DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 118
ECOLA STATE PARK
BRACING
FOR WINTER
ONE DOLLAR
Warrenton
will require
parks in new
subdivisions
Applies to projects
with 20 lots or more
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Visitors to Ecola State Park take in one of the many scenic views in the area Tuesday.
Small improvements could
foreshadow bigger changes
WARRENTON — Developers with plans
to build new subdivisions in Warrenton will be
required to provide parks.
The City Commission unanimously approved
recommendations Tuesday night from staff and
the Planning Commission to add new standards for
subdivisions as well as street width to the develop-
ment code.
The code change does not affect the many hous-
ing projects in the works now, but will impact
future plans, Planning Director Skip Urling said.
Any new subdivision with 20 lots or more will
be required to provide a neighborhood park. Devel-
opers will have to devote at least 5 percent of the
project area to parkland. Residents of the subdivi-
sion will be responsible for the maintenance.
Planning Commissioner Paul Mitchell has been
a vocal proponent of requiring developers to include
parks in their plans. As new plans came before the
commission this year, he consistently asked what,
if any, parks were already located nearby or if the
developers planned to provide a playground or park
area.
Requiring parks in subdivisions provides “more
opportunities for residents within a shorter ser-
vice radius,” concluded a staff report submitted to
the Planning Commission in November. “It would
enhance the quality of place offered by the city.”
With the park requirement, City Commissioners
also established new road standards Tuesday.
See WARRENTON, Page 7A
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
A
s Ecola State Park braces
for winter, some issues con-
tinue to haunt it, but changes
intended to improve the park’s offer-
ings are on the way.
For years, the park has made do
with one full-time ranger supple-
mented by a variety of part-time and
seasonal staff. Some years park man-
agers have had to go without a full
roster of those extra hands. In the
last few years, landslides and other
unexpected disasters hit the park — a
massive landslide snipped a popular
trail between Ecola Point and Indian
Beach recently — forcing rangers to
adjust what tasks take top priority.
Minor tasks have continued to pile
up.
BY THE NUMBERS
1,023
the amount of acres
Ecola State Park encompasses
313,808
the estimated amount of visitors that
travel to the park each year
A trail reroute to Indian Beach
and possibly an entirely new
road into the park to avoid land-
slide areas — as first proposed in a
1975 master plan — are still a ways
off. In the meantime, funding for a
second full-time park ranger at
Ecola and Tolovana will help staff
tackle long-deferred maintenance
and bring the 1,023-acre state park
known for its sweeping views and
lush forest trails closer to service
level standards, said Park Manager
Ben Cox.
Now, said Cox, “we’ve been able
to focus a little more work there. Just
little things here and there.”
A grant from the federal Recre-
ational Trails Program for work in
other state park areas that fall under
Cox’s oversight will impact Ecola
State Park indirectly.
“It does relieve a little bit of the
financial pressure and should allow
us to spend some local resources on
some of those trails within Ecola,”
Cox said.
Cannon Beach
lukewarm
on water rate
package
Councilors concerned
rate increase will not
provide enough revenue
See PARK, Page 7A
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
Visitors return to the main parking area at Ecola State Park after admiring
a few of the many scenic viewpoints of the coast Tuesday.
CANNON BEACH — City councilors had
mixed reaction to the water and wastewater rate
increase proposal presented by the public works
committee at Tuesday’s work session.
The committee recommended to fund 50 per-
cent of all projects detailed in the water master plan
and 75 percent in the wastewater plan with a rate
increase. The 20-year plan is required by the state,
and projects would focus on rehabbing or replacing
a variety of systems, including brittle water lines
and water storage tanks.
The proposal would keep the city’s current rate
structure and raise the average homeowner’s water
bill from about $50 a month to about $70. The
increase would be phased in over five years and
generate $2.1 million and $1.6 million for water
and wastewater projects.
See CANNON BEACH, Page 7A
State parks added $1.1 billion to economy in 2016
Fort Stevens had
second-largest
economic output
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Fort Stevens State Park
was
the
second-largest
contributor to the $1.1 billion
added to the state economy
from all of its parks in 2016,
according to an Oregon Parks
and Recreation Department
study.
Fort Stevens, with a $40.1
million contribution, is sec-
ond to Silver Falls State Park
southeast of Salem, which
accounted for $58.4 million.
State parks also supported
16,000 full and part-time jobs
to support more than 54 mil-
lion visitors.
Coastal parks saw the high-
est visitation levels and totaled
roughly half of the total state-
wide spending.
“The findings are clear:
when state parks succeed, so
do Oregon communities,”
state Parks and Recreation
Department Director Lisa
Sumption said in a statement.
“We want to keep it that way,
so we continue to look at what
we can do to improve visitors’
experiences.”
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Fort Stevens State Park was the second-largest contributor to the $1.1 billion added
to the state economy from all of its parks in 2016.