The
Columbia
Press
Celebrating
our
100th year
• 1922-2022
1
50 ¢
February 25, 2022
503-861-3331
Vol. 6, Issue 8
Fixing the disconnect along the Oregon Coast Trail
The Columbia Press
The state is working on a plan to improve con-
nections along the Oregon Coast Trail.
The trail stretches the entire 362 miles of Or-
egon coastline, from border to border, offering
hikers spectacular coastal vistas, lush forests and
recreational opportunities.
Most of the trail is on sandy beaches, with sec-
tions of overland trail across headlands, forests,
rivers, and through some of the coast’s 28 cities.
Unfortunately, about 10 percent of the trail is
disconnected, inconvenient, unsafe or inaccessi-
ble — mainly where the route requires hiking on
the shoulder of Highway 101 or where it follows
county roads and local streets.
In Clatsop County, disconnected areas are be-
tween Gearhart and Seaside, between Ecola
Beach and the city of Cannon Beach, and a small
area just north of the tunnel at Arch Cape.
Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is
leading the effort to close the gaps in partnership
with the Federal Highway Administration, As-
sociation of Oregon Counties, and Oregon Solu-
tions at Portland State University.
The plan will identify gaps in the hiking experi-
ence and determine actions and funding needed
to improve and maintain the trail over time.
The idea is to improve safety, access and con-
venience.
The parks agency hosted online open houses
See ‘Trail’ on Page 6
By Cindy Yingst
The Columbia Press
Above: A
forested
section
along the
Oregon
Coast Trail.
Left: Three
sections
that need
improve-
ment are
in Clatsop
County.
Oregon State
Parks
Cemetery lore grows after discovery of old marker
By Cindy Yingst
The Columbia Press
Interest in Clatsop County’s first
cemetery simply won’t die after the
discovery last month of what appears
to be an original artifact – the entry
sign carved more than a century ago.
“It has developed a life of its own,”
City Commissioner Rick Newton said
at Tuesday night’s commission meet-
ing. Newton found the sign while
walking through the abandoned site
near his home with historian Bob Ell-
sberg and his wife, Claudia.
A portion of the marker found last
month at the old cemetery site.
Warrenton to
sell two surplus
properties
There was speculation about who
might have been involved in design-
ing either the abandoned Clatsop
County Cemetery or its 1898 replace-
ment, Ocean View Cemetery, which
lies directly to the south. Both parcels
are within Warrenton’s city limits,
but owned by the city of Astoria.
While famed landscape architect
Frederick Law Olmsted designed
Central Park in New York City – and
thousands of parks and public areas
throughout the country, including
See ‘Cemetery’ on Page 6
Warrenton city commissioners ap-
proved the sale of two pieces of land
deemed “better suited to private own-
ership.”
The properties, a .41-acre lot on Ga-
lena Street and a 5,000-square-foot
commercial parcel at Warrenton Ma-
rina, would be sold through the bro-
ker hired by the city earlier this year,
former City Commissioner Pam Ack-
ley.
The city received unsolicited offers
on both properties, City Manager
Linda Engbretson told commission-
ers Tuesday night.
The Galena Street property is va-
cant and the city will ask $60,000.
The marina property, at 848 N.E.
First Court, also is vacant. It former-
ly had been leased to a commercial
fisherman who’d built a large metal
storage building on the site. Upon his
retirement in 2008, the fisherman
rented it to another fishing operator
in violation of the lease.
The metal storage building on the
property was stuffed with fishing
equipment when it caught fire and
burned to the ground in November
2018.
Suggested market value of the mari-
na property is $45,000.
While the city had arranged a public
hearing on the sales Tuesday night,
no members of the public spoke on
the plan.
Both sales fall below the thresh-
old established in Chapter 11 of the
city’s charter, which requires a pub-
lic vote on the sale of assets valued
at $100,000 or more in 2014 dollars
See ‘Property’ on Page 4