OREGON VOWS TO PROTECT ABORTION ACCESS AFTER
SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS ROE V. WADE » A3
Mary Jo
Hutchinson
protested
the ruling in
Astoria.
Alexis Weisend/
The Astorian
«INSIDE
INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2022
149TH YEAR, NO. 154
$1.50
Buyer
emerges
for business
park
A $1.3M deal in Warrenton
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
The North Coast Business Park, a tract
in Warrenton long in search of a future,
may have found a developer.
The Clatsop County Board of Com-
missioners on Wednesday approved the
sale of the property to Atlin Investments
Inc., a Seattle-based company that devel-
oped the nearby Costco site.
The company was the sole responder
to a request for proposals that the county
fl oated between January and March.
The sale price of the 130-acre property
is $1.3 million, with an earnest payment
of $60,000. The property is near U.S.
Highway 101, just north of S.E. Ensign
Lane. S.E. 19th Street cuts through it.
A contingency period of 180 days
begins once the sale agreement is signed.
Atlin will have six options to extend
the contingency period for 90 days. For
each extension, Atlin must pay a nonre-
fundable $10,000, though that will count
toward the purchase price once the sale
goes through, Monica Steele, the assis-
tant county manager, said.
See Business park, Page A8
Commissioners
vote to recognize
vacation rentals
Decision formalizes
a long-standing use
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
The Clatsop County Board of Com-
missioners approved an ordinance on
Wednesday to recognize vacation rent-
als as an allowable use in 16 zones in
unincorporated areas.
The decision adds vacation rent-
als to the county’s development code,
formally accepting a long-standing
activity.
The board voted unanimously to
hold the second reading of the ordi-
nance, although Commissioner Pamela
Wev had earlier voted against holding
the fi rst reading.
Recently, Wev had pushed for a tai-
lored approach. Her view aligned with
a Planning Commission recommenda-
tion to ban vacation rentals in residen-
tial zones and permit them in commer-
cial and multi family residential zones
— a move that the county’s Depart-
ment of Assessment and Taxation said
Photos by Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Astoria is looking to make it easier to build multifamily housing.
Facing a state deadline, Astoria looks at
code changes to encourage more housing
The changes are intended
to reduce barriers to
construction
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
T
he Astoria Planning Commission
on Tuesday will review a num-
ber of development code amend-
ments designed to remove barriers for
new housing construction.
The amendments are in response
to changes in state law intended to
increase housing aff ordability and
availability across Oregon.
Since Astoria’s population tipped
over 10,000, the city must comply with
rules set for medium-sized cities, which
includes allowing duplexes on residen-
tial lots that allow single-family homes.
The city must also expand opportuni-
ties for lot divisions for middle hous-
ing, which enables units in duplexes
and triplexes to be sold individually.
Astoria has until the end of the
year to adopt the changes, otherwise
the state code will automatically take
eff ect. The city is also using the oppor-
tunity to incorporate recommendations
made in Clatsop County’s 2019 hous-
ing study.
While housing has remained one of
the most pressing policy challenges on
the North Coast, little progress has been
made since the county’s study. The city
has said allowing more middle housing
will not necessarily lead to new con-
struction, citing other cities and states
that have made similar changes but
have seen few new projects .
Megan Leatherman, Astoria’s com-
munity development director, said the
Mailboxes are shown for multifamily housing units in Astoria.
amendments incorporate community
feedback from stakeholder meetings
and four listening sessions the city has
held since April.
“I think there’s general support for
housing, it’s just that we don’t want
the residential character or the gen-
eral character of Astoria to be impacted
by providing more housing options,”
she said. “And that’s possible, it’s just
that we have to get into the details and
weeds to make sure we’re applying the
standards in a way that maintains the
character. And that’s what this code is
trying to do.”
Since there is little space left in
Astoria to build, Leatherman said the
city looked at how the code could
encourage infi ll.
“More like how can existing homes
be retrofi tted to accomplish more
dwellings, more units? ” she said.
Among the code amendments the
P lanning C ommission will review is
making multifamily homes, which
include three dwellings or more, per-
mitted outright in medium- and
high-density residential areas instead of
conditional. Duplexes will be allowed
everywhere single-family homes are
allowed.
Leatherman said there was public
support for encouraging cottage clus-
ters, which usually have shared open
space. The city is proposing to make
the developments permitted outright
in residential areas and allow them in
neighborhood commercial areas.
Cottage clusters would still have to
meet certain standards, but they would
be simpler to develop, Leatherman
said.
See Code changes, Page A8
See Rentals, Page A8
Newman remembered as an infl uential chef Brown appoints Wintermute
Restaurant owner
as Circuit Court judge
died in car crash
Defense attorney
to replace Matyas
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
John Newman, the owner of
Newmans at 988 in Cannon Beach,
was remembered by friends and
family as an infl uential chef and
mentor with a generous spirit.
Newman, 58, of Pacifi c City,
died in a car crash in Tillamook
County. He was driving west on
Oregon Highway 130, went off the
road and struck a utility pole. His
vehicle went into a river near Lit-
tle Nestucca County Park, accord-
ing to Oregon State Police. The sub-
merged vehicle was reported on
Monday.
Bob Neroni, who owns EVOO,
John Newman, the owner of Newmans at 988, has died.
a recreational cooking school and
restaurant in Cannon Beach, with
his wife said, “We’re all kind of in
a mortifi ed, surreal state right now.
Just can’t believe it.”
The Astorian named Newman’s
fi ne dining eatery, which served
French and Italian cuisine, “Restau-
rant of the Year” for 2006, the year
the midtown establishment opened.
Before that, Newman was the exec-
utive chef at the Stephanie Inn in
Cannon Beach.
Chris Holen, the chef and owner
of Nekst Event and former owner
of Baked Alaska in Astoria, called
See Chef, Page A8
remainder of Matyas’ third, six-
year term. The next election for
the post takes place in 2024.
Wintermute will also need to
By ERICK BENGEL
wind down his practice at Kaino
The Astorian
& Wintermute in Astoria.
“Kirk is an excellent lawyer,”
Gov. Kate Brown has Judge Dawn McIntosh, the pre-
appointed Kirk Wintermute, an siding judge of the Circuit Court,
Astoria defense attorney, as a said. “He’s smart as a whip. He’s
judge for the Clatsop
one of the best defense
County Circuit Court.
lawyers we’ve got. I’m
Wintermute
will
sorry to lose him from
replace Judge Cindee
that, but he’s going to
Matyas, who plans to
be a great addition to the
bench.”
retire this month after
McIntosh said that she
more than 15 years on the
and fellow Judge Beau
bench.
Kirk
Peterson are “both really
“I’m honored to fol-
low Judge Matyas, and Wintermute excited, and I think Cin-
dee was too.”
I’m looking forward to a
Wintermute is involved in
new challenge,” he said.
A start date for his judge- Matyas’ mental health treatment
ship still needs to be determined,
he said. He will serve out the
See Judge, Page A8