March 13, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 7A
Final approval given to Laurel Street development
The council added a
sixth condition before tak-
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Nicholson will be allowed
only one driveway access
to the site.
Although the maps, mod-
el and site drawings that the
council voted on indicate
that a single driveway will
be built, the minutes of the
Jan. 22 planning commis-
sion noted that one of Nich-
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there would be an addition-
al driveway off of Laurel
Street. The added condition
neutralizes that possibility.
Council decision allows four
homes on sloped property
senting vote, pointed out
— as did members of the
planning commission —
Portland resident Jeff that the municipal code’s
1LFKROVRQ UHFHLYHG ¿QDO criteria requires the proper-
approval by the Cannon ty to be at least three acres
Beach City Council on or have some natural fea-
a controversial proposal tures that make it suitable
to build four houses on a for development.
sloped parcel of land in
But the geology of the
north Cannon Beach.
half-acre property — which
In one motion, the City includes both a slope and a
Council voted 4-1 to ap- ravine — make it unsuitable
prove three land-use appli- for the kind of development
cations submitted by Nich- Nicholson has in mind,
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came March 3, a month commission argued.
after the council granted
At previous city meet-
tentative approval to the ings, Nicholson brought
project.
in geotech engineers to
Nicholson will now be alleviate concerns about
able to build, and eventu- whether the site is stable
ally sell, three new fam- enough to support addi-
ily-sized homes on his tional houses. Though at
property at 532 N. Laurel least 30 trees on the prop-
St. and rebuild an existing erty will be preserved, in-
house on the same site.
cluding two large spruces,
Nicholson bought the 17 are slated for removal,
0.57-acre parcel last sum- Nicholson said.
mer for $895,000.
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To work around a city approving
Nicholson’s
rule preventing multiple three-pronged application
structures on steeply sloped may “open the door” to
land, Nicholson applied other property owners in
for a planned development similarly restrictive areas
overlay zone, which chang- applying for planned devel-
es the site’s zoning re- opment overlays, and then
strictions to permit greater looking to the council’s de-
housing density there.
cision in the Nicholson case
as a precedent.
Lone dissenter
“It could or it couldn’t,”
The council’s decision said the city’s land-use at-
goes against the planning torney Bill Kabeiseman,
commission’s January rec- who noted that future City
ommendation that Nichol- Councils may decide that
son’s planned development some developments pro-
should be denied.
posed in the future are not
Councilor Mike Bene- “unique enough” to merit
¿HOGZKRFDVWWKHVROHGLV- an overlay.
By Erick Bengel
Cannon Beach Gazette
Try, try again
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
Jeff Nicholson’s model of the North Laurel Street area shows how he plans to have a four-
home development (which includes an existing home) at 532 North Laurel St. The City
Council approved Nicholson’s planned development request at its March 3 meeting.
Conditions
Bundled with the coun-
cil’s approval of the planned
development was a variance
to the city’s slope-density
rule — the reason the four
lots were consolidated in the
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al of Nicholson’s four-house
development plan. His plan
entails one house per lot,
including the reconstruction
of the existing house.
At its February meeting,
the council imposed a set of
conditions on the develop-
ment. Nicholson must:
• Move two of the pro-
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for greater setback
• Limit the size of the
four structures on the parcel
to a combined total of 9,000
square feet
• Embed planters into a
planned retaining wall situ-
ated near the driveway and
keep it a “living wall”
• Consult with an arbor-
ist to make sure the two old
spruce trees on the property
won’t get seriously dam-
aged during construction
• Repair any dam-
age done to Laurel Street
during development at his
own expense, restoring it to
its current condition
Late last year, both the
council and the planning
commission voted down
Nicholson’s attempt to per-
suade the city to recognize
four small lots for develop-
ment purposes rather than
one large lot, consolidated
because of its slope.
Nicholson
appealed
these decisions to the Ore-
gon Land Use Board of Ap-
peals, a process he halted
while pursuing the planned
development. He said that
members of the council and
city staff had encouraged
him to go this route.
But once the planning
commissioning denied his
planned development re-
quest, Nicholson — who
had poured about $150,000
into the project by that
point — reactivated the
LUBA appeal. He also be-
gan to gather documents for
a lawsuit against the city.
With the council’s ap-
proval of his plan, both
the LUBA appeal and the
lawsuit won’t be pursued,
Nicholson said.
Homeowners want city to reopen Laurel Street property issue
Unhappy from Page 1A
been legally required to ig-
nore them, said Mayor Sam
Steidel.
“We all knew that public
testimony was over and the
record was closed. We just
wanted to be heard by the
councilors before they voted,
so they could hear our new
concerns and be aware of
the number of opponents,”
Elizabeth Lorish wrote to
a reporter in an email after
the meeting. “We hoped that
maybe they would defer the
vote and reopen the issue (at
their April 7 meeting).”
Grievances
When the time came for
public comments, Jeff Har-
rison, another Laurel Street
homeowner, spoke on be-
half of 36 people in atten-
dance and two more who
couldn’t be there.
Harrison read a prepared
statement outlining their
concerns, including:
• Several of the city’s no-
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ings on the issue came days
late and contained confus-
ing information.
For example, although
the city requires hearing
notices to be posted 20
days in advance, the notice
for the Jan. 22 planning
commission meeting was
posted Jan. 6 — only 16
days in advance.
• The notice for the Feb.
10 special meeting, sent out
on Jan. 20, lists only Nichol-
son’s planned development
overlay zone request. No
reference was made to a pro-
posed variance for the den-
sity allowed on the slope.
The proposed development
plan for the three cottages
and the existing house also
wasn’t mentioned.
• The Feb. 10 notice
also was not posted at least
20 days in advance, and it
mistakenly referred to the
previous “design review
board” hearing on the mat-
ter rather than the planning
commission hearing.
Such a proliferation of
procedural errors may have
delayed public involvement
and opposition to the proj-
ect until it was too late, Har-
rison said.
• The project may con-
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ning commission argued,
because of its “lack of ap-
propriate size and the lack
of suitable shared outdoor
living space,” and because
its slope does not make the
property “unique” enough
to qualify for a planned de-
velopment.
• The retaining wall will
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north-end neighborhood,
Harrison said.
• Nicholson said he had
spoken to his neighbors
about his development
plan and got their approval.
Though he had reached out
to the homeowners immedi-
ately to the north and south
of his property — Jane and
Victor Harding, and Andra
Georges, respectively — he
hadn’t spoken with many
other Laurel Street residents.
• Nicholson originally
told the council at its Oct.
7 meeting that he planned
to build a “couple of cot-
tages,” though that number
eventually became three,
in addition to the existing
house.
• Though Nicholson
originally characterized the
work to be done on the site’s
historic home as a “preser-
vation,” it technically does
not qualify as one, since
the structure will be demol-
ished and reassembled with
some new materials.
• The council and staff
appeared “very active in of-
fering the planned develop-
ment option” to Nicholson,
according to the council’s
Oct. 7 meeting minutes,
Harrison said.
“We further feel that
the city has incorrectly and
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overtly assisted Mr. Nich-
olson in circumventing the
city rules in order to get his
development
approved,”
Harrison said. “How has the
city helped all of the neigh-
bors on the north end who
do not want this plan?”
Nicholson’s “threats of
McMansions and LUBA
(state Land Use Board of
Appeals) action should not
govern how any of us view
this project,” he said. “In-
stead, we expect a strict and
considered interpretation of
codes and the comprehen-
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good of the whole — not a
single developer.”
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