The Columbia Press
1
50 ¢
www.thecolumbiapress.com
November 20, 2020
Vol. 4, Issue 47
Appeal of Pacific Port’s hopes build for industrial park at airport
Seafood housing
By Cindy Yingst
The Columbia Press
extension denied
Nothing is quick when it comes to
By Cindy Yingst
The Columbia Press
A man who lives next to a planned dor-
mitory for workers at the Pacific Seafoods
plant has lost an appeal of the city’s deci-
sion to extend the company’s construction
timeline.
“I’m not opposed to them having that
housing,” Scott Widdicombe said after
the meeting. “I’m opposed to the way they
want to do it.”
A year ago, Warrenton’s Planning Com-
mission approved the company’s request
to turn a 27,750-square-foot former metal
fabrication building at 1815 N.W. Warren-
ton Drive into employee housing. At the
time, the company had said it was nearly
impossible to find enough places to house
its seasonal workforce.
But the commission’s approval and initial
site development review was good for only
one year.
The property has restrictions because it’s
in a water-dependent industrial shorelands
zone and language was added to city codes
allowing dorms for water-dependent busi-
nesses as a conditional use there.
But the project has been delayed by the
Source: City of Warrenton
Above: A schematic of the proposed Scoular seafood processing plant with
selected paint colors and self-contained drive-in bays for offloading fish parts.
Below: An aerial shot of the plant’s location in the Airport Industrial Park and
its proximity to Astoria Regional Airport.
Astoria Regional
Airport
Proposed
Scoular plant
Rowney
Airport Road
Airport
Industrial Park
Wortmann
See ‘Pac. Seafoods’ on Page 4
construction. The adage certainly
applies to plans for a fishmeal plant
near the airport.
Concerns about capacity at War-
renton’s wastewater treatment
plant and whether the business
would attract birds that could pose
flight-safety hazards continue to
plague the Scoular company’s plans.
Time is of the essence, company
officials have said, because they’d
like to begin processing fish by July.
The Scoular plant is a key com-
ponent of the Port of Astoria’s
as-yet-undeveloped Airport Indus-
trial Park, expected to ensure the
airport becomes financially self-sus-
taining.
But, during their Nov. 12 meeting,
Warrenton planning commissioners
declined to approve the plant’s de-
sign.
Interim City Planner Mark Barnes
told the commission the company
hadn’t convinced the city it won’t
overtax the treatment plant.
“The capacity issue of this devel-
See ‘Scoular’ on Page 6
VA doctor’s lung cancer assessment idea gives him medical ‘Shark Tank’ win
The Columbia Press
and news services
Those who enjoy the TV show
“Shark Tank” may be interested to
learn the Veterans Administration
has a similar program to boost and
fund encouraging new medical re-
search ideas nationwide.
This year, the VA’s annual version
of Shark Tank gave the top prize to a
team from VA Portland Health Care
System. There were more than 400
VA health innovators in the competi-
tion from across the country.
The Portland team was led by Dr.
Christopher Slatore, who created a
centralized lung cancer screening
program designed to save veterans’
lives by identifying and treating early
stage lung cancer sooner. Their idea
will be deployed to veteran facilities
nationwide.
Slatore is a pulmonary/critical care
physician and director of research
education at the Portland VA’s Cen-
ter to Improve Veteran Involvement
in Care.
Slatore’s idea – to offer tests for lung
cancer to all veterans when they come
in for other reasons -- began with one
primary care provider in Portland
and gradually grew to capacity. Now,
almost all veterans cared for at VA
Portland’s 12 sites are systematical-
ly assessed and offered lung cancer
screening.
VA leaders in the Shark Tank com-
petition gave him one of the highest
vote totals ever because of the way
it will save money and save lives
overall.
Lung cancer is the No. 1 cause
of cancer-related deaths for vet-
erans because of their exposures
to cigarette smoke and occupa-
tional hazards in the military. The
lung cancer screening program pro-
vides veterans with a highly inclu-
sive, safe, veteran-centric process
that minimizes the burden for prima-
ry care providers and increases ac-
cess to life-saving annual lung cancer
screenings, VA officials said.
See ‘Shark Tank’ on Page 4