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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2019
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Mapping the Big One in Gearhart
G
earhart isn’t underwater, but new
maps swathed in shades of blue
delineate degrees of submersion.
Residents are faced with daunting
existential choices to determine what
level of risk they want to prepare for. It
could impact not only high-profi le issues
like where to place the fi rehouse or emer-
gency buildings, but where businesses
operate and homes are built.
After receiving a state grant from the
Department of Land Conservation and
Development to prepare for big events,
the city is working on ways to improve
resiliency in the aftermath of a Cascadia
Subduction Zone event.
Mapping the future
At its February meeting, the Planning
Commission considered model language
provided by the state’s Department of
Geology and Mineral Industries to update
the comprehensive plan and land use reg-
ulations. Revised maps provide guidance
on what to expect, if not
the date the tsunami will
hit. Historical trends sug-
gest within the next 15
years.
Goals are to improve
readiness and make Gear-
R.J.
hart more resilient after a
MARX
tsunami by establishing
standards to be applied in
the review and authorization of land use
in areas subject to tsunami hazards, City
Planner Carole Connell said at the com-
mission meeting.
The numbers are discouraging, if not
numbing: 95 percent of Gearhart will be
vulnerable to inundation from a “L” mag-
nitude local tsunami event.
Worse, the entire city would be
impacted by an “XXL” event.
That leaves residents and planners
alike faced with some huge asterisks
when it comes to making decisions, espe-
cially with key locations — the Gear-
hart Elementary School building, fi re-
house, city park — under discussion
for critical safety needs and emergency
infrastructure.
Region faces threat
In the Seaside School District, voters
had limited choices where to construct
a campus outside the tsunami zone, but
with the donation of land in the Southeast
Hills and an approval from voters, stu-
dents can expect fi rm footing in fall 2020.
Cannon Beach, which is also fac-
ing the unsettling projection of its own
demise, is holding similar discussions as
it looks for a new location — or locations
— outside of the tsunami zone for a new
City Hall and police station.
Cannon Beach has sites that Gearhart
might consider a luxury, out of the tsu-
nami zone at South Wind and near the RV
Park, both offering greater protection and
potential for future relocation.
Gearhart doesn’t have similar options
— but that’s not a reason to give up
on safer, more versatile public safety
buildings.
A coastal effort
Gearhart received $14,000 from the
state to help address tsunami evacuation
routes and needs, and to identify evacu-
ation improvement projects, the Depart-
ment of Land Conservation and Devel-
opment’s Coastal Shores Specialist Meg
Reed said in late February.
Along with Gearhart, the state is col-
laborating with 10 other coastal jurisdic-
tions through two federal grants provided
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration on this project, the closest
communities being Rockaway Beach, Til-
lamook County and Newport, with par-
ticipation as far south as North Bend and
Port Orford.
These communities expressed inter-
est in addressing their individual tsunami
risk, Reed said.
Department of Land Conservation and
Development staff provide technical and
fi nancial support to the city to prioritize
long-term planning related to the Casca-
dia Subduction Zone earthquake and tsu-
nami event.
By identifying projects now and priori-
tizing them in a plan, communities will be
able to take advantage of grant funds when
they arise more readily, such as FEMA
hazard mitigation assistance funds.
City of Gearhart
All of Gearhart could feel the impact of the most severe tsunami.
There are no consequences from the
state for not adopting a tsunami hazard
overlay zone.
Exception
Proposed code language includes three
main points, Reed said.
New rules could limit certain types of
critical and essential facilities — police
stations, hospitals, schools — from being
built in the tsunami inundation zone, she
said.
That zone is up for the city to decide.
DOGAMI has fi ve mapped tsunami
zones: small, medium, large, extra-large,
and extra-extra large based on the vari-
ability of the size of the next earthquake.
The community can make a decision
based on the acceptable level of risk.
The goal is to provide options to pro-
vide incentives for development within
the tsunami inundation zone that results
in lower risk exposure.
These provisions would not apply to
single-family dwellings, existing devel-
opments or uses. All of Gearhart’s pro-
posed fi rehouse sites are compromised
and vulnerable to varying degrees.
For new, dense development proj-
ects, evacuation improvements would
be a requirement of the overall develop-
ment design. A new subdivision could be
required to include pedestrian evacuation
connections, signage or other improve-
ments to improve “evacuation connectiv-
ity” for those in the new development.
“For example, a new hotel with a verti-
cal evacuation structure built into its roof
might get a waiver on building height lim-
itations because of its tsunami-resilient
design,” Reed said.
That doesn’t mean residents shouldn’t
pick the safest scenario. According to draft
language, sites can win approval if “there
are no reasonable lower-risk alternative
sites available for the proposed use.”
“The city is well aware of this as far
as the fi re station goes,” Reed said. “The
city needs an exception because there is
no other place.”
While the standards have yet to be
adopted, planning commissioners expect
that they will be passed by the city prior
to the construction of a proposed fi re
station.
A hearing will present rewritten code
language to the public March 14.
“If we stay on schedule for the grant,
it will be adopted by June 30,” Connell
said.
R.J. Marx is editor of the Seaside Sig-
nal and Cannon Beach Gazette, and cov-
ers South County for The Daily Astorian.
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