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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2018
Shores: Populations, tourism have changed Middle school:
The new academic
wing is estimated
to cost $13.6M
Continued from Page 1A
Now the state is in the pro-
cess of updating the sea plan,
incorporating new informa-
tion, concerns and interests
that will inform how such
areas are managed and pro-
tected for years to come.
A working group tasked
with gathering public input
held workshops along the
coast in February and March.
They visited Cannon Beach
last week. If there was any
question about the year, one
thing is now very clear: It’s not
1994 anymore.
“A lot has changed between
1994 and today and lot of that
has to do with how we under-
stand our near shore and the
research in our near shore,”
said Charlie Plybon, chairman
of the working group and Ore-
gon policy manager for the
Newport chapter of the Sur-
frider Foundation, a nonprofit
environmental organization.
Maps are out of date. Cer-
tain sections of rocky shores
that used to see few visitors are
more popular now. Populations
and tourism have changed,
ballooning on the North Coast
where major highways funnel
people directly from the valley
to the beach. Technology has
changed. Drones swing low
over tide pools and skirt cliff
sides.
People document visits
to Cannon Beach and Ecola
State Park on social media
— hashtag Haystack Rock,
hashtag Pacific wonder-
land. There’s a regular rota-
tion of articles listing the top
10 “secret beaches.” There’s a
better understanding of inter-
tidal areas’ importance and
vulnerability.
“The fact that people still
appreciate these areas and
value these areas … that seems
relatively unchanged,” Plybon
said.
At the Cannon Beach work-
shop, attendees pointed out
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Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
People visiting the tide pools near Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach are frequently urged
to minimize their impact on the environment.
how the growing popularity of
fat bikes — bikes with thick
tires able to be ridden across
sandy beaches — has brought
people to areas they may have
never thought to access if the
only option was to walk.
“There are potentially more
people accessing these places
in different areas,” said Andy
Lanier with the state Depart-
ment of Land Conservation
and Development. “Whether
that’s through a new way of
transporting yourself there or
just that there’s more people
visiting in general.”
Sea birds and
other creatures
Cannon Beach and Arch
Cape residents worried about
the impacts on sea birds and
marine creatures hope an
updated rocky shore manage-
ment plan could offer more
protections. Though the rocky
shores plan includes six dif-
ferent management catego-
ries, only three are actively
managed: the designations for
marine garden, habitat refuge
and research reserve.
Certain rocky shore areas
people might expect to have
some kind of protection under
the state plan, places like Fal-
con Cove, are listed as “not yet
designated.”
Melissa Keyser, a mem-
ber of the working group and
coordinator of the Haystack
Rock Awareness Program,
noted that three years ago, she
and volunteers would only see
a few drones on the beach.
There were concerns such
activity could impact nesting
seabirds. Last year, they saw a
drone a day.
Beyond drones, there are
concerns about people har-
vesting off rocky shores.
As certain types of foraging
increase in popularity, some
of the generous harvest levels
allowed by the state could start
to eat into intertidal residents
like mussels, said Nadia Gard-
ner, an Arch Cape resident and
environmental advocate.
Up and down the coast,
working group members heard
about growing human pop-
ulations, upticks in tourism
and an increase in the use of
drones.
“Hearing that, I think, was
important,” Lanier said. “I
don’t know that it was neces-
sarily surprising given popu-
lation growth and the growth
of our cities and counties, but
I also think there’s been a con-
centrated drive to increase
tourism on the coast because
that’s one of the ways our
coastal economy is supported.
I think there’s some recogni-
tion by folks in the audience
that that’s a double-edged
sword.”
Open, fluid
It’s important that the
working group didn’t go into
these public meetings with
a draft plan or main topics
of discussion, said Deanna
Caracciolo, a policy fellow
with Sea Grant, who has been
helping lead workshops and
gather information. Instead,
the workshops were open,
fluid. That was intentional.
“We want to make sure
everyone has a voice in this
update,” she said.
The state is in the first
stages of a public scoping pro-
cess, gathering and assessing
public comments. Work on
a draft plan amendment will
begin in the summer and will
likely carry through January.
After vetting several con-
cepts with middle school
leadership, the solution of
a compact, three-story aca-
demic wing with identical
learning communities on
each level became the pre-
ferred solution, McCracken
said.
“It just really improved
the site around that exist-
ing classroom wing — more
condensed, reduced travel
times, was a really effec-
tive learning environment,”
he said. “And so we came
to a solution within a couple
hours.”
The new academic wing
is estimated to cost $13.6
million, including demoli-
tion of the old building.
Each learning community
would include five class-
rooms about 200 square feet
larger than existing class-
rooms, a science lab and
restrooms all arrayed around
a central learning commons.
Secured waiting areas
would be added between
the outside and interior of
the middle school to control
public access to the learning
communities, McCracken
said, and teachers would be
able to lower blinds and lock
doors to secure individual
classrooms.
The proposed modern-
ization of the middle school
also includes $15.6 million
worth of improvements to
the cafeteria, library, bath-
rooms, offices, outdoor play
areas, track, utilities and
communication throughout
the existing building.
Manager: Has managed the fair since 2016
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employee in attendance at the
public meeting following the
executive session.
Mattinen had been on med-
ical leave in the past, but was
placed on administrative leave
last week. She left the fair-
grounds Thursday with a num-
ber of items from her office in
hand.
“It’s an HR matter. It’s
really a private matter. All I
can say is she is on leave and
we are working with Kathi,”
Steele, the county’s interim
human resources director, said
today.
Mattinen declined to com-
ment following the meeting.
John Lewis, the fair’s
maintenance supervisor, is
managing the fair in Mattin-
en’s absence, along with one
administrative assistant.
Mattinen has managed
the fair since 2016, following
management turnover in the
past decade. In addition to the
Clatsop County Fair, two of the
largest annual local galas —
the Astoria-Warrenton Crab,
Seafood & Wine Festival and
the Scandinavian Midsummer
Festival — take place at the
fairgrounds, along with several
other events.
The fair used nearly all of
its $438,000 materials and
services budget in the first
six months of the fiscal year.
County commissioners in
February approved the use
of $100,000 in contingency
money through June. The fair’s
total budget is $1.4 million.
Unforeseen maintenance
issues, an unusual manage-
ment structure, a high vol-
ume of staff turnover and poor
spending choices have all been
pointed to by employees and
board members as reasons for
the overspending. The board
had discussed putting special
projects — including one that
would install new heaters in
the arena and another to reno-
vate the farm house — on hold.
Such an investment
would require the school
district to bring the entire
middle school up to modern
building codes, McCracken
said.
If a bond was passed in
November that includes the
middle school project, plan-
ning would begin next year.
Construction would begin in
2020 and finish in 2021.
The district’s long-range
plans also include up to $17
million in security improve-
ments and modernizations
at Astoria High School,
and nearly $7 million at
John Jacob Astor Elemen-
tary School. The improve-
ments would be staggered
to maximize the use of local
construction
companies,
McCracken said.
The school district has
overall found nearly $81
million worth of long-
term building needs. That
includes more than $61 mil-
lion in construction costs
and $19 million for plan-
ning, management, permit-
ting and temporarily housing
students during the project.
“We’re
not
saying
you’re running an $80 mil-
lion bond,” said Tom Bates,
another architect advising
the district.
The next steps are priori-
tizing the proposed projects
in the long-range plan, fin-
ishing phone surveys of the
public, holding another com-
munity meeting next month,
meeting with students next
month to gather their input
and bringing back a recom-
mendation to the Astoria
School Board in May.
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Festival: About 100 people expected
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biking-enthusiast Matt Wein-
traub, the Fat Bike Festival
was chosen as the only new
event last year to receive a
grant from the Tourism and
Arts Fund.
“Time and time again I’ve
seen positive effects of cycling
in communities,” Weintraub
said. “I thought it’d be amaz-
ing to try and do something
different like this in the com-
munity I live and work in.”
Since his departure from
the chamber last year, Oregon
Rides, a promotional organiza-
tion for biking, has taken over
coordinating the event. Fat
biking, a growing trend across
the nation, is picking up espe-
cially quickly in Oregon due in
part to the state’s abundance
of public beach access, event
organizers Elliott and Daniella
Crowder said.
The Crowders hope the
inaugural festival will evolve
into an annual event, and even-
tually spark new interest along
the entire coast.
“The focus is getting peo-
ple out, enjoying themselves
on the beaches, and fat bik-
ing is a way to do it,” Daniella
Crowder said.
While growing in popu-
larity, one of the challenges
about getting the first event off
the ground will be awareness
and education. Oregon Rides
plans to bring in a fleet of fat
bikes to engage as many inter-
ested people as possible, since
fat bike ownership is low and
somewhat costly.
Right now, organizers are
expecting about 100 partic-
ipants, with the majority of
those registrants between 35
and 50 years old.
“We want to emphasize this
isn’t a race. This is for fun. It’s
not about who is the fastest, or
who can wear the most span-
dex,” Daniella Crowder said.
Environmental
concerns
April was chosen in part
due to a low tide schedule, as
well as a way to give tourists
another reason to come during
the town’s off-season.
Some residents in the com-
munity have taken issue with
the timing of the festival, how-
ever, as it coincides with when
shorebirds are migrating and
feeding in intertidal areas like
Haystack Rock.
The event also overlaps with
Cannon Beach’s long-running
12 Days of Earth Day, which
is timed with when tufted puf-
fins come to nest. Some wor-
ried a high volume of bikers
could scare birds attempting to
feed and nest, Haystack Rock
Awareness Program director
Melissa Keyser said.
“We had a lot of concerns
at the beginning,” Keyser said.
“This (event) kind of moves all
the way down our beach. We
were concerned where they
were going to ride the bikes
and what the impacts could be.
We wanted to make sure there
was no loud music or balloons
or something to deter them.”
In response to these con-
cerns, the Chamber of Com-
merce partnered with the
awareness program and the
Surfrider Foundation to help
educate bikers on how to avoid
sensitive wildlife areas, as well
as creating route maps to go
above the high-tide line. Event
organizers have also coor-
dinated with environmental
groups to schedule a fat bike
cleanup ride on the final morn-
ing to help mitigate any impact
the bikers may leave.
Elliott Crowder said fat
bikes have a minimal environ-
mental impact, with the thicker
tires creating less pressure on
the surface.
“I think people will be
pleasantly surprised by the
fat bikes,” Daniella Crowder
said. “By Sunday morning you
won’t even see the tracks. It’s
like a footprint in the sand.”
With the awareness pro-
gram helping educate bicy-
clists during the festivities and
being included in some of the
planning process, the impact
could be relatively small.
“But, it’s still a ‘we’ll
see’ situation,” Keyser said.
“Because this event hasn’t
taken place on Oregon beaches
before, we don’t know what
the full ramifications of this
event will be. There could be
unanticipated effects.
“But it looks like as of now
all of the precautions are being
taken.”
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