The Astoria City Council held a regular meeting on March 2, 2026, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers. The meeting featured presentations from three local organizations, approval of the consent calendar, discussions on a proposed System Development Charge (SDC) deferral program and a Coast Guard lease amendment, public comments, and an executive session. The Baker Tilly audit presentation was rescheduled to April.
SDC Deferral Program: City Manager Scott Spence introduced the discussion, which originated from a request by Councilor Davis and Councilor Mazzarella. Staff recommended a pilot program, limiting eligibility to affordable or workforce housing projects with 10+ units, and evaluating administrative impacts. Councilors debated the merits: Councilor Davis emphasized reducing carrying costs for developers, Councilor Mazzarella supported easing burdens for small businesses, Councilor Conklin favored a pilot and opposed restricting to housing only, and Councilor Adams called for clear definitions of “workforce housing” and “public benefit.” Community Development Director John Roberts cautioned that SDC deferral programs are staff-intensive and noted Astoria has over 520 outstanding temporary certificates of occupancy (TCOs), which could complicate collection. Public comment from Jim Spence suggested requiring letters of credit as security. Council directed staff to develop an ordinance for a limited pilot program (initially two projects) and report back by May 2026.
Coast Guard Lease Amendment (SLA No. 13): City Manager Spence explained that the amendment returns approximately 40 parking spaces near the Astoria Armory to city control, reflecting the Coast Guard’s reduced parking needs following the transition to Fast Response Cutters. The annual rent will decrease by $13,000 (from $245,000). Councilors supported the move, with Councilor Conklin suggesting time limits for parking, Councilor Adams clarifying the lot’s full city control, and Councilor Davis encouraging creative use for DHS employees, residents, and downtown businesses. The motion to authorize the city manager to execute the amendment passed 5-0.
Good evening and welcome to the Monday, March 2nd, 2026 meeting of the Australia City Council. For the record, the time is 6 p.m. Mr. Spence, could you lead us in the pledge? We'd ask that you please rise if you are willing and able. Pledge allegiance. And two substantials. One nation under God. Thank you, Mr. Spence. If we could have a roll call, please. Councilor Davis. Here. Councilor Mazzarello. Counselor Adams. Here. Counselor Conklin. Here. Mayor Fitzpatrick. Here. So tonight we are starting with presentations. And our first presentation will be from the Australia Downtown Historic District Association. And their executive director, Quinn Hayes, is with us this evening. Mr. Hayes. Good evening. All right. Mayor Fitzpatrick, City Councillors, City Manager Scott Spence, assembled city staff, and guests all. For those of you who don't know me, as you said, I'm Quinn Hayes, the executive director for the Astoria Downtown Historic District Association. Upon your request, I am going to give you guys a brief overview, sort of of what we have been up to in the last year and kind of what we're looking forward to in 2026. I'll brief uh briefly touch on uh our use of the promote Astoria Fund as well. Um there's a lovely picture from our um we love Downtown Historia photo contest from last year. That was our winning photo. Let me see, is that working? Ah. So here are just a few highlights of last year. Last year we were the recipient of a main street revitalization grant in the amount of 400,000 to go towards the Copeland Commons project. That number pushes us uh just shy of one million dollars in restoration grant money. The ADHDA has helped bring in in the last 10 years uh for restorations of facades, roof, you know, you name it. Um, and those projects range from the Liberty Theater to the Merwin next door, um, and so on. Uh these last two years, actually, uh, the gross vendor sales at our Astoria Sunday Market have topped two million dollars throughout the entire season collectively for all the vendors. Um that's something we're really proud of. Uh our Sunday market is a great chance for our local economy uh to incubate new businesses, test out their model. Uh, and a lot of those make the jump to brick and mortar, as we saw this last year with one of our previous uh Sunday market vendors who uh have now just opened their new restaurant civil. So we're very proud of that. We were named a semifinalist this last year for the Great American Main Street Award through Main Street America. We were one of I believe seven communities nationwide that were honored with that uh designation. And we've hosted seven community-based events throughout the year, in addition to our normal events that we run through the year, like Sunday Market and Art Walk. These included things like uh Zero K Marathon and C Lion Calling Contest that were all new events that we started in this last year. There were this last year was a big year for change for the uh staff of the ADHDA.