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