County commissioners expressed reservations about a proposed data center at the North Coast Business Park in Warrenton after approving another extension for the project Wednesday night.

In a 3-1 vote, the Board of Commissioners approved a one-day extension to allow Agile Design, the company behind the data center, to present a new proposal on the feasibility of the project.

The $1.2 million purchase and sale agreement that was awarded in August is set to expire May 7 — the day before the commission’s next meeting. Extending the agreement one day allows the company to stay in a contract with the county until they can present the proposal.

At the May 8 meeting, the commission will hear the proposal and vote to either enter a new agreement with Agile Design or let the contract expire.

Mark Cox, of Agile Design, said “more facts have become known” about how to address wetlands on the 67-acre property.

“The ability to mitigate those wetlands for development is a big issue,” Cox said. “Some of those issues have become more clarified in recent months due to the due diligence process.”

The details of why a new agreement was being requested were discussed in an executive session closed to the public.

“Whether that’s the same proposal, a new proposal, whether it has conditions in it, I can’t say. But (Cox) has that extra day to now bring something to the board when they meet rather than have the current agreement expire,” Monica Steele, the interim county manager, said.

While the extension passed, some on the commission took issue with how proposed development at the North Coast Business Park has been handled.

“I have some very serious reservations about the way the North Coast Business Park is now doing its business,” Commissioner Pamela Wev said.

Wev, who was the lone “no” vote on the extension, said the county should let the purchase and sale agreement expire and instead focus efforts to develop a master plan and address environmental issues at the site.

“The county is already having issues … with one pending sale and one effective sale, and I think it’s time to put the brakes on the whole thing,” she said.

“I’m embarrassed by this whole thing,” she continued. “There have been too many years where the county hasn’t done the right thing for this park.”

Wev is also concerned by how a lawsuit filed in March by Agile Design could impact the future of the project. The company claims Zion Fund Inc., which wanted to buy 62 acres at the business park for technology offices, used proprietary information without permission to make its pitch to the board in October.

Zion Fund canceled its proposed purchase shortly after the lawsuit was filed.

“I wonder if some of the issue for the applicant about not letting any window exist between the present contract and the new contract is that maybe these people who are suing each other for all different agreements and contracts … that maybe they’re afraid that Zion Development will jump in in the interim and buy this property,” Wev said.

While others echoed Wev’s concerns about how the application has progressed, commissioners, in general, still felt the data center would be a positive addition to Clatsop County and that a one-day extension was fair.

Many on the commission still support the idea of the data center because of the higher wage, technology-based jobs Agile Design claims it will provide.

“I would like to see this project go forward,” Commissioner Sarah Nebeker, the board chairwoman, said. “I don’t know if it will. But I’d prefer that it did.”