Water Development and Use Code to the
county code, where the other operating
standards live.
“It appears that we are eating this ele-
phant one bite at a time,” Commissioner
Lianne Thompson said.
She noted on Wednesday that she
heard more agreement on the issue
among members of the public who spoke
than in previous meetings. “I think our
approach, while time-consuming, is the
most eff ective for maintaining good
neighbors and good neighborhood rela-
tionships,” Thompson said.
Property owners have long rented
their homes in the county’s unincor-
porated areas, but the advent of online
platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo has
streamlined the activity.
See Wastewater, Page A6
See Vacation rentals, Page A6
Adventure through the eyes of a dog
National parks worker
authors children’s book
By ABBEY McDONALD
The Astorian
When Laura Taylor’s son started
speech therapy, his therapist noticed
that he responded well to rhymes
and repetition. So Taylor started tell-
ing him stories.
She drew from her experience
‘K-So’ is now 9 years old.
working for the National Park Ser-
vice and began to make up poems
about their dog “K-So’s” adven-
tures across America. In the tales,
the dog traversed iconic forests and
befriended bears.
“When I would make up stories
about K-So, he would just laugh and
laugh and would then fi ll in some of
the blanks,” Taylor said. Since then,
his speaking has improved greatly.
The exercise left her with over a
dozen half-written poems and sto-
ries, which she thought might make
a fun book to keep for her two chil-
dren , ages 3 and 1. Her husband,
Robert, encouraged her to work
with an illustrator and publish it.
Taylor independently published
“K-So Visits the National Parks,” in
January. It includes her poems along-
side vibrant illustrations by Catarina
Neto of K-So exploring lava fl ows
and waterfalls at famous sites.
See Book, Page A6
‘THE POSITIVE RESPONSE AND FEEDBACK HAS JUST
BEEN REALLY NICE. A LOT OF MY FRIENDS HAVE LITTLE
KIDS WHO ARE JUST IN THE PERFECT AGE RANGE FOR
THE BOOK. SO THEY HAVE JUST LOVED IT. EVERY LITTLE
KID LOVES DOGS AND PARKS AND NATURE.’
Laura Taylor
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Laura Taylor stands for a portrait
holding her book in Lewis and Clark
National Historical Park.