3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 2018
Cannon Beach takes another swing at housing incentives
Original ideas
voted down by
council in April
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH —
A pared-down version of an
affordable housing package
that was rejected by the City
Council earlier this year will
be presented at a public hear-
ing in September.
The original proposal,
brought to the council by Mike
Clark of Coaster Properties
and former City Planner Rain-
mar Bartl, asked the city to
reduce parking and landscap-
ing requirements, as well as
relax height restrictions in the
residential zone designated for
multifamily housing. The pro-
posal would have also allowed
multifamily housing in a com-
mercial zone as an outright use.
The incentives would have
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Cannon Beach will consider a new affordable housing
package in September.
only applied if a developer
agreed to put a deed restriction
on a project that would for-
bid the units from ever turning
into vacation rentals or condo-
miniums. The two argued the
changes would remove road-
blocks from developers look-
ing to build affordable housing,
as they help drive construction
costs down, which would in
turn keep rents lower.
But in April the majority
of the City Council disagreed,
arguing that the changes in no
way guaranteed that rents would
be affordable and instead would
have led to developers tear-
ing down and rebuilding sin-
gle-family homes to rent at mar-
ket prices in the residential zone.
At the urging of Mayor
Sam Steidel and City Coun-
cilor Brandon Ogilvie, who
both voted for the original
package, the city is consid-
ering a scaled-back version
of the amendments. The new
goal is to refocus on encour-
aging development of deed-re-
stricted long-term rentals.
“I feel there is a need for
long-term housing across all
strata,” Ogilvie said.
Under the new proposal, the
deed restriction is kept. Park-
ing requirements would still
be reduced and height restric-
tions for multifamily dwellings
would still be increased from 28
feet to 32 feet to match the cur-
rent standard for hotels — but
only for properties in the limited
commercial zone. Because mul-
tifamily housing is a conditional
use in this zone, the Planning
Commission would still have
discretion to approve or deny
variances related to parking and
height on a case-by-case basis.
With almost 90 percent of
commercial land already devel-
oped in Cannon Beach, limiting
changes to this zone would be a
Bonamici backs national parks funding bill on visit
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
During a visit Wednesday
to Lewis and Clark National
Historical Park, U.S. Rep.
Suzanne Bonamici discussed
her support for a bill that would
address deferred maintenance
needs.
The National Park Service
has estimated that it has $11.6
billion in deferred maintenance
backlogs. Lewis and Clark
needs $3.2 million, according
to 2017 estimates.
The Restore Our Parks and
Public Lands Act — introduced
in July — would commit 50
percent of excess energy devel-
opment revenue from 2019 to
2023 to the parks. A similar bill
was introduced in the U.S. Sen-
ate in June and is co-sponsored
by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an
Oregon Democrat.
The bill has 66 co-spon-
sors in the House, including
Bonamici and representatives
from both sides of the aisle.
“Typically our national
parks have had bipartisan sup-
port, and what I heard and
saw today just reinforces why,
because it’s so great for our
youths to see and families to
learn,” the Oregon Democrat
said after a brief tour of the park
and a visit with some members
of its youth programs. “And
so I would be hopeful that we
can pass the bill to maintain
the funding and preserve our
national parks.”
The bill would establish the
National Park Service Legacy
Restoration Fund in the U.S.
Treasury. Revenue would come
from energy sources — oil, gas,
coal, renewable resources —
on federal land. Annual depos-
its to the fund would be capped
at $1.3 billion.
“I don’t know how exactly
the funding would be distrib-
uted, but I will do what I can to
make sure that this park here,
Lewis and Clark, gets the fund-
ing it needs — especially for
the maintenance,” Bonamici
said.
If Lewis and Clark received
additional money, it would
likely be spent to upgrade out-
dated bathrooms and water
pipes and to modernize the vis-
itor’s center, Superintendent
Jon Burpee said. The visitor’s
center updates could include
a roof repair, cosmetic repairs
and a refurbishing of exhibits
to attract younger visitors.
The park is on track to have
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about 295,000 visitors this
year, Burpee said. That figure
would surpass last year’s visi-
tation record of 293,000.
“That’s nice it’s showing
growth,” Burpee said. “Where
we’re missing is kind of on the
maintenance side.”
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relatively low-risk way to exper-
iment with new regulations,
City Planner Mark Barnes said.
“It’s not identical to work-
force housing, but broadly in the
rental market, this kind of hous-
ing is not made or marketed for
the upper market,” Barnes said.
While City Councilors
Nancy McCarthy and George
Vetter both recognized the
need for long-term housing,
they remain lukewarm on the
changes. McCarthy said she still
takes issue with the fact the pro-
posal has no way to guarantee
rents on deed-restricted prop-
erties would stay affordable,
which is ultimately the problem
the council set out to address.
Vetter agreed, adding that it
is a gamble to possibly loosen
standards for a developer that
may not build housing that
is accessible to workers and
year-round residents.
“(Developers) are going
to rent out units at the high-
est value they can,” Vetter
said. “Our best hope is another
employer in town who wants
to build employee housing
sees this and says, ‘I could
make this work now.’”
Steidel urged the council to
see the amendments as a frame-
work they could build upon in
the future to incentivize afford-
able projects. Without some reg-
ulatory shifts, Steidel said, the
city won’t get developers even
interested in coming to the table.
“For a developer, these
changes could make a project
pencil out,” the mayor said.
Councilor Mike Benefield,
who voted against the original
package, said he is willing to try
the changes in the commercial
zone, since it would not impact
the majority of residential areas.
But the council needs to
call it what it is, he said.
“Let’s stop calling it afford-
able housing amendments. I
don’t see this as affordable
housing — this is long-term
housing,” Benefield said. “We
still need a long-term effort to
address affordable housing.”
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