Mayor Balensifer's State of the City Address

Delivered 8/13/2019 

Thank you to everyone here today and who are listening or will be reading this later. Time is the most precious of human commodities. As your mayor, I am grateful for your investment of time in your city’s government. 

In the past two years the overarching theme of most constituent comments we’ve received relate to change—that our town has changed a lot, and how do we preserve our quality and way of life amidst this explosion of growth? 

It is true. We have changed both in landscape, amenities, and demographics. While both new and cumulative changes present challenges, they also present opportunities. Tonight, I want to address the challenges, change and opportunities through an agenda that goes back to our roots, learns from the past and outlines our new Warrenton for Warrenton Agenda as the course for our future. 

In pondering how can the city create a better sense of place, I believe we have to look to our roots—how Warrenton came to be. Warrenton is a melting pot of several towns, the most recent being Hammond, and before that there were the towns of New Astoria (Hammond’s prior name), Lexington, Skipanon, Flavel, and the lost town of Yellow Bank also known as Upper Landing. All of these towns dissolved and were brought into the fold of what we know as Warrenton.  

I believe we should rediscover that rich history and celebrate it better by mapping out where these places used to be and forming heritage districts around them. Don't worry—they are not taxing districts—only neighborhood designations. It is my hope that as we form these districts, we can connect ourselves to our land and city, as well as better get to know our history. To kick off this districting plan, and in acceptance of the recommendations of the Hammond Marina Task Force, I am proud to declare our first district will be the Hammond Heritage District. Once we finalize locations in coordination with the Clatsop County Historical Society and Warrenton Historians, we will begin to map out and designate more heritage districts. Eventually I hope that within a few years we can have some community events or competitions between the districts. There was a time in history where Warrentonians gathered to compete in dance halls, cookoffs and other friendly events. We may not do all of those, but the commission has directed its boards to begin planning more community events and I support that wholeheartedly. 

As we finish phase one of the downtown Main Street revitalization efforts we will begin to work on revitalizing the downtown of the Hammond District. Currently, the reason Old Town Warrenton was prioritized is because it serves as the major focus of the Warrenton Urban Renewal Agency, which has specific restrictions on where and what projects it can invest in.  

I think we have a golden opportunity to honor the distinct differences economically and historically that our two downtowns have. The first being S. Main Avenue and the other being Pacific Drive. I am glad to see the citizens who started our Main Street Program are interested in revitalizing both. They’ve done a great job on S. Main and their new group name is perfectly suited to their goals: Spruce Up Warrenton. The city will remain in close collaboration with citizen groups not under its control such as Spruce Up Warrenton. We want to encourage citizens to take pride and ownership in their city. If we are truly going to embrace better things for ourselves, we all must be part of the change we seek—citizens and government.  

As we build a brighter, cleaner future and get in touch with our history, we will also learn from the mistakes of the past. As the city chartered its future as a regional commercial hub along Hwy 101, our downtowns withered. We created an Urban Renewal Agency, but spent most of the funds updating our marina. The current commission has taken notice of this disparity.  

As we move to implement a “Warrenton for Warrenton” agenda we must ensure that the average citizen realizes a tangible benefit from city and agency investments. Improved sidewalks, access roads, the intersection on 9th and main, and lighting for the commercial portions of S. Main are on the docket. Where funds allow, we will work towards undergrounding powerlines on a section of S Main Ave. These are all things the citizens made clear they wanted in 1995, reaffirmed in 2001 and the Commission heard loud and clear in 2018. This will require a major amendment to our Urban Renewal Plan, which requires concurrence of the majority of affected taxing districts, such as the School District, Port of Astoria and Clatsop County, but it is my hope and expectation that Warrenton’s long history of cooperation with other governments will pay off. Warrenton has been a team player in the region, and I trust others will do their part as well. 

Another issue that has cropped up is that with growth comes more people, and that often means the once natural landscape has given way to subdivisions and traffic congestion. Congestion is a relative term, as anybody who lives in a metropolitan area could attest. It is a recent addition to everyday life for our town and it is an issue the city must lend a stronger voice to. We will be more diligent in pushing ODOT, which controls all the major thoroughfares in our city. The state owns and is responsible for maintenance of SE Pacific Ave, NW Warrenton Dr., a portion of N. Main Ave, E Harbor Dr., SE Main Ave, Alternate 101/Spur 104, HWY 101, and Business 101. The state controls not only the road, but accesses to those roads. Despite the regional ODOT office being unwilling to entertain the commission’s suggestions for improving traffic, the city will better engage our state legislators to ensure our concerns about traffic safety and congestion are heard and to find ways to fund improvements to the aforementioned roads and the vital bridges that connect them. 

One of the most recurring issues the city and its planning commission have noticed are poorly built housing developments. Roads are too narrow or built off the plat, infrastructure was minimalistic and did not consider future plans for growth, sidewalks were not required, or if they were done so with rolled curbs and narrow streets—which often prevent use of the sidewalks for pedestrians and those with mobility devices, worse yet—entire neighborhoods were built without any street lighting. This has got to change. While the City has been chipping away at this for two years, this fiscal year is where we begin in earnest to draw the line. Regardless of who, how or why these developments were allowed, they are here now. The issues of yesterday are problems the current commission must own. They’re our problems now. We may be able to address fixes for some of the areas; others we’ll just have to learn from. 
 
Beyond private development, the City also has several leases so low they could be considered a subsidy. While, I am sure the past commissions who signed such contracts were operating with good intentions, the long-term effect was leases that could never pay for maintenance on the facilities, which only costs the taxpayer more in the long term. The City Commission has instructed staff to appraise all of its properties and renegotiate sub market leases where it can. We must ensure we can maintain public assets, or divest of those we cannot reasonably expect to sustain. I also want to take this time to reiterate my proposal for the city to develop a depreciation and maintenance plan for all of our leased properties so that the commission, staff, and the public will know what is a reasonable cost to keep those properties up over time. I’m happy to note that staff is working on a “cost of living” summary for the Commission to use as we discuss livability and consider rates during budget season. Rates are typically discussed in their siloes, but the overall cost burden is not readily available. This will change that. 

While we learn our lessons of the past, we must set our eye to the future and begin the work now. Warrenton for Warrenton is the new mantra. It will require a careful look at our development codes to ensure we’re addressing growth more intelligently. Smart growth should mean we ensure adequate streets and sidewalks for residential areas, enable creative housing concepts, add flexibility for denser single-family housing like tiny homes and cottage clusters—and ensuring those developments have necessary shared amenities on site or nearby like laundry and common space. Additionally, we have already made decisions that take into account the growing impacts of stormwater when new buildings come to existing neighborhood. The importance of stormwater drainage cannot be overstated considering much of our city is in a floodplain. In all, there is a lot to work on, and we will go as fast as we can to address these. I do not expect this to be a one-and-done effort, nor completed this fiscal year. But with long term planning and effort we can make it happen. 

Despite the fact Warrenton is the fastest growing city in the region, our Building and Planning Department is smaller than it was 10 years ago. Our lone Community Development Director does the work of what is done by 4 people in neighboring jurisdictions. This is a prime example of growth not paying for growth. We must get creative to ensure our departments are adequately staffed and we will continue explore all options. While this challenge is daunting, I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish with such a lean crew. We will continue to push policy developments as fast as we can, while meeting our legal obligations for development applications. 

I’m grateful for the close partnerships we have with our federal and state legislators, county commissioner and neighboring jurisdictions. We will continue to work to advance Warrenton’s interests with whomever we can.  

Through our Warrenton for Warrenton policy, we will improve the quality of life and sense of place for residents. A large part of this will be come from increasing the opportunities for our citizens to connect with and use our public amenities. The Thursday Market is a part of this effort. We will succeed with some efforts, possibly fail with others, but regardless of the outcome—we, the staff and commission, are going to give our all into the work ahead of us. 

I am extremely proud to serve with this Commission, and I’m not sure how else to say how lucky this city is to have Commissioners Ackley, Baldwin, Dyer and Newton. Their work on behalf of Warrenton goes far beyond their attendance at commission meetings. From leading citizen groups and task forces, to helping citizens clean up their properties, and power washing the sidewalks with Spruce up Warrenton, to new signage for the library  and surveying markets and recruiting businesses and new ideas to bring to our town—this commission is very active and very present in the community. We don’t just issue policies, but actively implement them on the ground. For this, I applaud each of my colleagues on the commission.  

An important part of being on a governmental board is to remember the human aspects to the decisions and policies we make. While we are cleaning up nuisance properties, the commission is not deaf to the human aspect of this effort. Certain property owners have cleanup efforts beyond their capabilities. Commissioner Dyer leads an ad-hoc group that assists such property owners to ensure we can come alongside those who cannot help themselves and will accept help. We can clean up our city, even if it takes a bit longer, with compassion that helps and not enables. I want to recognize Commissioner Dyer for his tireless work to organize cleanups and assist the city in coming alongside citizens. The difference between a town and a community is that in a town, government dictates everything and nobody has to help. In a community neighbors help neighbors, and get to know each other. We’re stronger together this way. 

And why does the Commission even care about nuisance properties? Why the sudden push for cleanup? Because it’s high time Warrenton asks for better. It's time we invest in ourselves. Not for others—but for our own sakes. It’s the difference between having a house and a having a home. Investing in Warrenton for Warrenton is the leading theme of our fiscal policy. I’m not interested in chasing tourists—they're already here; I’m interested in shaping our future for ourselves immediately and in the long term.  

It is my hope that we can delve a bit deeper into what does it mean to be a Warrentonian. Everyone has their own different reasons and identity, but it is what positive elements we hold in common I hope to foster.  

We are stronger together when neighbors look out for each other. We are stronger together when your government ensures we have functional infrastructure, clean water, and plumbing that flushes. We are stronger together when we can support each other as people, even if we disagree about ideas. 

Warrenton has and will always continue to be a city that looks forward. We don’t stare at our waterfront and pine about our golden days of industry. We live that industry as we go to work every day. We can reconnect with our past without being stuck in it. We can learn from our roots and adapt them to modern uses and we can ensure we invest in our town for our own sake—not for tourists.  

To steal the high school’s phrase—I'm all in for Warrenton. Will you join me?  

Thank you.