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.