Cindy Price takes a look inside the wheelhouse of the Tourist No. 2 ferry.

As the clock ticked down to her final weeks on the Astoria City Council, Cindy Price thought, “What if I applied for the Planning Commission?”

Price, who earlier this year had planned to run for mayor but withdrew from the race, was finding it hard to walk away from city government — especially from the serious and meaty land use issues that have dominated the past year.

At her last City Council meeting in December, Price, along with City Councilor Zetty Nemlowill, whose term also ends this year, tried to vote down a four-story waterfront hotel project. They argued that the project was counter to the community’s desires and the rules they had helped establish in the city’s Riverfront Vision Plan to govern development along the Columbia River.

They knew they were in the minority — the developer’s appeal would pass thanks to Mayor Arline LaMear, Councilor Tom Brownson and Councilor Bruce Jones — but their votes represented a philosophy that has governed their time at City Hall. Astoria, they believe, should remain a place where people are able to live and work year-round, and the community should decide how the city looks in the coming decades.

Though it remains an open question whether Price will apply for the Planning Commission, she intends to maintain a role in Astoria’s development one way or another.

She plans to be present for discussions on the Urban Core, the final piece of the Riverfront Vision Plan. The City Council prioritized completing this downtown section and began the process this fall. Price will also continue to be involved in efforts to restore the historic ferry, Tourist No. 2.

Price, Nemlowill and LaMear will leave the City Council when their four-year terms expire at the end of the month. Together, they formed the first female majority on the council in city history. In January, a new council, led by Mayor-elect Jones, will take over. Planning Commissioner Joan Herman, a radio programmer, will take Price’s downtown Ward 3 seat, while Roger Rocka, a former director of the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce, will replace Nemlowill in the west side’s Ward 1.

The incoming council will miss Price and Nemlowill’s experience, LaMear said. The mayor said she has always been impressed by how Price researches and prepares for each meeting, while Nemlowill was an eloquent and common-sense voice on difficult issues.

“I think it’s challenging,” LaMear said. “I found that being on the Planning Commission was wonderful preparation for being on the council and being on the council was certainly essential, to me, to being mayor. They’ll have some catching up to do.”

‘Pretty fun’

“I don’t know if it’s the most fun I’ve ever had,” Price said of her time on the City Council. “But it has been pretty fun.”

Price ran unopposed for the Ward 3 seat in 2014, campaigning on, among other things, promises of government transparency and accountability and development that “respects Astoria’s heritage, authenticity and natural beauty.”

She vowed to encourage projects that were fiscally responsible, sustainable and served the public. She pushed to move drunken-driving cases from the city’s Municipal Court to Clatsop County Circuit Court, a policy shift she shared with her husband, District Attorney Josh Marquis, who had sued the city over jurisdiction.

Price feels she met many of her goals.

Along with Nemlowill, Price focused on ways to ensure Astoria remained a year-round community. Her focus often turned to housing, though both she and Nemlowill struggled with how exactly city government could, or should, fill that gap. Both councilors zeroed in on homestay lodging as a related, but concrete, issue.

Like other cities, Astoria has grappled with the rise of Airbnb-type vacation rentals of entire houses. In Astoria, these rentals are not allowed but are difficult to regulate. Price and Nemlowill believe vacation rentals have the potential to change the character of the city’s neighborhoods and reduce the amount of housing available to average workers.

Both Price and Nemlowill pushed for, if not a cap or outright ban, at least stricter rules around homestay lodging.

In December, the City Council adopted a homestay lodging permit, which includes fees, regular inspections and other requirements.

“I want to keep Astoria a unique experience just like you do,” Price told homestay lodging operators at the time. “It’s just empirically clear that limiting short-term rentals is the way to do that.”

But there have been some challenges in her efforts to preserve or create what she envisions for Astoria.

Price was vocal in her opposition to a pawn shop that opened downtown in 2017, asking, “Can we ban pawn shops?” and citing concerns about used gun sales. But the shop’s application was already in process and some in the community questioned why one business should be singled out.

Last year, when the Parks and Recreation Department was looking at ways to refine its budget and was forced to cut programs, Price, along with Brownson, suggested implementing a $3 fee on residential water and sewer bills— an idea that took staff time to research but that, in the end, was shot down. Nemlowill, in particular, was not supportive, wondering how a fee on a necessary service like water was fair or directly related to parks.

‘Down to enforcement’

Price said the new regulations on homestay lodging were one of the more important things she helped accomplish. But the issue also highlighted an enduring challenge, and one that frustrated her.

“All of these things come down to enforcement,” she said. But enforcement has been hampered by scant city resources and understaffed departments, especially where City Council priorities hit the Community Development Department.

“It’s really held us up,” she said. “It holds everybody up.”

Getting fully staffed next year is crucial for the city, she said.

Price also wishes the City Council could have made more progress on developing Heritage Square, the city block next door to City Hall that hosts the Garden of Surging Waves and the American Legion but is also home to a hole in the ground where an old lot caved in. The hole has remained fenced-off and an eyesore.

In 2015, the City Council considered building a new library and mixed-use housing project at Heritage Square. Price, along with then-Councilor Russ Warr, reversed course after seeing the estimated $29.7 million to $38.7 million price tag.

The project was later rejected in favor of renovating the Astoria Library.

Another challenge the city faces, and one Price was involved with while on the council, is how to address homelessness.

Price served on a homelessness solutions task force LaMear led with Police Chief Geoff Spalding. She voted with other councilors to strengthen the city’s “no camping” ordinance to address illegal campsites in the woods. Price walked through the camps when crews went to move the homeless out, asking people if they had been put in touch with social services.

The task force and the City Council have not identified concrete solutions for addressing homelessness, but Price and LaMear believe the discussions forged stronger relationships between social service groups, city leaders and other stakeholders.

‘Disappointed’

Price began the year hoping to continue her work on the City Council, though in a different role. She announced her intention to give up her seat and run for mayor in June after LaMear said she would not seek re-election. Price encouraged Herman to run to replace her on the council.

But in August, Price withdrew from the race, citing family reasons.

“I was very disappointed I had to drop out of the mayor’s race,” she said. But, she added: “I’m comfortable with the decision I made. It was the right decision for me.”

She is not sure if she will run for any other elected position again.

“Having the honor of being elected to office to be a caretaker for this jewel of the Pacific Northwest is one of the greatest things that I’ve ever been able to do,” she said before a City Council meeting in mid-December. “I thank all of you.”