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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JuNE 25, 2022
Business park: ‘This has been an issue’ for years Rentals: Opponents of
the ordinance worry that
rentals of 30 or fewer days
will continue to multiply
Continued from Page A1
Meanwhile, boxes must
be checked.
Atlin’s project descrip-
tion says the company must
negotiate a development
agreement with Warren-
ton, and another agreement
with the state Department
of Transportation to address
curbs and access points. The
company must get a wet-
land fill mitigation program
approved by the Depart-
ment of State Lands and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers. And, once Warrenton
accepts a design, the com-
pany must determine the
cost of infrastructure.
The company estimates
that the whole project will be
finished in about a decade.
The park is “a unique
opportunity in that it is the
last major parcel of land
in Clatsop County that is
potentially developable that
has access to the major high-
ways and the airport,” Atlin
wrote in its proposal.
The deal with Atlin may
mark the end of a 30-year
saga to find a suitor for the
sprawling, difficult land,
which is plagued by soil and
wetlands challenges.
Potential uses include
warehousing, manufactur-
ing, flex space, automotive
services, self-storage that
includes space to store RVs
and boats, and a place to sell
wholesale forest products,
according to the proposal.
“There is no one type of
Continued from Page A1
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Clatsop County has found a buyer for the North Coast Business Park in Warrenton.
user or theme for the North
Coast Industrial Park as we
anticipate interest from a
wide spectrum of users rang-
ing from local, regional, to
national businesses,” the
proposal says.
The maximum area that
can be developed is about 67
acres, the company wrote,
adding that “the more likely
amount is 50 to 60 acres
depending on the availability
of off-site wetland fill credits
and mitigation areas.”
Atlin estimates that
greenbelt or wetlands will
compose about half of the
site.
Commissioner
Lianne
Thompson noted the strug-
gle to fulfill the promise of
the North Coast Business
Park.
“This has been a gnarly
issue” — she paused — “not
quite 100 years, but doesn’t
it seem as though it has
been?”
Sections of the land were
cleared and graded in the
1960s for an aluminum plant
that never materialized, the
county said in its request
for proposals. The county
bought the acreage in 1991.
Since then, proposals for
commercial
development
have come and gone. The
land has sat undeveloped,
attracting homeless camps.
The county has discussed
getting rid of the property.
In 2018, a proposal envi-
sioned a data center and
technology incubator, but an
agreement collapsed amid
repeated extensions.
The business park was
briefly a suggested site for
a relocated county public
works facility. County lead-
ers said they preferred the
occupant to be on the tax
rolls.
“This has been an issue
that people have been deal-
ing with for years, and we’re
so glad to be moving for-
ward and making progress,”
Commissioner Mark Kujala,
the commission’s chairman,
said.
Chef: ‘His soul was just bigger than life’
Continued from Page A1
Newman one of the most
influential chefs on the Ore-
gon Coast in a generation.
“Every chef worth his salt
in Clatsop County has been
touched by John Newman at
one point or another,” Holen
said.
Newman’s wife, Sandy,
said in a message that he was
the love of her life. They met
in college on California’s
central coast and would have
celebrated 30 years of mar-
riage in October, she said.
On Tuesday night, Cannon
Beach Mayor Sam Steidel
remembered Newman at a
City Council meeting.
“John Newman was a
cherished restaurateur who
actually helped develop, to
me, the quality of restaurants
that we have in town because
he cooked at several of them
throughout his career here,
created his own and beyond,”
Steidel said.
Geoff Gunn, the executive
chef and general manager of
Bridgewater Bistro in Asto-
ria, has been talking with area
chefs in the wake of New-
man’s death.
“We thought that he would
just outlast everyone,” Gunn
said. “His soul was just big-
ger than life, and it’s a huge
hit to the community and the
culinary world.”
In his profession, Newman
was remembered as ambitious
yet humble. Insofar as he com-
peted with his fellow chefs, he
did so with affection.
And Newman respected
their work.
Peter Roscoe, the founder
of Fulio’s in Astoria, said, “If
he was going to borrow a rec-
ipe, he wouldn’t just do it.
He’d call up and say, ‘Hey,
‘HE COuLd TAKE A MONKEy
INTO HIS KITCHEN ANd TRAIN
THEM TO MAKE AMAZING FOOd
LIKE HE dId.’
Jonathan Hoffman | owner of The Nest Bakery in
Warrenton and Dough Dough Bakery in Seaside
I’m thinking of putting this
on the menu — is it OK with
you?’ Of course it always
was.”
Neroni said Newman was
“always there as a resource
and just always gave.He was
not just an incredible culi-
narian, but just an incredible
individual.”
Newman learned his craft
globally. An alum of New
York’s Culinary Institute of
America, he also studied on
Oahu in Hawaii and worked
in Europe, according to his
restaurant’s website.
On the North Coast, New-
man became a mentor for
young chefs, opening doors
for people pursuing careers in
the restaurant industry.
Newman once asked
Holen to join him as a cook
at the James Beard House in
New York City. For a chef
to be invited to ply his or her
trade at that house, which
Newman did several times,
is “one of the biggest honors
you can have,” Holen said.
“It was John’s way of pre-
senting what the Northwest
has to offer to the world on
the biggest culinary stage
in the country,” Holen said,
“and it was a really big deal
for us.”
As a board member of
United Way of Clatsop
County, Newman helped
found the Iron Chef Goes
Coastal competition, a fund-
raiser that raised many thou-
sands of dollars annually for
the nonprofit, which serves
struggling individuals and
families. He won the compe-
tition several times.
Newman served as a chef
and culinary consultant at
Cannon Beach Conference
Center and as an instructor at
Tongue Point Job Corps Cen-
ter and Seaside High School.
Under his tutelage, his Sea-
side students cooked compet-
itively on the national level.
Newman’s friend, John
Sowa, the executive chef at
Silver Salmon Grille and for-
mer Cannon Beach restaura-
teur, was impressed by how
Newman — with his busi-
ness, teaching and other
activities — extended him-
self in the community.
“I couldn’t figure out how
he could do as much as he did
in a given day, and still go
surfing,” Sowa said.
Newman was indeed a pas-
sionate surfer. “We’d always
say, ‘Oh, where’s John?’”
Gunn said. A common answer:
“He’s at a ‘board’ meeting.”
Newman’s older brother,
Matt Newman, who lives in
Chicago, recalled growing
up in a family with six chil-
dren in the 1960s. He said his
parents got divorced and that
their mother, an artist, trav-
eled for her work. Matt New-
man said his brother over-
came a tricky childhood,
moving through numerous
new schools and with little
money.
“To me, the fact that he
has just a humble and pos-
itive demeanor in spite of
the challenging obstacles is
truly amazing,” he said. “You
know, so many people break
and they don’t get up from
those situations.”
Matt Newman didn’t real-
ize the extent of his brother’s
influence until reading online
comments after his death.
Jonathan Hoffman, the
owner of The Nest Bakery in
Warrenton and Dough Dough
Bakery in Seaside, said New-
man could take people that no
other establishment wanted
or thought they could use,
people who got overlooked
by the industry, and turn them
into professionals.
“He could take a mon-
key into his kitchen and train
them to make amazing food
like he did,” Hoffman said.
The number of people he
did that with, who are still in
the community doing what
Newman taught them, is part
of his legacy. The next per-
son who will fill that role will
be difficult to find, Hoffman
said.
When Gunn was living in
Hillsboro and decided to relo-
cate to the coast, he called
Newman, whom he had met at
a cooking competition. New-
man got Gunn an interview
with Martin Hospitality, which
owns the Stephanie Inn.
“I always told him he was
the best chef that I’ve ever
known,” Gunn said. “And
then he would look at me and
say, ‘No, no, no — you’re
the best chef that I’ve ever
known.’”
Nicole Bales contributed
to this report.
Judge: ‘It’ll be fun having a new judge on board’
Continued from Page A1
court, serving as an attor-
ney and advocate for defen-
dants who go through the
program. Matyas started
the treatment court in 2009
to help offenders suffer-
ing from chronic mental
health issues, often ampli-
fied by substance abuse,
from becoming trapped in
the criminal justice system.
“He brings to the table a
lot of (Matyas’) experience
with behavioral health,”
McIntosh said.
An alum of the Univer-
sity of Oregon School of
Law, Wintermute serves as a
judge pro tem for the city’s
Municipal Court.
In addition, Winter-
mute is the board presi-
dent of LiFEBoat Services,
a nonprofit that serves the
local homeless population,
and the National Alliance
on Mental Health’s local
chapter.
Other candidates for the
vacancy were Senior Dep-
uty District Attorney Scott
McCracken and Seaside
attorney A.J. Wahl.
McIntosh said she told
the governor’s office: “‘You
couldn’t have had a better
pool to pick from.’”
“Any one of the three
could have done the job,”
McIntosh said. “But, I gotta
tell ya, I think Kirk is a great
choice. He’s also a really
nice guy. People like him.
The staff loves him. I think
everybody’s going to be
excited to work with him.”
She added: “We’ll miss
Cindee, though. We’re
going to miss her. But it’ll
be fun having a new judge
on board.”
The governor has also
appointed Denise Espinoza
Keppinger, a deputy district
attorney in the Columbia
County District Attorney’s
Office, to that county’s Cir-
cuit Court.
“Both of these talented
individuals bring deep legal
experience to the bench, as
well as important perspec-
tives on the different ways
the justice system can work
to protect the community,
while at the same time sup-
porting our most vulnerable
Oregonians,” Brown said in
a statement. “I am excited
to see the contributions they
will make to the Clatsop and
Columbia county circuit
courts.”
Wintermute said he feels
honored to serve his com-
munity. “It’s where I grew
up,” he said, “and it’s where
I want to be.”
would make half a million
dollars in lodging taxes
disappear.
Wev changed her mind
because of an amend-
ment to the ordinance:
Commissioners directed
county staff to devise a
plan to explore capping
the number of short-term
rentals in certain zones.
That plan is expected to
come before the com-
missioners in about five
weeks.
“I think we owe all
of the people who have
spent so many hours on
this issue — I think we
owe them a firm commit-
ment to doing that cap,”
she said.
Opponents of the ordi-
nance worry that rentals of
30 or fewer days will con-
tinue to multiply, displac-
ing long-term residents
and eroding neighborhood
livability. Limiting the
number of vacation rent-
als in an area could help
preserve residential char-
acter. In Cove Beach, the
community that kicked off
the discussion about vaca-
tion rentals in 2019, rent-
als compose about a third
of homes.
More than 170 vaca-
tion rentals operate in
the county’s unincorpo-
rated areas. Until Wednes-
day’s vote, their use went
unmentioned in the devel-
opment code except in
Arch Cape, where vaca-
tion rentals have been
allowed since the early
2000s.
“What we are doing is
addressing in law what
has been a matter of fact
since long before any of
us were here,” Commis-
sioner Lianne Thompson,
who lives in Cove Beach,
said on Wednesday.
The vote makes vaca-
tion rentals an outright
use — no public hearing
or public notice required
before the county issues a
permit.
The ordinance also
applies to Gearhart’s
unincorporated
urban
growth boundary, an area
not covered by that city’s
vacation rental rules.
The vote to make vaca-
tion rentals an explicit use
is the latest in a recent
series of commission
decisions regarding the
enterprises, which have
become a sore spot in
many Oregon Coast com-
munities. Advertised on
online platforms, rentals
offer scenic getaways and
bring in money for own-
ers and local economies.
But neighborhoods suffer
them differently depend-
ing on density, the ability
to enforce rules and other
factors.
Since last summer,
while county staff and
commissioners worked
to address the issue, the
county has been under a
twice-extended morato-
rium on vacation rental
licenses. The freeze is set
to expire in late August.
Clatsop County views
vacation rentals as busi-
ness activities alongside
others — such as bed-
and-breakfasts, RV parks,
primitive campgrounds,
dog kennels and golf
courses — permitted in
residential zones.
The most vocal oppo-
nents live in the Cove
Beach
neighborhood,
where several residents
had hoped the county
would prohibit vaca-
tion rentals in residen-
tial zones and phase out
existing ones as permits
expire.
Some commissioners
have warned that lawsuits
could be filed against the
county if the board voted
to eliminate existing vaca-
tion rentals.
The idea of limiting the
ventures came up repeat-
edly on Wednesday, as
opponents of the ordi-
nance sought a compro-
mise with a board whose
majority had already
decided to vote “yes.”
Thompson said she
sees the wisdom in plac-
ing a cap on the number
allowed in certain areas.
Doing so would require
amending the operating
standards for vacation
rentals.
In April, commission-
ers updated the operating
standards for zones outside
of Arch Cape to address
renter behavior and other
pressure points. Owners
must post a good-neighbor
flyer listing rules around
things like quiet hours,
littering, pets, fires, fire-
works, parking, speed lim-
its and trespassing.
Commissioner
John
Toyooka said enforce-
ment of these rules is the
major concern that comes
up in his exchanges with
residents.
Other, more existential
concerns have been aired
over about two dozen pub-
lic meetings. Karynn Fish,
of Cove Beach, said on
Wednesday that she fears
her family will one day be
evicted so the property can
be converted into a vaca-
tion rental.
“Your actions today
will likely determine
whether my family or any
other family in the future
is able to lease our home
in the years to come,” Fish
told the commissioners.
Commissioner Court-
ney Bangs, who represents
the county’s eastern por-
tion, said she is not a fan
of the negative impacts
of tourism. She views the
issue through the lens of
property rights.
“Property rights mean a
lot to me and to my con-
stituents,” she said. “I
can’t cherry pick when
property rights are import-
ant and when they’re not.”
Code changes: Address
concerns the city has
heard from residents
Continued from Page A1
The Planning Commis-
sion will also consider pro-
hibiting homestay lodging
in low-density residential
areas. Currently, home-
owners in those areas can
apply for licenses to rent
bedrooms in their homes to
tourists.
Leatherman said the
amendment is in line with
recommendations made in
the county housing study
and addresses concerns
the city has heard from
residents.
However, she said some
stakeholders in the business
community said they prefer
people have the opportu-
nity to use homestay lodg-
ing as a way to subsidize
the cost of buying a home.
Another amendment that
will be considered is making
hotels in commercial zones
along the Columbia River
and Port of Astoria condi-
tional use instead of per-
mitted outright. The change
would allow the public to
have the opportunity to
weigh in prior to a building
permit being issued.
“I think it makes more
sense for this community
that we involve the public
in the hotel constructions,”
Leatherman said, adding
that it is standard in other
cities.
The Planning Com-
mission will review and
weigh in on all the pro-
posed amendments prior to
review by the City Council.