DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 33
ONE DOLLAR
New fl ood maps needed
to avoid sanctions
Communities benefi t
overall from latest
mapping data
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
S
EASIDE — Residents in Gearhart,
Seaside, Cannon Beach, Clatsop
County and those in Warrenton’s Dik-
ing District No. 1 will be unable to buy
fl ood insurance, renew existing fl ood insur-
ance policies and will face additional conse-
quences unless their jurisdiction adopts new
federal fl ood insurance rate maps.
The urgent message resonated at an open
house Monday at the Seaside Civic and Con-
vention Center, where locals looked over draft
revisions to the Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency’s maps that identify fl ood risk
along the coast .
Adoption of the maps — which will be
used to set fl ood insurance rates and shape
community development decisions — will
involve new fl ood hazard ordinances.
“It’s pretty dire if the cities and county
are unable to move forward with the adop-
tion of these ordinances,” said Patrick Wing-
ard, regional representative for the Ore-
gon Department of Land Conservation and
Development.
A community that fails to adopt the
maps will be suspended from the National
Flood Insurance Program and face a host of
sanctions.
Not only will residents be ineligible for
fl ood insurance, the community will not qual-
ify for federal grants or loans for development
in fl ood hazard areas, or for federal disaster
assistance to repair insurable fl ood-damaged
buildings in those areas.
“If you are suspended from the National
Flood Insurance Program, that affects folks’
ability to get mortgages; it affects the business
climate, the local economy and the regional
economy,” Wingard said.
Draft FEMA flood maps
Pitch is for Peoples Park
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in partnership
with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Develop-
ment, has issued draft preliminary maps showing revisions to the
100-year floodplain.
H.
WAS
.
ORE
101
FORT
STEVENS
STATE PARK
Co
lum
River
Astoria
Megler
Bridge
bia
Hammond
Astoria
30
104
Warrenton
101
100-year
floodplain
revision
areas
202
LEWIS AND
CLARK NAT’L
HISTORICAL
PARK
Pacific
Ocean
202
CLATSOP
See FLOOD MAPS, Page 9A
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
The rich history of Scandinavians in Asto-
ria could be marked by a downtown park.
The Scandinavian Immigrant Park would
be off Marine Drive between 15th and 16th
streets at what is now
Peoples Park. An arch
with the inscription
“From Scandinavia to
Astoria” would be the
dominant architectural
feature, along with
a maypole, a plaza
and bas-relief sculp-
ture panels depict-
ing early immigrants
as fi shermen, loggers,
cannery workers and
Submitted Graphic
merchants.
More than a third A sample of the
of Astoria’s popula- bas-relief sculp-
tion around the turn of tures that would
the 20th century were depict early Scan-
Scandinavian,
and dinavian immi-
while the annual Scan- grants to Astoria.
dinavian Midsummer
Festival celebrates cultural heritage, there is
no monument to the men and women who
came from Finland, Norway, Sweden, Den-
mark and Iceland in search of opportunity.
See MONUMENT, Page 10A
101
2 miles
Source: Clatsop County Webmaps
For more information,
go to: bit.ly/2aPUATB
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
Happy results
The communities will mostly benefi t from
the mapping updates, which are the result of
a countywide study that began in 2009 and
incorporate the latest topographic technology.
The bottom line: Far more land was
removed from the 100-year fl ood plain,
which has a 1 percent chance of fl ooding in
any given year and a 26 percent chance of
fl ooding during the life of a 30-year mort-
gage, according to Heather Hansen, the coun-
ty’s fl ood plain manager.
“Each of the cities here that have been
involved in this particular study area saw
reduction,” said Jed Roberts, a fl ood mapping
coordinator with the Oregon Department of
Geology and Mineral Industries.
Warrenton’s Diking District No. 1 — now
provisionally accredited by FEMA — boasts a
9.2 percent net reduction in fl ood hazard area;
Gearhart a 7.7 percent reduction; Seaside an 8
percent reduction; and Cannon Beach a 27.4
percent reduction.
Robin Risley, a R ealtor who sits on the
Cannon Beach and Clatsop County planning
commissions, expects many property owners
in Seaside and Cannon Beach to be “happily
surprised” by the results.
Though some acreage was added to the
fl ood plain, much of it is undevelopable any-
way, like property along the ocean that may
Scandi
monument
planned
downtown
Cannon
Beach
weighs
housing
options
By LYRA FONTAINE
The Daily Astorian
Erick Bengel/The Daily Astorian
Property owners and community officials attended an open house at the Seaside Civic
and Convention Center that addressed FEMA’s new draft flood insurance rate maps.
‘If you are suspended from the National
Flood Insurance Program, that affects
folks’ ability to get mortgages; it affects
the business climate, the local economy
and the regional economy.’
Patrick Wingard
regional representative for the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development
CANNON BEACH — The Cannon Beach
affordable housing task force has zeroed in on
rental housing for middle-income residents,
moving closer to identifying locations for
workforce units and concentrating on areas
outside of downtown to conserve parking and
provide lower-cost alternatives.
City goals include providing 25 afford-
able housing units by 2018, then adding 25
more units by 2020.
“I think what makes Cannon Beach
unique is that you own the land,” Todd John-
ston, Northwest Oregon Housing Authority
executive director and a task force member,
said at a meeting last week. “What has made
it diffi cult in other communities is there’s no
place to build. A developer would have to
come in and purchase the land.”
See HOUSING, Page 9A
Global warming polarizes more than abortion
This story is part of Divided
America, AP’s ongoing explo-
ration of the economic, social
and political divisions in
American society.
By SETH BORENSTEIN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Tem-
pers are rising in America,
along with the temperatures.
Two decades ago, the issue
of climate change wasn’t
as contentious. The leading
U.S. Senate proponent of tak-
ing action on global warming
was Republican John McCain.
George W. Bush wasn’t as
zealous on the issue as his
Democratic opponent for pres-
ident in 2000, Al Gore, but he,
too, talked of regulating car-
bon dioxide.
Then the Earth got even
hotter, repeatedly break-
ing temperature records. But
instead of drawing closer
together, politicians polarized.
Democrats (and scientists)
became more convinced that
global warming was a real,
man-made threat . But Repub-
licans and Tea Party activists
became more convinced that
it was — to quote the repeated
See DIVIDED, Page 10A
This image
provided by
the Nation-
al Weather
Service shows
temperatures
in the conti-
nental United
States as of 3
p.m. on July
22 . The weath-
er service
outlook for the
following three
months shows
above normal
temperatures
across the
country.
National Weather
Service via AP