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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 2018)
T he C olumbia P ress 1 50 ¢ C latsop C ounty ’ s I ndependent W eekly n eWspaper www.thecolumbiapress.com Project to get unified plan May 4, 2018 Vol. 2, Issue 18 Warrenton’s ROV teams win top prizes at state meet B y C indy y ingst Property near Home Depot would become mixed-use development The Columbia Press B y C indy y ingst The Columbia Press A large chunk of vacant land near Home Depot could be the perfect spot for a commercial center with a singular design concept. “Whatever happens here is going to be a benefit to the community,” said Ken Yuill, one of 22 property owners who’d like to see their land and the land around them develop in an or- derly way. They’ve approached the city about changing the zoning on the various parcels to commercial mixed-use, which would allow a combination of houses, apartments, businesses and other commercial ventures. Current- ly it is zoned R10, for single-family homes on mid-sized lots. Last week, the city applied for a state grant to help design a unified project. “It’s a program I’ve used for the last 20 years,” Kevin Cronin, Warrenton’s interim planning director, said of the Transportation and Growth Manage- ment Quick Response Program grant. The project is between Highway 101 and Alternate Highway 101, roughly between Ocean Crest Chevrolet and Home Depot. The idea for the “Spur 104” project, as Yuill calls it, stems from the 1990s, when the area’s property owners pe- titioned the city to extend the sewer to their neighborhood. Residents and the city split the costs and, once the sewer was put in, it opened the area for new development, including Home Depot, Warrenton Highlands and Lum’s Auto. Courtesy Josh Jannusch Warrenton school district’s underwater robotics teams -- one elementary level and one middle-school level -- pose outside the Lincoln City Com- munity Center after winning first and second place respectively in the state Marine Advanced Technology Education Remotely Operated Vehicle competition. Warrenton is tops in robots. Espe- cially the underwater variety. It may seem an unlikely distinc- tion, but the two teams Warrenton sent to last weekend’s statewide competition walked away with first and second place. The Marine Advanced Technology Education Remotely Operated Vehi- cle competition was held in Lincoln City. Twenty-two teams from around the state competed. “They had some really good suc- cess,” said Josh Jannusch, a War- renton High School vice principal and the regional STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) coordinator. One team from the district entered last year and did well, so the coaches decided to open it up to more stu- dents on two teams. “They were overwhelmed by the See ‘ROV’ on Page 3 Park brought $16.8 million to local economy, report says Fort Clatsop supported 260 local jobs last year The Columbia Press and news reports A new National Park Service report shows that 293,000 people visited Lewis and Clark National Historical Park in 2017. And those visitors spent $16.8 mil- lion in Clatsop County. That spending supported 260 local jobs and created a cumulative benefit to the local econ- omy of $23.9 million, park officials reported. “Just as Lewis and Clark trekked many miles to get to their winter See ‘Spur 104’ on Page 5 quarters at Fort Clatsop, visitors walk in their footsteps to the sites that are preserved today in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park,” Superin- tendent Jon Burpee said. “With our partners, we share the story of the Corps of Discovery and protect the 3,410 acres of this inspir- ing landscape for the enjoyment of our visitors,” he said. The park serves as a gateway for vis- itors headed to all the other historic destinations in the Lower Columbia basin. “National park tourism is a signif- icant driver in the national econ- omy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Ser- vice,” Burpee said. “And it’s a big factor in the area economy as well.” The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by econo- mists Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service. Nationally, the report shows $18.2 billion of direct spending by more than 330 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a na- tional park. The spending supported 306,000 jobs nationally; 255,900 of those jobs are found in these gateway commu- nities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $35.8 billion, park of- ficials said. The lodging sector received the See ‘National Park’ on Page 4
