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inessJournal.co
CoastRiverBus
Volume 17 •
FREE
Chronicling
Published Monthly
ss in the Colum
the Joy of Busine
:
Feature story
May 2022
Issue 5
bia-Pacific Region
nts age growth
velopme
man
New ns de
mbia-Pacific
across the Colu
Inside:
Page 8
Downtow
s
Market return
Astoria sees influx of
Page 4
vendors
A room with
a view
Open Office Astoria
Page 5
ABBEY McDONALD
Astoria Vintage
Boat of the
soon move
Hardware will
into the historic
J.C. Penney building
in downtown
Astoria.
Month
Loose Cannon
Page 10
149TH YEAR, NO. 137
Emergency
dispatch
looks to
future
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022
$1.50
County report fi nds
vacation rentals do not
drive up housing costs
Temporary merger ends but
consolidation still possible
Commissioners
weigh new
restrictions
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
Emergency d ispatchers returned to
Astoria last week after temporarily merg-
ing with Seaside over the p ast several
months.
The move to Seaside was prompted by
staffi ng shortages at Astoria’s 911 dispatch
center, which reached a critical point last
fall. The merger, ideally, should have been
a fl ip of the switch, but instead it exposed
defi ciencies in technology and interopera-
bility that left many emergency responders
on the North Coast frustrated.
The challenges also revived talks about
whether Astoria and Seaside should com-
bine emergency dispatch centers into a sin-
gle countywide 911 dispatch center, a con-
versation that has occurred off -and-on for
more than 20 years.
Jeremy Hipes, Astoria’s emergency
communications manager, said staffi ng is
improving, and he is encouraged by the
applicants and people in training. The cit-
ies are also continuing to coordinate on
upgrades to improve interoperability.
Seaside has agreed to temporarily
assign a dispatcher to Astoria until a new
hire is fully trained. Astoria is still working
toward hiring and training fi ve additional
staff ers to meet the dispatch center’s min-
imum for full operations.
“The hope is that we’ll be in a much
better place by the end of summer,” Hipes
said. “We’re just going to have to make it
through summer and then we should be
able to handle our pressures a little better
without necessarily having to have assis-
tance from our surrounding agencies.”
He said that as the police department
continues to address the staffi ng chal-
lenges, answering emergency calls will be
the priority. That means people calling the
nonemergency line may have to wait a little
longer than usual until someone picks up.
Eric Halverson, Astoria’s interim police
chief, said the department is also continu-
ing to look at diff erent technologies that
could be applied to reduce some of the
pressure on dispatchers.
“Ultimately, the goal is to continue to
add staffi ng and that’s what we’re focused
on, but we’re still looking at other options,”
Halverson said. “We have to be conscious
of the need for employees to have time
off and those kinds of things. Right now,
we’ve put together a schedule where we’re
able to do that and so we’re defi nitely in a
better place than we were six months ago,
but we have room to grow, too.”
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
A
Photos by Lydia Ely/The Astorian
ABOVE: A house displays a sign advertising vacation rentals in Arch Cape.
BELOW: Vacation rentals are popular in Cove Beach.
‘COMMUNITIES SUCH AS CANNON BEACH,
WHICH HAS SEVERELY CURTAILED SHORT-
TERM RENTALS, SAW THE LARGEST REAL
MARKET VALUE INCREASE BETWEEN 2018
AND 2021 FOR PROPERTIES HOLDING AN STR
PERMIT. THIS IS LIKELY DUE TO THE VALUE
PLACED ON WHAT IS PERCEIVED AS A LIMITED
AND SCARCE OWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY,
THUS COMMANDING A HIGHER PRICE.’
new report by Clatsop County
staff found no correlation
between the recent growth of
the vacation rental industry and the rise
in housing prices.
Prepared by the c ounty m anager’s
o ffi ce, the Community Development
Department, Assessment and Taxation,
Geographic Information Systems and
county counsel, the s hort-t erm r ental
d ata r eport will be presented to the
county Board of Commissioners at a
work session on Wednesday.
County commissioners are weighing
where in the county’s unincorporated
areas to recognize short-term rentals as
an allowable use. More than 170 rent-
als already operate on county land, most
clustering near the oceanfront. Except
for Arch Cape , where vacation rentals
have been allowed since 2003, the devel-
opment code does not mention them.
Clatsop County is not alone in con-
fronting rentals of 30 or fewer days.
Oregon’s coastal communities have
seen an explosion of vacation rent-
als that bring in tourist money yet can
undermine quiet neighborhoods .
See Vacation rentals, Page A6
See Dispatch, Page A6
ELECTION
DAY
Ballots that are
mailed must be
postmarked by
May 17. Ballots
can be turned in at
drop boxes by 8 p.m.
Follow the results at DailyAstorian.com
Outreach guides seniors to services
Bjaranson helps the
elderly reach their goals
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
W
Suzanne Bjaranson is the community
program supervisor at NorthWest
Senior and Disability Services.
ARRENTON — When
Suzanne Bjaranson meets
with someone — typically a senior,
or sometimes a caregiver or fam-
ily member — she starts with one
question: “What is it you want to
accomplish?”
Bjaranson, the community
program supervisor at North-
W est Senior and Disability Ser-
vices , then takes steps to help them
achieve their goals, whether it be
to move into an assisted living
facility, enhance in-home care or
seek other options.
Now in her seventh year at the
organization, Bjaranson oversees
an extensive number of programs
and courses that the group —
which serves Clatsop, Tillamook,
Polk, Marion and Yamhill counties
— has to off er.
“Whether you’ve got resources
or not, we can help break down
what your options are and where
to turn to, because it can be over-
whelming,” Bjaranson said.
Outside of counseling on
options and resources, other pro-
grams, funded through the Older
Americans Act and Medicaid,
include caregiver support, fall
prevention, M edicare counsel-
ing, mentoring for seniors suff er-
ing from anxiety or depression and
several more.
Led by Bjaranson, the Clatsop
County branch also off ers a num-
ber of health education classes,
such as overviews on chronic con-
ditions, diabetes prevention and
exercise.
But perhaps the organization’s
most impactful work, Bjaranson
said, is through the home delivery
meal program.
“There is such a need for it,”
she said. “Transportation can be
very tricky in this county for a lot
of seniors, so having that program
available is really huge.”
NorthWest Senior and Disabil-
ity Services also has three meal
sites in the county — in War-
renton, Seaside and Svensen —
where seniors can get together to
to eat and interact. With the arrival
of the coronavirus pandemic, the
sites have evolved into curbside
pickup .
“The congregate is so valuable
for people to connect and be with
one another, and that stopped,”
Bjaranson said. “We can see that
there is a need for that again. Peo-
ple are wanting to gather and be
with their friends again.”
See Bjaranson, Page A6