T he C olumbia P ress
1
C latsop C ounty ’ s I ndependent W eekly n eWspaper
50 ¢
September 8, 2017
What’s next in
the city’s 2017
growth scheme
Vol. 1, Issue 36
Voters will get a say on low-income housing
B y C indy y ingst
The Columbia Press
A large piece of land be-
hind City Hall is the perfect
spot for a low-income hous-
ing development with lots
of green space and perhaps
a second dog park.
Now the town’s voters
must be convinced of the
plan and a builder enticed
to make the dream come
true.
The City Commission – in
its role as the Warrenton
Urban Renewal Agency --
met Wednesday afternoon
Above: A group
with members of the agen-
playing Pokemon
Go gathers in what cy’s advisory panel to devise
a plan for the next decade.
will become a me-
morial park adjacent They talked about a mul-
titude of ideas, including
to the post office
and Dairy Maid.
landscaping and other im-
Left: Voters will
provements to the four-way
decide what to do
stop at the heart of town.
with a large piece of
And they decided to place
land between City
the low-income housing de-
Hall and Robinson
velopment on the ballot in
Park.
The Columbia Press
Warrenton is king in 2017… at least
when it comes to growth.
Residents can expect some chang-
es as more than 450 expected new
homes are built in the year ahead and
hundreds more in the next decade.
Already it’s set up as the shopping
hub, with WalMart, Home Depot,
Costco and other large stores estab-
lished or in the works.
Natural Grocers is on its way to
Youngs Bay Plaza with expectations
of opening in May.
Here’s a status update on various
development and business issues fac-
ing the city.
• Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Ber-
gin has agreed to act as facilitator
for a meeting between the city of
Warrenton and the Skipanon Water
Control District. The two groups have
tussled over ownership of the Eighth
See ‘Growth’ on Page 3
the spring.
The city owns the land.
Selling it would bring in a
good chunk of money.
Measure 4-181, which was
passed by voters in 2015,
requires the city to get ap-
proval from residents be-
fore selling off assets worth
$100,000 or more.
Those tasked with decid-
ing the best way to spend
urban renewal funds decid-
ed unanimously the hous-
ing project fits in with ur-
ban renewal goals.
Urban renewal is the pro-
cess of fixing older neigh-
borhoods, improving eco-
nomic stability and making
the city a better place to
live.
The first decade for the
10-year-old Warrenton Ur-
ban Renewal Agency was
spent primarily fixing War-
renton Marina. Now the
docks are complete, a new
See ‘Renewal’ on Page 4
Stopping the wind from messing with our recyclables
The Columbia Press
Wind latches can prevent recycle bin lids
from flying open.
The winds are coming. And, with
them, the inevitable strewn trash and
recyclables.
Instead of dreading trash day, War-
renton residents have a simple solu-
tion to keep their recyclables in the
bin.
The city has an arrangement with
Recology to provide wind latches for
free to any Warrenton resident who
asks.
Those who live outside city limits
can get them for $15.
“Wind latches play an important
part in helping keep our streets and
neighborhoods clean and attractive,”
said Mayor Henry Balensifer, who
has brought the latches up at several
recent City Commission meetings.
“It’s hard to recycle when the win-
ter winds come through, tip your can
over and scatter everything all over
your neighborhood and road. The
cans are top-heavy as is, and filling it
with empty plastic doesn’t provide a
lot of weight for it to stay upright.”
Because residents who work put the
can out before leaving in the morning,
they might sit for hours before being
dumped, adding to the problem.
Balensifer and Commissioner Mark
Baldwin – during his first stint on the
City Commission – joined forces to
require the contracted recycling ser-
vice to come up with a solution for
the tip-prone bins.
“They (Recology) had to come up
with the solution … because they had
notified the city they would no longer
service cans held down with bungees
or other home-job methods for keep-
ing the cans shut,” Balensifer said.
“This was in response to a bungee
that snapped and detached the retina
of a Recology employee.”
How do they work?
When the can is upright, the clip
falls and hooks over the edge of the
See ‘Bin latches’ on Page 5