KALA - HIPFiSHmonthly

Just a Guyand a CameraA Walking Tour ofthe Astoria Waterfront2Starting our tour on the Astoria Riverwalkat Pier 39 and walking west,we pass sites along the way that havechanged recently, are in the midst ofchange, or are about to change, as developmentpicks up steam after a 2/3 yearlull. Please refer to the map for locationsof the featured sites below. And enjoyyour walk along thebeautiful Astoria peninsulawaterfront!7by Bob GoldbergWorkforce and Senior HousingDevelopment in the Mill Pond Area81Hampton InnDuring the visioningexercise for developmentalong the Astoria riverfront,permits for this hotel wereobtained, and when the plan wasadopted by the city council, itwas grandfathered in. After manydelays, ground was broken for thislatest "brick" in the "wall" of condoand hotel developments along thewaterfront that intially prompted65residents to petition the city councilfor a moratorium on developmentuntil zoning had been changed toreflect the desires of the majority.Times have changed, and mostare either ambivalent or supportthe development. Floyd Holcom,owner of the Pier 39 development,recently sold the propertybetween 37th and 39th Streetsand Leif Ericson Drive and the riverto the hotel's developers, and thehotel will be built in the northeastportion of that property. The RVpark will remain for the time being,432according to Brett Estes, directorof the Community Developmentdepartment in Astoria.Elizabeth Menetrey, one of theoriginal petitioners for a moratorium,and a member of the visioncommittee that oversaw the planningprocess, said of the plannedhotel, "I got a stomach ache lookingat the drawing of the upcomingHilton Hotel. I didn't think of it asbeing so close to the river... I amespecially interested in the setbackfrom the Riverwalk. The thing lookshuge!"1910Construction of a 4-5 storyapartment building for “workforcehousing”, a fancy way of sayinglow-income housing, is under way,and the building is expected toopen in the fall of this year. Itis supposed to supply a need forhousing for workers at varioustourist and other local industriesthat can’t afford the beautiful oldVictorians in Astoria. It sits rightnext to the recently built seniorhousing on Marine Drive. A coolfeature of this building is an associatedplayground area, given thatit is supposed to be for families. Apark on the corner to the east ofthe development will stay.Directly north of the workforcehousing, work has begun onanother unit of affordable seniorhousing, another vast need in thearea. This building is expected tobe similar to the design of theexisting senior housing next door.According to Estes, the nursinghome facility associated withClatsop Care that was slated to bebuilt west of all this constructionon Marine Drive has been delayeddue to funding considerations.3Darigold Building removaland future city parkThe building that until recently housed the Clatsop Community ActionRegional Food Bank, called the Darigold Building, and formerly serving as abaggage center (the Railway Express Agency) for the train depot next door,is gone. In a bow to the historic preservation program at Clatsop CommunityCollege and local recycling activists, much of the building materials havebeen removed intact, for use in other building projects.A small city park/open space area was one of the elements of the RiverfrontVision Plan that was fought for by local activists, and is to be locatedin this general area of the waterfront. According to Estes, this park is stillon, but details have not been discussed by the city council or city staff yet.The removal of the Darigold Building will allow this open space area to havebetter access, according to Estes. Code changes to the area in the RiverfrontVision Plan labeled the Civic Greenway (from the Maritime Museum toPier 39) to allow for this park, as well as other development in this area, isa goal of the Astoria City Council for the coming year, Estes told me.july11 hipfishmonthly.com10