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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2017
New commander takes over Steadfast
Balmaceda
replaces Bolanos
on Astoria cutter
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Submitted Photo
Preliminary map of the Seaside campus plan.
School’s out, but
Seaside land use
application is in
Consultants
deliver plan
for growth
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — School’s
out, but not for city officials.
They’ll be hitting the
books with the delivery of a
66-page comprehensive plan,
zoning map and text amend-
ment request to the Seaside
Planning Department. With
appendices, the submitted
material runs into the hun-
dreds of pages.
The Seaside School Dis-
trict proposal aims to amend
the city’s comprehensive
plan, necessary to expand the
urban growth boundary by
about 49 acres for the new
district campus approved by
voters in November.
The request, which also
includes zoning amendment
changes, property annexation
and rezoning, is an antici-
pated step in the multipart
process to build a new cam-
pus out of the tsunami zone.
Prompted by hazard
The school district is one
of only four public K-12
schools in Oregon within the
tsunami inundation zone.
In 1999, the state pub-
lished earthquake haz-
ard maps showing Cannon
Beach and Gearhart elemen-
tary schools, Broadway Mid-
dle School and Seaside High
School would all be severely
damaged in the event of a
major earthquake and sub-
sequent tsunami. These
schools were also identified
as having a high potential for
collapse.
Cannon Beach Elemen-
tary School closed due to
financial and safety concerns
in 2013. That same year, a
$128.8 million bond for new
schools failed at the polls.
In November, a scaled-
back $99.7 million bond plan
was approved by more than
70 percent of the electorate.
Analysis by Winterbrook
Planning, with relevant back-
ground information provided
by the Seaside School Dis-
trict, confirmed what the dis-
trict had determined in 2009
— the only suitable school
campus site located outside
of the tsunami inundation
zone is located on higher ele-
vation land that is zoned for
forest use.
Boundary plans
A separate but similar
process to expand Seaside’s
boundary started two years
ago, in order to comply with
statewide goals and guide-
lines for land use planning.
The city forecast the rate
of growth in Seaside over
the next two decades and
estimated how much land
needs to come into the urban
growth boundary to accom-
modate the population, with
two models, one through
2035 and the other through
2067.
The school district’s urban
growth boundary expansion
is distinct from those discus-
sions, which were tabled last
summer.
Unlike the city’s earlier
urban growth boundary dis-
cussions, population, hous-
ing and growth are not the
primary factors, Seaside
Planning Director Kevin
Cupples said.
The zone designation
“institutional-campus” will
be applied to the entire school
campus site. The district
meets the seven criteria nec-
essary for expansion of Sea-
side’s urban growth bound-
ary for schools, according to
the report: location adjacent
to city limits; size; topogra-
phy; access; soils; safe from
the tsunami inundation zone;
and capable of being served
by utilities.
About 31 acres of an
80-acre land gift will remain
zoned as county forest.
Planning process
The Planning Commis-
sion will be the first to review
the request, most likely in
August at the earliest, Cup-
ples said.
The commission’s action
would be then reviewed
by the City Council, the
county Planning Commis-
sion and the county Board of
Commissioners.
If the application is
approved, the school district
will apply for a conditional
use plan approval. More
detailed plans showing build-
ings, athletic fields, parking
and circulation will be pro-
vided at that time.
“None of those processes
is rapid,” Cupples said.
A decision by the new
year, as anticipated by the
district’s timetable, could be
possible, Cupples said.
Report highlights
• Traffic generated from
the proposed school cam-
pus will have no significant
impact on U.S. Highway
101.
• The cities of Seaside,
Gearhart and Cannon Beach
are expected to grow at an
average annual rate of about
1 percent.
• The capacity of the new
school campus is 1,690 stu-
dents, an increase of 0.97
percent over the next 13
years.
• The school district will
encroach on nearly 40 acres
of big game habitat.
• Plans call for bypass of
a wetland and two fish-bear-
ing streams.
• Access to the cam-
pus will come on the exist-
ing Spruce Street. Additional
street improvements may be
necessary.
• There is no land within
the cities of Cannon Beach,
Gearhart or Seaside which
could meet the specifications
for relocating schools.
The U.S. Coast Guard on
Friday marked the retirement
of 38-year veteran Cmdr.
Jose Bolanos and transferred
his command of the Asto-
ria-based cutter Steadfast to
Cmdr. Alain Balmaceda.
Bolanos took the helm of
the Steadfast in 2015 from
Mark Walsh, who had been
brought in to finish the term
of John Bitterman, who was
relieved from his command in
August 2015.
At nearly 50 years old,
Steadfast is one of the
Coast Guard’s older assets,
patrolling the West Coast
along North and Central
America and enforcing marine
laws and intercepting drugs,
smugglers and migrants. But
Bolanos said the real asset is
the ship’s crew.
“Steadfast is just a vessel,”
Bolanos said. “The real credit
goes to the Coast Guard men
and women who have sailed
her.”
Under Bolanos, the Stead-
fast has intercepted more than
6,000 pounds of cocaine, 200
pounds of marijuana, 19 sus-
pected drug smugglers and 28
undocumented immigrants,
along with fisheries patrols
and rescue missions. Bolanos
highlighted one in which the
crew came upon three Mexi-
can fishermen waving franti-
cally from their sinking boat.
“There’s no better feel-
ing than knowing you have
saved a life and they’re going
home,” Bolanos said. “Over
the past two years, the men
and women of Steadfast have
safely executed all our mis-
sions with pride, persever-
ance and professionalism.”
Bolanos said there is no
greater feeling than a sun-
set at sea and the thrill of the
chase. “Going to sea has been
my calling in the Coast Guard,
being on the tip of the spear.”
Bolanos is retiring to
Mobile, Alabama, with his
wife, Susanna, and five chil-
dren Katherine, Wilson,
Hannah, Sarah and Coo-
per. Replacing him is Bal-
maceda, who has more than
20 years in the Coast Guard
since graduating from the
U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
He most recently served as
deputy commander of the
Coast Guard’s Patrol Forces
Southwest Asia, overseeing
260 Coast Guardsmen and six
patrol boats deployed in Bah-
rain in support of Middle East
ll
Ca ime
yt
n
A
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
From left to right: Cmdr. Alain Balmaceda, Rear Adm. Pat DeQuattro and Cmdr. Jose
Bolanos make their way toward a ceremony Friday to celebrate a change in command of
the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Steadfast.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Coast Guard Cmdr. Alain
Balmaceda, left, salutes
Rear Adm. Pat DeQuattro,
right, during a change of
command ceremony for the
cutter Steadfast in Astoria
Friday.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Cmdr. Jose Bolanos, far left, performs the last personnel in-
spection of his command of the cutter Steadfast on Friday.
‘There’s no better feeling
than knowing you have
saved a life and they’re
going home.’
Cmdr. Jose Bolanos
operations. He comes to Asto-
ria with his wife, Ann-Marie
Balmaceda, and their three
children Isabel, Lucas and
Mateo.
“I commit to my new ship-
mates that I will give nothing
less than 110 percent,” Bal-
maceda said.
He said Bolanos was
exactly what the Steadfast
needed at such a critical time
in its history.
Rear Adm. Pat DeQuat-
tro, deputy commander of the
Pacific Area command that
overseas regional cutters, said
the Coast Guard could just
transfer command quietly.
But no other civilian position
equates with a commander of
a ship carrying arms, he said,
with the authority to use them
in the service of the U.S.
“There are lives at stake,”
he said. “The reputation of
our service is at stake. And by
extension thereof, the reputa-
tion of our nation is at stake.”
He called Bolanos a true
professional whose passion
for the service has been a
lesson to all. The Steadfast,
which returned from its last
deployment in April, heads
out on its next counter-drug
mission in about a month.
“I ask that you now shift
your loyalties to Cmdr. Bal-
maceda,” DeQuattro said.
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Now it’s your turn.
Fort Stevens Park and Friends of Old Fort Stevens
O BSERVE THE
75 th A NNIVERSARY OF THE
J UNE 21, 1942
J APANESE S UBMARINE A TTACK
ON THE F ORT
Gretchen Darnell
Seaside, Oregon
Colorectal cancer is the #2 cancer killer. But screening
can prevent it or catch it early when it’s highly treatable.
Talk to your doctor today about getting screened.
Wednesday, June 21
Noon-4 pm
On the date of the attach, an interpreter
will be at Battery Russell andthe Pacifi c
Rim Peace Memorial with displays and
information about the attach.
COLORECTAL CANCER
The cancer you can prevent.
www.TheCancerYouCanPrevent.org
June 21, 1992: Th e 50th Anniversary of the Japanese attack. Over 150
Fort Stevens veterans gathered at Battery Russell to remember the event
and to dedicate the Pacifi c Rim Peace Memorial.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded campaign
Sponsored by Th e Friends of Old Fort Stevens and
Fort Stevens State Park
503-861-2000 • visitfortstevens.com