DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2022
149TH YEAR, NO. 83
$1.50
New
look for
Cowapa
League
Changes take place next fall
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
A reclassification of schools by the
Oregon School Activities Association
will give the Cowapa League a “Back
to the Future” look beginning with the
2022-23 school year.
Out goes Banks and Valley Catholic,
in comes St. Helens and Scappoose. Or,
rather, a big welcome back to the Lions
and Indians, who were members of the
Cowapa League almost 20 years ago.
Because of changes in enrollment, the
OSAA reclassifies leagues every four
years. The realignment for the next four-
year block will give some local leagues a
very different look.
No local schools will change leagues
or levels, but the 4A Cowapa League will
be losing two of its smallest — and most
competitive — schools in athletics, as
Banks and Valley Catholic drop down to
3A because of declining enrollment.
Photos by Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Cannon Beach wants to preserve a village character.
Cannon Beach officials
restrict ‘McMansions’
City Council prohibits combining lots to build larger homes
See Cowapa, Page A6
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
GEARHART
Volunteers
organize
for new
firehouse
Firefighters will form a
political action committee
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
GEARHART — Volunteer firefighters
hope to have a voice in the May election
on a $13 million bond measure for a new
firehouse off Highlands Lane.
Josh Lair, speaking on behalf of the
Gearhart Volunteer Fire Department Asso-
ciation, said at Wednesday’s City Council
meeting that the volunteers are forming a
political action committee to help push the
measure to approval.
Firefighters see the need as an urgent
one. The cinder-block firehouse on
Pacific Way, built in 1958, is considered
outdated and vulnerable to an earthquake
C
ANNON BEACH — Other cit-
ies have seen it happen: once
buildable land becomes scarce,
some people resort to buying two lots,
demolishing the homes to build a larger
one.
With few readily buildable lots left
in Cannon Beach, City Manager Bruce
St. Denis said the trend poses a threat to
the city’s village character.
“And that’s not the direction we
want to go,” he said.
During a meeting last week, the City
Council unanimously adopted an ordi-
nance prohibiting the combination of
lots for the purpose of building larger
homes. The council also repealed the
city’s planned unit development chap-
ter, blocking any future proposals.
But the city is not stopping there.
The work is part of a code audit
process to address concerns over the
increasing size of homes through com-
bining lots, maximizing floor area and
lot coverage ratios.
Over the next couple of years, the
city will review and update policies to
support a vision of maintaining a cot-
tage village, which is outlined in the
city’s comprehensive plan.
“There’s a wide range of things that
you can build, per our code, that a lot
of people would say, ‘Wait, that’s not
what we want in Cannon Beach,’” St.
Denis said. “Those are things we’ll be
taking up as we move along.”
City Councilor Nancy McCarthy
said the items approved last week were
The city is addressing concerns over the increasing size of homes.
some of the more urgent and obvious
policy matters. They were also sup-
ported during the public hearing.
“We don’t really want to see big
‘McMansions’ here,” she said. “We
want to keep that village character. And
I think we define the village as a cot-
tage town.”
Planned unit developments have
also proved troublesome.
Cannon Beach has only approved
one planned unit development proj-
ect, which has been entangled in legal
appeals. No homes have yet to be built
on the property.
The City Council also considered
capping square footage and requiring
larger homes to be rebuilt to the new
standard if they are destroyed.
However, those items drew ques-
tions and opposition. The issues will
come back before the City Council
during a work session on Tuesday.
While coastal cottage homes built
prior to 1960 are not on the historic reg-
ister, the city said they are key to its cul-
tural heritage. The pre-1960 cottages
were on average below 1,500 square
See McMansions, Page A6
See Firehouse, Page A6
TIMBERLAND
‘I think the value of libraries has increased’
A longtime advocate
steps down from role
at Timberland
By PATRICK WEBB
Chinook Observer
OUTH BEND, Wash. — Bob
Hall has retired from helping to
run the Timberland Regional Library
system. But he’s hanging on to his
library card, using it regularly, and
encouraging everyone else to do the
same.
“I think the value of libraries has
increased,” he said. “We have always
had books and magazines and news-
papers, but we have so many online
resources to help students and all
kind of databases.”
S
Timberland Regional Library
Cheryl Heywood, right, the executive director of the Timberland Regional Library
system, presents a gift at the South Bend Library to Bob Hall for his lengthy
service on the board. The retired school teacher was president three times and
helped steer the district through budget worries and staffing reductions.
Timberland linked the libraries
of Pacific, Grays Harbor, Mason,
Lewis and Thurston counties in 1968
and now has 27 branches, including
Ilwaco, Ocean Park and Naselle. It
provides access to the system’s col-
lections and has partnerships with
others, including the well-funded
King County system in Seattle, plus
access to the nationwide InterLibrary
Loan program.
Hall, 76, retired as an elementary
school teacher in 2002 and joined the
regional library board a few years
later to fill in for someone who had
resigned. He then served two sev-
en-year terms, retiring in December
after three stints as board president.
He said the service has been
rewarding. “There’s a real high qual-
ity of trustees and I have enjoyed get-
ting to know them and serving with
them,” he said.
His tenure in the past 17 years
has seen a switch in library services,
from simple book lending to access
to online resources and materials
See Hall, Page A6