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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Astoria City Council Meeting Summary: August 5, 2025

City Council & Commissions — Tuesday, August 5, 2025

BodyAstoria, Oregon

SessionCity Council & Commissions

DateTuesday, August 5, 2025

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 1:47:46

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:23

Well, good evening and welcome to the Monday, August 4th, 2025 meeting of the Astoria City Council.

0:30

City Manager Spence, could you lead us in the pledge, please?

0:38

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

0:44

We sustained one nation under God.

0:52

Thank you, Mr.

0:53

Spence.

0:54

And if we could have a roll call, please.

0:57

Councilor Davis.

0:58

Here, Councillor Mazzarella.

1:00

Here.

1:00

Counselor Adams.

1:01

Counselor Lump.

1:02

Here.

1:02

Mayor Fitzpatrick.

1:04

Here.

1:06

So we will we will start with reports of counselors this evening.

1:12

And that would be you this evening, Counselor Davis.

1:16

Mayor, I don't think outside of outside of a crest meeting.

1:22

I don't think I've got anything to report on.

1:23

And there was not major business in that meeting this time around.

1:27

So I'm happy for us to move on to business because I know we've got a full agenda and two meetings tonight.

1:34

Great.

1:34

Thank you.

1:35

Thank you.

1:36

Counselor Mazarello.

1:38

Thank you.

1:38

I also don't have any any new exciting business to report.

1:42

All right.

1:45

Counselor Adams.

1:47

Thank you, Mayor.

1:47

Good evening, everyone.

1:48

I have a few items to attend to.

1:51

Uh and also I'd like to uh have some new business to discuss at the end of our meeting.

1:56

And that's regarding Young's River Falls and the tragic fatality that was experienced recently out at the falls as a property that is owned by the city.

2:07

It was very surprising for a lot of people to understand and realize that the county does not own that property.

2:12

That's something that is a city-owned property.

2:15

Um and there was a petition that was been circulating online.

2:21

Uh has over 800 signatures, uh, really requesting the city to address uh looking at proper signage that would continue to deter people from jumping uh from the falls at any area.

2:38

Um as locals, I think we've all those of us who are locals, we've known and seen the significant impact uh that injury and death has caused people who have jumped from the falls at different places.

2:52

Um so I I'd like to bring that up in new business and talk about um there's a community member who is someone who unfortunately has experienced falling uh from the falls and uh how it has changed her life and she has made it her mission to work with the city to figure out how we can have the proper signage that does more than just deter through warning and potentially through uh alerting that death will occur if someone does decide to jump off the falls.

3:24

I think there's a distinction between a real warning and um helping people really understand the significant um impact of their decision.

3:33

Um I have more.

3:36

Yes.

3:36

Thank you, Mayor.

3:38

I also attended Representative Javity's town hall uh down at the port.

3:42

And there was a couple items to note that were brought up by constituents.

3:48

Um and just reminding also, you know, my colleagues here that we are constituents also as a city of of Representative Javity.

3:55

And the two items that I noticed were um the confusion still over the hospital expansion and what the community really understands about the hospital expansion and what it entails and the reasoning behind the expansion and the reasoning behind um the legislature allocating additional funding to CMH.

4:16

So that was one piece.

4:18

And then also the second uh item was just health care in general.

4:22

A lot of people really concerned about Medicaid and Medicare uh benefits for people and the potential impacts that are coming forward.

4:31

So those were two important things to note.

4:33

I also did have some conversation with some local businesses just on the continued um issues around enforcement and issues with um crime and issues with how to work with police properly in order to uh get the right result that they need.

4:57

Uh and that is all I have to share today.

5:00

Thank you.

5:01

Great.

5:01

Thank you, Counselor.

5:03

Counselor Lump.

5:04

Thank you, Mayor.

5:06

So I just want to touch on a meeting I had that was set up by a community member Stuart Emmons, who happens to be in our audience tonight.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Affordable Housing██████████████████████████████████34%

Public Safety█████████9%

Procedural████████8%

Water And Wastewater Management███████7%

Land Use Planning███████7%

Environmental Protection██████6%

Public Engagement██████6%

Parking Management█████5%

Historic Preservation█████5%

Summary of Proceedings

Astoria City Council Meeting – August 5, 2025

The Astoria City Council met for a regular meeting. The agenda and minutes list the start as Monday, August 4, 2025 at 6:00 PM and adjournment at 7:52 PM, with a five-minute recess from 6:59 PM to 7:05 PM; per the user-specified date, this summary uses August 5, 2025. The Council approved a consent calendar, authorized two forestry/carbon contracts, awarded a water treatment construction contract, approved two housing planning grant actions, and discussed a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for housing opportunity sites. A work session was scheduled to follow the meeting.

Opening Reports

Councilor Adams said a recent fatal incident at Youngs River Falls (a city-owned property) prompted a petition with over 800 signatures requesting better safety signage; she asked the Council to consider directing staff to study options.
Councilor Lump reported on Oregon House Bill 3145, which sets aside state funds for modular housing; he said Astoria could be a candidate for a fully grant-funded project, possibly 16 low-cost units.
Mayor Fitzpatrick noted the 235th anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard and said he would raise concerns about Outlook email filtering/junk mail in new business.

Consent Calendar

The Council approved the consent agenda unanimously (5-0). No councilor requested removal and no public removal requests had been received.
Approved items included draft City Council minutes from April 21, 2025; Work Session minutes from April 28, 2025; Budget Committee draft minutes; and Parks Advisory Board draft minutes from July 23.

Contracts and Grants Approved (Regular Agenda 7.a–7.d)

7.a Springboard Forestry: Authorized a FY 25/26 forestry stewardship consulting contract for $68,500 (5-0). City Manager Scott Spence said Springboard has served as the city forester since 2015; scope includes strategic timber harvest, forest road inventory, and carbon project assistance.
7.b L&C Carbon: Authorized a $70,000 contract for the 2025 Bear Creek Forest Carbon Project (5-0). The 2020 credit sale generated just over $837,000 net; a new verification could confirm about 40,000 additional credits, with net revenue estimated at $400,000 to $600,000. City Forester Ben Hayes clarified that two additional contracts—verification services and field data collection—are still to come.
7.c Big River Construction: Awarded the 2025 Slow Sand Filter Resanding Project contract for $2,548,900 (5-0). The last resanding cost about $1.5 million; the city has about $2 million in reserves, with remaining funds coming from Public Works funds. Construction is expected to start in November 2025 and take about two years, replacing sand in all four filters one at a time. Councilor Davis raised concerns about strain on the Public Works Improvement Fund; city staff said the fund is monitored monthly and the project is a drinking-water priority.
7.d DLCD Housing Planning Actions: Approved a resolution supporting the required DLCD Housing Capacity Analysis grant (motion by Davis, second by Lump; 5-0). Also approved a letter of support for the Regional Housing Task Force Housing Opportunity Analysis grant to DLCD (motion by Mazzarella, second by Adams; 5-0). Spence said DLCD confirmed the city remains subject to the state mandate even if the population has dropped below 10,000; Mayor Fitzpatrick cited official census figure of 10,146 and disagreed with the state's medium-sized city designation.

Discussion Item: Housing Opportunity Sites RFEI (7.e)

Community Development Director John Roberts and Clatsop County Housing Manager Elissa Gertler presented a draft RFEI to test market interest in two sites: the Customs House site (about one acre, potential cottage cluster of 4–12 units, includes a 1994 historic resource) and the Darigold site (county-owned, four to five stories, 60% AMI-to-market-rate mix, 45-foot height limit with possible 55 feet, and roughly 33 county fleet parking spaces).
Councilors generally supported the RFEI approach. Councilor Lump asked that cottage clusters be de-emphasized in favor of maximizing units and advocated flexibility on ground-floor commercial and parking requirements. Councilor Adams urged outreach to the Latinx community and interest in concepts such as bike parking and reduced car parking. Councilor Davis supported parking flexibility at both sites and asked how creative alternative proposals would be reviewed. Mayor Fitzpatrick suggested cottage unit sizes around 750–1,250 square feet, two-story units at the back, land leases, and ironclad deed restrictions; he also highlighted that the Darigold parking lot is subgrade, which he said is a major cost advantage for developers.
Staff said the comments would be incorporated into the final RFEI. No vote was taken on 7.e; it was an informational/discussion item.

Public Comments & Testimony

No public comments were offered on 7.a, 7.b, or 7.c.
Lisa Morley (Alder Brook neighborhood) challenged the city's census-based housing mandate, asserting the population is under 10,000 and that infrastructure problems should be fixed first. On the RFEI, she liked the Darigold proposal but raised concerns about the tsunami zone, questioned whether a housing crisis is proven, and opposed deed restrictions/resale limits.
Daniel Hubner (1846 Street) thanked the Council for a recent work session with the sheriff and judge, strongly supported Councilor Mazzarella's view that criminalizing street camping without accessible alternatives is ineffective and immoral, and criticized Mayor Fitzpatrick's approach to that issue.
Rodney Camburg (82967 Highway 53) described the impact of his daughter's fall at Youngs River Falls, said signage should be everywhere, not just at the parking lot, and offered community fundraising support.
Katie Camburg (St. Helens, 225 Gable Road) recounted severe injuries from jumping at age 15, advocated a memorial listing lives lost at the falls, said warnings/signage have not worked, and stated the community is ready to pay for it. She noted interviews with Fox 12 and the Daily Astorian.

New Business and Non-Agenda Items

Councilor Adams asked staff to explore measures beyond warning signs at Youngs River Falls. City Manager Spence said he and Parks Director Jonah Dart-McLean have discussed reviewing current signage and will report back to the Council.
City Manager Spence previewed the August 18 meeting: a Recology transfer-station recycling agreement, budget audit presentation, an intergovernmental agreement with the school district for shared facilities, and an executive session on pending litigation.
Mayor Fitzpatrick warned about a phishing email purporting to be from him, advised that official emails end in astoria.gov, and complained that Outlook misclassifies city and constituent emails as junk.

Key Outcomes

Consent calendar approved 5-0.
Springboard Forestry contract authorized 5-0 ($68,500).
L&C Carbon contract authorized 5-0 ($70,000).
Big River Construction contract awarded 5-0 ($2,548,900).
DLCD Housing Capacity Analysis resolution approved 5-0.
Regional Housing Opportunity Analysis letter of support approved 5-0.
RFEI: no formal vote; staff will revise the draft using Council and public feedback.
Youngs River Falls: staff directed to review signage and return with recommendations; no formal vote.
Next regular meeting/session items listed for August 18 include Recology, budget audit, school district IGA, and executive session.

Meeting Transcript

Well, good evening and welcome to the Monday, August 4th, 2025 meeting of the Astoria City Council. City Manager Spence, could you lead us in the pledge, please? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. We sustained one nation under God. Thank you, Mr. Spence. And if we could have a roll call, please. Councilor Davis. Here, Councillor Mazzarella. Here. Counselor Adams. Counselor Lump. Here. Mayor Fitzpatrick. Here. So we will we will start with reports of counselors this evening. And that would be you this evening, Counselor Davis. Mayor, I don't think outside of outside of a crest meeting. I don't think I've got anything to report on. And there was not major business in that meeting this time around. So I'm happy for us to move on to business because I know we've got a full agenda and two meetings tonight. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Counselor Mazarello. Thank you. I also don't have any any new exciting business to report. All right. Counselor Adams. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everyone. I have a few items to attend to. Uh and also I'd like to uh have some new business to discuss at the end of our meeting. And that's regarding Young's River Falls and the tragic fatality that was experienced recently out at the falls as a property that is owned by the city. It was very surprising for a lot of people to understand and realize that the county does not own that property. That's something that is a city-owned property. Um and there was a petition that was been circulating online. Uh has over 800 signatures, uh, really requesting the city to address uh looking at proper signage that would continue to deter people from jumping uh from the falls at any area. Um as locals, I think we've all those of us who are locals, we've known and seen the significant impact uh that injury and death has caused people who have jumped from the falls at different places. Um so I I'd like to bring that up in new business and talk about um there's a community member who is someone who unfortunately has experienced falling uh from the falls and uh how it has changed her life and she has made it her mission to work with the city to figure out how we can have the proper signage that does more than just deter through warning and potentially through uh alerting that death will occur if someone does decide to jump off the falls. I think there's a distinction between a real warning and um helping people really understand the significant um impact of their decision. Um I have more. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. I also attended Representative Javity's town hall uh down at the port. And there was a couple items to note that were brought up by constituents. Um and just reminding also, you know, my colleagues here that we are constituents also as a city of of Representative Javity. And the two items that I noticed were um the confusion still over the hospital expansion and what the community really understands about the hospital expansion and what it entails and the reasoning behind the expansion and the reasoning behind um the legislature allocating additional funding to CMH. So that was one piece. And then also the second uh item was just health care in general.

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