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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2018)
May 18, 2018 T he C olumbia P ress 5 Mayor leads county’s housing study task force, which began work this month Warrenton Mayor initiatives that may Henry Balensifer will encourage more pro- serve as chairman for duction of needed a housing study con- housing types, as well ducted by the county as recommendations and area cities. on building partner- “It’s an ambitious ships and capaci- project aimed at scru- Balensifer ty-building strategies. tinizing and finding The goal is to help potential solutions to the re- policy-makers and officials gion’s housing crisis,” wrote understand the type, size, lo- Tom Bennett, Community cation and price of housing Relations coordinator for the needed to meet current and county. future needs, as well as mar- The technical advisory com- ket forces, regulations and lo- mittee held its first meeting cal barriers that impact hous- May 7 with representatives ing development. from Johnson Economics, The study – funded with a Portland consulting firm $50,000 from the county and hired to lead the Clatsop $10,000 each from the cities County Comprehensive of Astoria, Cannon Beach, Housing Study. Gearhart, Seaside and War- The 20-member advisory renton – is slated for comple- panel includes representa- tion in November. tives from Clatsop County The project will include and its cities, as well as Clat- opportunities for public in- sop Economic Development volvement, including an open Resources (CEDR), North- house and an online survey. west Oregon Housing Au- Meetings of the technical ad- thority, Clatsop Community visory committee also will be Action and the local construc- open to the public. tion industry. Up-to-date information on The study will profile and the project will be posted on analyze the current county- the Clatsop County website, wide housing supply, exam- www.co.clatsop.or.us. ine housing and demographic In addition to Balensifer, trends and develop projec- committee members are tions, review existing plans Brandon Ogilvie, Cannon and data and evaluate hous- Beach; Cameron Moore, ing goals, policies and codes. county manager; Gail Hen- The completed document rikson, county Community will include proposals for Development director; Brett Estes, Astoria city manager; Mark Barnes, Cannon Beach’s planning director; Seth Mor- risey, Seaside city council member; Matt Brown, Gear- hart mayor; Russ Taggart, Gearhart planning commis- sioner; Kevin Leahy, CEDR; Todd Johnston, Northwest Oregon Housing Authority; Elaine Bruce, Clatsop Com- munity Action; Patrick Wing- ard, Oregon Department of Land Conservation and De- velopment; and property de- velopers and residents of the county’s cities, Gil Gramson, Richard Krueger, Donny Lee, Cary Johnson, Jason Palm- berg, Herb Florer and Dan Jessie.
