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Thank you for your interest in reading The Astorian. Here are a few stories that you might have missed this week:

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Facing a state deadline, Astoria is looking at several code changes to ease the way for new housing construction.

If the city does not take action before the end of the year, state rules take over.

Some of the changes would follow recommendations in a 2019 countywide housing study. Housing as been a policy challenge on the North Coast for the past several years, but Astoria and other cities have made little progress.

Read the report by Nicole Bales by clicking here.

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A consulting firm has presented the Port of Astoria with an outline for expanding a boatyard at Pier 3 in Uniontown and rebuilding the East Mooring Basin in Uppertown.

The problem? Money.

The Port will likely have to compete with government and private sector interests for the money to finance the necessary infrastructure improvements.

“These things come down to priorities. We are dealing with a very limited budget, we are dealing with limited resources in terms of staffing … there is a lot of stuff going on and some of these things are not minor when it comes to our development,” Will Isom, the Port’s executive director, said. “ …That’s something that we wrestle with as well and that there are so many needs and challenges – how do you organize these in a way that you’re moving things forward knowing that you can’t address everything at once?”

See the story by Ethan Myers by clicking here.

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The North Coast lost an influential chef and mentor when John Newman, the owner of Newmans at 988 in Cannon Beach, died in a car crash in Tillamook County.

“We thought that he would just outlast everyone,” said Geoff Gunn, the executive chef and general manager of Bridgewater Bistro in Astoria. “His soul was just bigger than life, and it’s a huge hit to the community and the culinary world.”

Take a look at Erick Bengel’s report by clicking here.

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