SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 2018 | 7A
DEVELOPMENT from page 1A housing opportunities. We
would be interested in speak-
“We’ve recently done a new ing with staff further in how we
housing needs analysis,” Titmus might be able to help you meet
said, referring to an analysis that Florence’s housing goals.”
showed a deficit of 500 afford-
Cavaness also stated Cannery
able housing units in the area. planners had been approached
“Would you be willing to accept by Habitat for Humanity to build
all ages?”
affordable housing within Can-
“I had this conversation nery as well.
with one of the homeowners,”
By opening up an apartment
Cavaness responded. “Practical- complex to all ages, this could
ly speaking, you don’t have the potentially fulfill McGlade’s
authority to say that this should overall vision for those working
be for a particular age group. … at the shops and assisted living
The underlying desire here is to facilities within Cannery.
try and provide an environment
“I’m hopeful that people will
similar to what we have in Flo- find meaningful employment
rentine Estates.”
that would allow them to live in
But at the time, Cavaness was an apartment building in Can-
unaware of the housing needs nery,” McGlade said.
facing Florence, he told the Siu-
slaw News.
Traffic Flow
Since the first public meeting,
Another concern facing Flor-
Cavaness and McGlade re-eval- ence residents is the effect the
uated the population of phase project will have on traffic in
one.
the area, with perceived heavy
“As I recalled, Mr. Titmus traffic coming from Fred Meyer,
questioned whether or not the Munsel Lake Road and general
owners would be amenable to use from Highway 101.
provide other types of housing
The project was initially pro-
to assist you in meeting some of posed in 2008 but was placed
your housing goals,” Cavaness on hold due to the recession.
said. “Specifically, you inquired During that proposal, a traffic
if a second apartment building impact analysis concluded that
could be set up, so it’s not age there would be need for a traf-
restricted.
fic light at the intersection. But
“Last week, Dr. McGlade did now, officials said the level of ex-
express interest in that second pected traffic does not forecast a
building not being age restrict- need for a light.
ed so it would provide increased
“With regard to the prior de-
termination, that was based on
different traffic counts,” Cava-
ness said. “And it was also based
on several other developments
that were approved north of
Munsel Lake Road. Those proj-
ects were in the background and
thought to already exist. Since
that time, not only did traffic
flows drop considerably during
the economic downturn, but all
of those projects north of the
road no longer exist.”
Getting an accurate projec-
tion is vital because the Oregon
Department of Transportation
(ODOT) bases its recommen-
dations for a traffic light on that
information.
“With traffic signals, you have
to meet ODOT requirements,”
Kelly Sandow of Sandow Engi-
neering said. “And the levels of
traffic don’t meet those require-
ments. ODOT wouldn’t allow it,
currently.”
Sandow, who worked on a
traffic analysis for Cannery,
based her predictions on a traffic
count taken in February of this
year, which is typically a slow pe-
riod in the area.
“The traffic report is disingen-
uous,” one member of the pub-
lic said. “A turtle with arthritis
could cross Highway 101 in Feb-
ruary.”
To take into account the up-
tick of summer traffic, Sandow
increased her February count
by 30 percent, which was the ex-
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For more details stop by and talk with Burney or Joseph at
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Meet 1st Wednesday of every month
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Property Setback
While some city-wide con-
cerns addressed at the meeting,
specific concerns regarding pri-
vacy, noise and flooding were
brought up by Florentine Es-
tates, which is located directly
east of the proposed Cannery
project.
The first concern representa-
tives from Florentine raised in-
volved decks attached to homes
in the new complex.
“What is required is a 35-foot
setback adjacent to the residen-
tial district,” City of Florence
Planning Director Wendy Farley
Campbell said. “The applicant is
requesting a six-foot exception
to that 35-foot setback for the
purpose of this deck.”
Florentine residents were con-
cerned that a shortened length
could create less of a buffer for
noise.
“I’ve been thinking about this
one a long time,” Commissioner
John Murphy said. “I’m proba-
bly not going to be very popu-
lar, but even with that six-foot
encroachment, the closest Flo-
rentine resident and the closest
Cannery Station resident is still
79 feet. And that’s better distance
than you’ll get in any subdivision
in Florence, as far as having your
closest neighbor.”
Commissioner Michael Tit-
mus agreed, saying, “We’re
talking about six feet. The noise
is going to be the same. Hope-
fully that will be blocked by the
vegetation and the fence. I don’t
see what six feet matters. The
same amount of sound is going
to come through.”
The six-foot exception was ap-
proved by the commission.
Some residents objected to
Cannery’s use of exceptions to
city code.
“The commission and this
staff has worked hard to come
up with codes and regulations
to what the city requires,” one
Florentine resident said. “We’re
asking for a whole lot of [ex-
ceptions] here, and since this is
a sensitive issue regarding the
Florentine boundary, we should
follow the established rules. Ev-
erybody else in the town has to
do it.”
But as FarleyCampbell point-
ed out, exceptions for large proj-
ects like Cannery are permis-
sible. Throughout the evening,
other city code exceptions were
granted, including driveway
lengths on the property.
“The applicant is proposing a
PUD, which offers the opportu-
nity for an application to come up
with some coordinated develop-
ment of a big chunk of land,” she
said. “It’s not a small, individual
site we’re looking at. That’s the
purpose of the PUD. Through
that opportunity, the intent is to
encourage some innovative uses
of the land and also create some
efficiencies with public facilities.
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pected increase of traffic during
the summer months.
“The ODOT number they
were referencing was from a
traffic recorder they had north
of Heceta Beach,” Sandow said.
“That’s a much more rural lo-
cation than our location. The
traffic on Highway 101 is heavily
influenced by the traffic at Fred
Meyer, which is still used all
year round. And further north,
when you’re away from the traf-
fic flowing on Munsel Lake, the
traffic going into Heceta Beach
Road and traffic at Fred Meyer,
the traffic spike is going to be
bigger. But in our area, you’re
still going to have a spike, but it’s
going to be a little bit lower.”
In a letter by ODOT regard-
ing Sandow’s traffic count, it was
suggested that the analysis was
too low.
“One of ODOT’s comments
was that we needed to go a lit-
tle bit higher than that,” Sandow
said. “So, we’re still working on
that.”
However, some Planning
Commission members were still
not convinced with the analysis.
“I’m still not comfortable with
the traffic information the ap-
plicant has submitted,” Young
said. “I’m concerned that if we
approve this preliminary PUD,
and then it shows that the traf-
fic doesn’t work, then what does
that do? Are we putting our-
selves in a box?”
But despite the concerns, there
was no hard evidence presented
to the commission that would
negate Sandow’s study.
“The standard of review is
substantial evidence,” Cavaness
said. “Any rebuttal, or opposition
to that, would necessarily have
to come from another Oregon
registered professional engineer
with transportation expertise.
In the absence of any additional
information on the record, the
Planning Commission should
look to the evidence the ap-
plicant has submitted. I would
suggest that there is no substan-
tial evidence to the contrary in
regard to any statements in Ms.
Sandow’s statements.”
While there are still questions
regarding traffic now, the pre-
liminary PUD is not the final say
on the matter. There is still time
before the final plans are brought
to the commission to review
traffic effects, and whenever an-
other phase is introduced, more
traffic analyses will be done.
To include your organization
in this directory,
please call us
@ 541-997-3441
PUDs have the opportunity for
flexible applications of zoning
regulations. So, the applicant, by
asking for the exceptions, is not
doing anything you wouldn’t see
in any PUD application.”
Sound Barrier
While Florentine Estates rep-
resentatives had hoped that the
six feet would reduce sound,
they also put their hopes in a
brick or concrete wall between
the two properties to create an
additional sound barrier.
“They are requesting an eight-
foot fence when a six-foot fence
is required, so the buffering cri-
teria exceeds the requirement,”
FarleyCampell said. “It should
be a solid wood or brick wall.
The applicant is requesting an
eight-foot solid fence. The staff
believe this fulfills the criteria.”
Florentine was aware that
code only required a fence;
however, in a previous proposal
years ago, a brick-like structure
was presented. Estate represen-
tatives wanted a continuation of
that proposal.
But since Cannery’s wood
fence fell within city code, there
was no recourse for Florentine to
follow.
It should be noted that cedar
fences can have some consider-
able bulk to them for blocking
noise, depending on how they
are constructed. Florentine res-
idents were concerned that in-
dividuals could easily break the
fences and come through, but
that scenario would be contin-
gent upon a rather weak fence.
As the plans for the fence be-
come more finalized, details on
how it will be constructed can be
reviewed.
For blocking sound, there
were also still be vegetation
along the border, either by leav-
ing what is already there or re-
planting native vegetation.
Cavaness stated Cannery Sta-
tion would attempt to keep a
vegetative buffer to the best of its
organizers’ abilities.
Flooding
Another hope for a brick wall
was that it would reduce the
chance of flooding from Can-
nery Station.
Currently, Florentine residents
contend a significant amount of
water flows from the present va-
cant lot, creating flooding in the
estate.
“I understand and appreciate
all of the comments,” Cavaness
said. “Every drop of rain water
that lands on impervious sur-
face, which would include roofs,
driveways, sidewalks, parking
lots and public streets is required
to be directed into a storm wa-
ter facility on the property. The
storm water facilities on the
south side of the property will
drain towards the west and they
will go into the city system that is
on Highway 101. The storm wa-
ter to the north will go proceed
west until it hits the city system
again. At the end of the day, 90
percent of the rain will go out to
Munsel Lake Road or out to the
west.”
FarleyCampbell pointed out
that finalized plans for storm
water are still in development.
Final plans will take place in a
separate process, where Cannery
will submit drawings to show
that storm water is properly
channeled to city drains.
“These aren’t private facil-
ities, they’re public facilities,”
she said. “Obviously, the city
doesn’t want to take a system
that doesn’t work for the city
and cause taxpayers extra mon-
ey. We encourage people who
are still concerned with that to
tune in, come down, take a look
at those materials and make
sure we do it right.”
These questions also led to
concerns by residents regarding
stress put on city utilities, in-
cluding city, water and sewage.
“We have plenty of capaci-
ty for whatever Cannery can
throw at it,” FarleyCampbell
said.
While the public may have
remaining questions about the
upcoming Cannery Station and
its 10-year timeline, the Plan-
ning Commission ultimately
approved the project. Future
stages, including the projected
eight-phase roll out, will re-
quire additional permits.