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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 2015)
❘ / SIUSLAWNEWS ❘ @ SIUSLAWNEWS SATURDAY EDITION ❘ DECEMBER 5, 2015 ❘ $1.00 LCC CLASS SCHEDULE WHALE WATCHING SPORTS — B INSIDE THIS ISSUE SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890 FLORENCE, OREGON Weathering the storm A mudslide of fallen trees and brush closed a section of Stagecoach Road east of Mapleton during Thursday’s storm. Crews from Lane County public works cleared the area within six hours. Mudslide covers Stagecoach Road, while Florence is unscathed B Y C HANTELLE M EYER Siuslaw News The National Weather Service in Portland issued a High Wind Watch for Thursday for places along the central and northern Oregon coast. Although the storm had little effect in Florence, Stagecoach Road near Mapleton expe- rienced a slide that closed a stretch of the secondary road between Highway 126 and Highway 36 for nearly three miles. Lane County Public Information Officer Devon Ashbridge reported the slide, between milepost 6.6 and milepost 9, around 9:30 a.m. Thursday. By 3:45 p.m., county public works crews had cleared the road. Other than that, only isolated incidents marked the effects of the storm. “The scale of the storm didn’t materialize,” said City of Florence Public Works Director Mike Miller. “We had some flooding on private prop- erty, and some limbs fell, but no trees.” Siuslaw School District took precautions and closed early. Bus service began taking students home at 12:30 p.m. Several activities after school also were canceled, such as the Boys and Girls Club Teen Center and the Twilight Program. See STORM 6A COURTESY PHOTO Market analysis reviews downtown EMPTY BOWLS Preliminary statistics indicate opportunities, challenges for urban growth B Y C HANTELLE M EYER Siuslaw News PHOTOS BY JACK DAVIS/SIUSLAW NEWS BOWL OVER HUNGER Fundraiser marks 20 years of helping to feed the hungry INSIDE More than 700 locally handcrafted ceramic bowls are available to purchase this weekend at the Florence Events Center, 715 Quince St., as part of the Empty Bowls fundraiser, now in its 20th year, to support Florence Food Share. The event, which includes a silent art auction, kicked off Thursday with a reception for the artists and officially opened to the public Friday evening. The fundraiser continues today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and tomorrow from 12 to 3 p.m. Admission is free. Ambulance . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coastal Events . . . . . . . . . . . Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A9 B7 A8 A4 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 SideShow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Word on the Street . . . . . . . A7 THIS WEEK ’ S TODAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY 57 50 56 53 57 54 59 54 WEATHER Full Forecast, A3 Florence Urban Renewal Agency (FURA) met with Leland Consulting Group Monday night to review Florence’s urban renewal district’s current successes as well as areas for growth and improvement. “We’re very happy to have Leland Consulting Group here to offer us the first overview of what we need to look forward to as we consider moving forward,” said FURA chairman Joshua Greene. “It’s an update and a way to look at our challenges in a positive way.” FURA retained Leland Consulting Group earlier in the year to develop an economic opportunities strategy and to identify key development sites. Chris Zahas, president of Leland Consulting Group, and Alisa Pyszka pre- sented the preliminary market analysis to members of FURA. “We work throughout the western United States, largely on downtown revitalization strategies such as this, helping communities identify and prioritize projects to stimulate the economy and bring in private invest- ment,” Zahas said. Leland’s four main goals with the analy- sis were to assess the community through interviews and a survey, determine assets, identify areas for redevelopment and devel- op strategies to estimate private sector development. “The goal of the project is to identify fea- sible and realistic actions that will attract private investment to the district in order to enhance Florence’s existing economic strengths and to grow the tax base within the district in order to revitalize the area,” the analysis said. Leland’s study focused on the Florence Urban Renewal District, 341 acres includ- ing Old Town and part of the antiques dis- trict on the Highway 101 corridor. The Siuslaw River forms the district’s boundary to the east and south, Kingwood Street borders the west, and Ninth Street and Highway 126 mark the north end of the district. S IUSLAW N EWS 125 TH Y EAR ❘ I SSUE N O . 97 C OPYRIGHT 2015 See DOWNTOWN 6A CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM