WARRENTON – Dozens of off-road vehicle enthusiasts packed the Warrenton City Commission chambers Tuesday to protect their favorite pastime from proposed restrictions.

When all the seats in the small room were filled, they lined up along the walls. “Welcome to our meeting and feel free to come back in the future,” Mayor Gil Gramson told the crowd.

At issue was a proposal to block public access to the Skipanon Peninsula’s open sand pit area, which is owned by the Port of Astoria. The property on Youngs Bay has long been a popular place for riding motorcycles and ATVs, but the entrance area and the peninsula have become popular as a location where people dump their garbage and household trash and abandon wrecked vehicles. There have also been a lot of parties, underage drinking and fights in the area.

To stop the dumping, the Commission was considering closing Northwest King Street at East Harbor Street, and possibly Bayfront Street as well. However, the Commission decided the issue needs more study, so Gramson asked several leaders in the motorized vehicle community to meet with City Manager Bob Maxfield and Ron Larsen, acting director of the Port, to try to come up with a good solution.

The group includes Karl Burkhart, who has worked with Warrenton youth, Charles Quade, a U.S. Coast Guard member assigned to the cutter Fir, and Jim Scheller, active in the Warrenton Trails Association. “None of us really want to close it,” Gramson said.

Other commissioners agreed. “I would like to see some accommodation to public use,” Dick Hellberg said. “I don’t like to see public property closed to public use.”

Frank Orrell said he was amazed at the turnout and hopes an agreement can be reached to keep the road open. He also complimented city staff on their efforts to keep the area cleaned up.

After the meeting, Gramson said it’s a sad situation to see an area where generations of local residents used to go duck-hunting on opening day become a dumping ground. “To have to see it come to this, where we’re forced to consider closing it because of people that are misusing the property – the partying that was going on, the illegal dumping, damaging the dikes with their bikes – we had to do something.”

He said the same issue surfaced 12 to 15 years ago with the same response. “People showed up and said, ‘Hey, we don’t like this either.’ They want us to work with them to still allow this area to be used, but used responsibly.”

Gramson said the off-roaders say they would like to see the area closed during the week but opened up on weekends for them to use, promising to police it themselves and make sure information is provided to authorities about the people who are causing the trouble. The main property owners in the area are the Department of State Lands, the Port of Astoria and the city of Warrenton.

In other business, the Commission moved the sale of DeLaura Beach property forward by authorizing Gramson to sign an intergovernmental agreement between the city, Clatsop County and Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The county-owned parcel, located in Warrenton, is to be sold to state parks. The county is set to sign the agreement at its meeting today and the state parks commission is expected to sign it at its May 8 meeting. As part of the deal, OPRD will contribute $220,000 to Warrenton for trail development. Jim Scheller thanked the Commission for its action. “Thank you for your diligence and stewardship. This is an example of regional cooperation with a great payoff,” Scheller said.

The Commission approved a resolution asking the Legislature to amend new ethics reporting requirements that have led many elected and appointed citizens, especially in small communities, to resign. A resignation letter from Barry V. Smith, who had been a member of the Warrenton Planning Commission and Parks Advisory Committee for many years, made the resolution especially relevant. Smith said a requirement to list his relatives’ names is the reason he was stepping down.

Commissioner Orrell said he hopes the Legislature takes note. “It’s a terrific burden,” he said, calling the changes an overreaction to lawmakers’ own indiscretions.

The Commission also approved the Clatsop County Deadly Physical Force plan, which provides a framework for a consistent response by all law enforcement agencies in the county and awarded a bid to construct an 18-inch water main from Northeast Fifth Street to Northeast 13th Street to M&M Earthworks of Tigard in the amount of $374,000, with a 10 percent contingency. The project will increase the volume of water to Hammond.