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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2015)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015 NORTH COAST 3A Charter school wins approval in Cannon Beach First year limited to kindergarten and ¿rst grade By DANI PALMER EO Media Group SEASIDE — Cannon Beach will once again have an elementary school next fall. The Seaside School Dis- trict 10 Board of Directors unanimously approved a three-year contract with Cannon Beach Academy on Wednesday evening in front of a packed room. Under the district’s condi- tions, the new charter school will serve a minimum of 44 kindergarten and ¿rst-grade R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian Audience members at an August meeting hear a presentation by Ryan Hull, president of the Cannon Beach Academy Board of Directors. students its ¿rst year, with the ability to add grades over time. The charter eventually wants to host kindergarten through ¿fth-grade students. “We’re very willing to work together to compro- mise,” said Ryan Hull, pres- ident of the academy’s board of directors. Hull noted he will have to “chew on” the ¿rst year grade limit to analyze how it will impact the school, but added he understands the decision from the district’s point of view. Board Chairman Steve Phillips said the limited num- ber of students that ¿rst year will make the charter “eco- nomically more viable” for the district. Charter had planned higher capacity Cannon Beach Academy had planned on a student ca- pacity of for the ¿rst year. Superintendent Doug Dough- erty noted the loss of a little more than half that number of students will drain roughly $255,900 from the district. Board member Hugh Stel- son said Seaside will not only see a small reduction in staff, but likely cuts in programs. “This district seems to piece little pieces together and run on duct tape sometimes,” he said. “There’s not a lot of extra money around.” Phillips said Seaside School District 10 will adjust. Cuts have been made in the past and “we still have a great school district,” he said. Other conditions include the academy’s ability to secure proof of its English Language Learners program by March 1, building safety permits by Aug. 15, proof of insurance by Aug. 30, documents show- casing ¿nancial stability and an ability to comply with any tsunami inundation zone line changes. Stelson said the academy should have an accountability metric to prove it is “just as good as the district.” Vice Chairman Mark Tru- ax said the school will be a part of the district and under its responsibility. While negotiations remain, Hull said none of the condi- tions seem unreasonable. “I think we can achieve every condition imposed,” he add- ed. Building requirements top priority Top priority for the acade- my is meeting physical build- ing requirements at its tem- porary location at 171 Sunset Blvd. The vacated space, which takes up 3,500 square feet of the 6,000-square-foot building, once housed the Cannon Beach Athletic Club. The charter school plans to open next fall if it can meet all conditions. Cannon Beach Elementary closed in 2013 for ¿nancial reasons and fears for student safety. The building, now shuttered, lies in the tsunami inundation zone. The school district had is- sued two previous denials to the academy last year, citing lack of an adequate location and secure start-up funds. The school plans to even- tually settle into a permanent site south of town and east of U.S. Highway 101. Southeast Hills site remains leading candidate for Seaside expansion Some residents question need, wisdom of growth By KATHERINE LACAZE EO Media Group SEASIDE — As Seaside planning commissioners wade through consideration of an urban growth boundary expan- sion, some residents are won- dering if the process is even necessary. Buz Ottem, a landowner, said Seaside does not have ad- equate infrastructure to support its current population in case of an earthquake or tsunami, so it does not make sense to ac- commodate population growth. “We have the cart in front of the horse, and we shouldn’t even be discussing it,” he said. “We can’t provide for the safety of the residents we have here.” For a fourth month, the commission listened to public comments last week on amend- ing Seaside’s comprehensive plan to incorporate about 200 acres of new land into the urban growth boundary. The South- east Hills site under consider- ation is located to the south and east of Seaside city limits near South Wahanna Road. A new potential site on the northern boundary of Seaside was also thrown into the mix. “What do we want the com- munity to be?” asked Planning Commission Chairman Ray Romine. “What do we want the community to have available for residents going into the fu- ture? The land we choose will signi¿cantly impact the future of who we bring to the com- munity and who can afford to stay.” Considering the North Hills In response to requests to review alternatives to Southeast Hills, the commissioners con- sidered the North Hills site, east of North Wahanna Road. Cur- rently, the site is accessed from Shore Terrace and Forest Drive. Vernonia resident Mike Pihl owns about 40 acres on the North Hills site and proposed the area be incorporated into the urban growth boundary. The area is easily accessible and outside the tsunami inunda- tion zone, he said, two factors commissioners are considering throughout the process. Commissioner Tom Horn- ing, a geologist, said he is concerned about heavily de- veloping the property, which has “large blocks of landslide material that have moved down the hill and are still probably moving, to some degree.” “It’s not a great place to put a neighborhood,” he said, add- ing he thinks it would be appro- priate for an unapproved camp- ground or tsunami evacuation site instead. “Our planning process is not designed around landslides, but one cannot dis- regard that when making con- siderations between property A and property B.” He and other commission- ers favor the Southeast Hills site as the better option, citing concerns that only a third of the 60-acre North Hills site would likely be suitable for develop- ment. The city is mandated to use land in the urban growth boundary ef¿ciently, so it is not wise to include property that can’t be developed, City Plan- ner Kevin Cupples said. If the city cherry-picked land from the North Hills site that reasonably could be de- veloped, the next issue would be drawing a map “that’s a re- alistic con¿guration” for the boundary, said consultant Don Hanson, of Otak Inc. “There are bene¿ts to a compact city limit and a com- pact UGB,” he said. Even if the city took some land from the North Hills site, a portion of the Southeast Hills likely would be incor- porated, since a lands-need analysis completed at the start of the project called for about 200 acres to satisfy Seaside’s estimated population growth during the next two decades. “I like to call it a ‘balance sheet,’ because that’s basically what it is,” Cupples said. What’s best for Seaside Residents, primarily land- owners in the Southeast Hills area, have attended the past several meetings to get more information and question why Seaside needs to expand its developable land at all. Many remain unconvinced the city needs that much land in the boundary and worry the rural characteristics of the South Wa- hanna Road area are at stake. Southeast Hills residents Mary Kemhus and Maria Pin- cetich said they feel the growth indicators used for calculating how much land Seaside needs are not accurate. The city’s pop- ulation is not growing as much as estimated several years ago using 2000 census data. Sea- side’s recent annual growth rate using updated demographics, excluding “seasonal, recre- ational or occasional use” vis- itors. If those numbers were considered, “The combined ef- fect of these choices would sub- stantially reduce the need for a UBG expansion,” Nelson said. Action required by state Submitted Photo The Southeast Hills area considered for a potential urban growth boundary expansion. has been closer to 0.7 percent rather than 1 percent, as forecast. Taking into consideration the July New Yorker article “The Really Big One” and the recent Oregon Public Broad- casting series “Unprepared,” Kemhus expects fewer people will want to live in Seaside be- cause of the earthquake risk. She said she prefers the city develop the land currently in the urban growth boundary. Pincetich referenced a letter from Mia Nelson, an urban spe- cialist with 1000 Friends of Or- egon, a nonpro¿t organization dedicated to building livable urban and rural communities throughout the state. The or- ganization received many calls and emails from concerned cit- izens regarding Seaside’s pro- posed expansion and Nelson wrote a reply to several ques- tions that arose. The organization said the city should calculate its land O cto b er 23 CON CEAL CONCEAL CARRY CARRY PERM IT PERMIT CLASS CLASS Oregon – Pincetich said she is con- cerned the city is using out- dated and questionable data in determining Seaside’s future growth. “It would be best to have con¿dence in the numbers be- fore we move forward, or as we move forward,” she said. “The math does not support it to me. We have other options.” Pincetich said the city should wait at least until June 2017 when Portland State Universi- ty’s Population Research Center is scheduled to issue a new pop- ulation forecast for Seaside. 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However, he said state plan- ning goals state that munici- palities should establish and change urban growth boundar- ies based on long-range plan- ning, population forecasts and future housing needs. While Seaside may not be legally required to expand the boundary, Wingard advised the city to pursue expansion. Failing to maintain a 20- year land supply, important for avoiding population intensi- ¿cation within city limits and providing workforce housing, “does not seem like an appro- priate civic direction,” he said. $ 15 .00 /person Laksloda Luncheon (Scalloped Potatoes with Salt Salmon) Saturday, Oct. 17 • NOON Clatsop Community College Foundation Presents MOSTLY MUSICALS SUOMI HALL • 244 W. MARINE DR. • ASTORIA Public cordially invited Friday O k tober 16 TH Featuring Deac Guidi, Ann Bronson & Richard Bowman SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2015 - 3:30PM CCC Performing Arts Center, 16th & Franklin, Astoria $15 at the door; 12 & under free Brats, Sauerkraut, Germ an Potato Salad $ A nd Germ an Breads 8 5:30 R yan Phillips - A ccordian Polk as & W altzes M usic by: 6PM “K araok e D ave” ASTORIA AMERICAN LEGION Post 12 11 3 2 E x c h a n g e S t r e e t • 3 2 5 - 5 7 7 1 Astor Street Opry Company presents BY S AM S H EP A R D D IREC T ED BY M ARK U S B RO W N Published with permission from Samuel French Publishing House O C T O BER 9-24 F R ID AY S & S AT UR D AY S 7P M (d oors op en 6:30p m ) O ne Sunday m atinee at 2p m on O c t. 1 8 (doors op en 1 :30p m ) Tickets $8-$15 | Online at AstorStreetOpryCompany.com or by calling 503-325-6104 129 W BOND ST (behind the Chamber of Commerce) UNIONTOWN ASTORIA