Note on date discrepancy: The agenda, minutes, and transcript consistently list the meeting date as Monday, May 4, 2026. However, the user-provided date for this summary is May 5, 2026. This summary uses the requested date for the title and headings, but the actual meeting occurred on May 4, 2026.
The Astoria City Council met on Monday, May 4, 2026, at 6:00 PM in the 2nd Floor Council Chambers. The meeting included presentations, proclamations, consent calendar approval, and five regular agenda items. Key actions included approving a $2 million EPA grant for Heritage Square remediation, authorizing an ADA ramp project with ODOT, initiating a street vacation process for Columbia Memorial Hospital, awarding a logging contract for forest thinning, and discussing a potential rideshare ordinance.
Good evening and welcome to the Monday, May 4th, 2026 meeting of the Australia City Council. For the record, the time is 6 p.m. Mr. Spence. If we could have if if we could have you lead us in the pledge, please. Pledge of allegiance. To the Republic, which stands one nation under God. Indivisible with liberty and justice power. Thank you, Mr. Spence. And if we could have a roll call, please. Council Davis. Here. Councilor Mozzarella. Councillor Adams. Counselor Conklin. Here. Mayor Fitzpatrick. Here. So we are going to start tonight with a presentation. And our first presentation is for the Dr. Harvey Historic Preservation Award. And the historic preservation award has been presented annually since 1988. It recognizes outstanding real rehabilitation or restoration projects that honor the historic and architectural character of Astoria. The award is named for Dr. Edward Harvey, a pioneer in local historic preservation. And his early efforts included installing hand painted plaques, highlighting the history of buildings, many of which can still be seen throughout the city today. He also advocated for the creation of the Clotsap County Historic Advisory Committee and served as its chairman for many years. And at their April meeting, the Historic Landmarks Commission selected this year's awards recipients. So how many of you have seen the signs that he created and put on the different houses and buildings around town? Good. The old highway signs is kind of cool to see how he repurposed those. So the award for the best example of renovations of a historic commercial property presented to John Toyuka and Lori Lum for the restoration of the former Masonic Lodge, now known as Lum Lodge, located at 1572 Franklin Avenue. Once listed as one of Oregon's most endangered historic sites, John and Lori purchased the property in October of 2024 and began an extensive restoration project. The City of Astoria thanks you for your efforts. No, actually, Lori and I um Lori's uncle was a Mason there, my grandfather was a Mason there. And for years we worked diagonally to that building. In the 80s, he was had that building there. And so when we worked across the street, we kept watching the building. But when you're doing that, you're finding out a lot of the history too. There's a couple of different fires. Unravel a part of Asteroid's history as it goes. So it's a really interesting process. And uh we'll be done when we get our certificate of occupancy, mayor. And then uh we hoped it was a great place to serve the community, have a lot of events there, so that would be nice. I'd be definitely feel honored. Um, my parents are here. My dad was actually born in Astoria, so it means a lot to us, our community. Um, we're just very thrilled and so appreciative. So thank you very much.