NorthCoastOregon.com

Local News

Local Projects Impress Connect Oregon II Committee

On Friday representatives from local jurisdictions were in Tillamook to give presentations for their Connect Oregon II applications. Connect Oregon II is a follow up to Connect Oregon, which set aside 100 million in lottery proceeds to fund air, rail and seaport projects all across Oregon. Clatsop County is in Region #2, which covers a large area along the coast of Oregon and into the Mid-Willamette Valley. Under the rules of Connect Oregon II (CO2) each region receives a minimum of 10 million dollars for non-highway transportation projects. Region #2 had 22 applicants that totaled nearly 50 million dollars in requests, and out of those Clatsop County submitted 5 applications totaling roughly $14 Million.

The Process

After applications are received by CO2 staff, they are reviewed by a regional Committee and each applicant gives a 10 minute long presentation. The Committee then ranks each project in the local 3 County Area (Clatsop, Tillamook, Columbia) with a numerical value, which is what happened in Tillamook on Friday. The top rated projects from each local area are then reviewed by a final Regional Committee. One thing that might benefit Clatsop County’s projects even more is a problem that the State probably never saw coming – Region #3, which includes Southern Oregon, only submitted $5.5 million dollars of funding requests, well under the 10 Million dollar minimum they are entitled to.

Jack Evans, with Connect Oregon II said that the $4.5 Million extra from Region #3 will be divided up into the 4 other Regions. “Region #3 actually submitted 2 more projects at the start, but we declared them ineligible”, he said.

Local Projects Shine

4 of the local projects are all somehow tied to the surging Cruise Ship industry:

Dock Repair on 17th Street – The City of Astoria’s only application was for repair and upgrade work on 17th Street Dock near the Maritime Museum. The Dock has been fairly busy over the last few years hosting a variety of passenger ships such as the Sea Lion, Sea Bird, Queen of the West and Empress of the North. The total requested amount is $2 Million.

Pier 2 Face Upgrade – A application from the Port of Astoria to do some dredging and work to the dock so larger ships can use it down the road. Total cost just under $1 Million.

Air Service – In a joint application between the Port of Astoria and the City of Newport, CO2 money might kick start the return of coastal Air Service. Interim Port Director Ron Larsen told the Committee that not only is this important for obvious commerce and industry reasons, but Clatsop County is unique because air service is vital to taking the local Cruise Ship industry to the next level. With air service, not only can passengers visit the area, but they can also stop and start their Cruise Travel in Astoria via airplane. Total cost $3.6 Million.

Bus/Rail Project – Sundial Travel and Sunset Empire Transportation also submitted a joint application. They plan to purchase 10 buses and property to park them in the Miles Crossing area…. Total cost $2.08 Million.

The 5th local application submitted was a helicopter project by Saddle Mountain Inc. and the Columbia River Bar Pilots. This project was probably the worst news of Friday’s Tillamook presentations where it came in #7 of all Tri-County applications, but the project still move onto the Regional Level. Total cost $5.7 Million.

The Port’s projects finished #1 and #2, with the Pier 2 Upgrade taking the top spot onto the next round. Commissioner Dan Hess said that “Staff was bouncing of the walls when they came back on Friday”. And that “it’s kinda like a beauty pageant, now our #1 project will go up against the other number 1’s around Oregon”.

The City of Astoria’s Dock Project came in #3. City Manager Paul Benoit said that there still is a long way to go. He also said that the project would involve tearing out the Dock and most likely replacing much of it with some type of steel. “That Dock has taken a beating”, he said.

The Sundial Travel/Sunset Empire Transportation application came in 4th. Bruce Conner was still very happy with the results, not only for his application, but because the local projects did so well.

Both Hess and Bruce Conner commented that Ron Larsen did an excellent job preparing and giving the presentations to the Committee.

2 Comments

Submit A Comment

Name (required)

Email (required, but not shown)

URL

Remember my personal information

Please enter the word you see in the image above: