SN
THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM
TH
RADIO AUCTION ON KCST 106.9 FM • THIS FRIDAY @ 9:15AM
100
I tems
Barga at
i
Price n
s
NEWS &
VIEWS THAT
DEFINE OUR
COMMUNITY
F LORENCE , O REGON
Auction
Items Listed
on page A12
& kcst.com
Postal Customer
Florence, Ore.
97439
AUGUST 23
at 9:15 AM
Siuslaw News
VOL. 129, NO. 67
WEDNESDAY EDITION | AUGUST 21, 2019 | $1.00
Northwest Bronco Roundup now yearly highlight
WEATHER
Rain earlier in the
day with a high of 65
and a low of 55.
Full forecast on A3
COMMUNITY
House Concert
benefits OCHS
INSIDE — A3
SPORTS
Story & Photos
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
he City of Florence hosts tens of thousands
of visitors each year from around the coun-
try and around the world. Most are here to
enjoy the natural abundance and beauty of the
forests and the coastline in and around Florence.
The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area
is among the most spectacular and commercial-
ly relevant of these tourist destinations with off-
road enthusiasts coming in ever greater numbers
each year.
The vast expanse of sand dunes that starts at
the confluence of the Siuslaw River and the Pacif-
ic Ocean and then runs south for approximately
T
Annual vintage Bronco
visit donates more than
four tons of food
50 miles is the largest in the continental United
States. These mountains of shifting sand have
gained increasing notice in the last decade and
many visitors make their way to the northwest
corner of the country each year to play in this gi-
ant natural sandbox.
One of the largest and most noticeable of the
Members of Northwest Vintage Broncos
were in town over the weekend for the
“Round Up,” their yearly visit to Florence.
groups that visit the dunes at this time of year is
the Northwest Vintage Broncos (NVB), who plan
the Northwest Bronco Roundup.
Dedicated to restoring, rebuilding and riding
in classic Ford Broncos, the members of the NVB
have made a visit to Florence a stop on their club’s
yearly itinerary and have developed a close rela-
tionship with the city and its residents.
See BRONCOS page 11A
Siuslaw Middle School Bond paid off 1 year early
‘Taxpayers paid
their bills, and paid
them timely’ says
district business
manager
By Jared Anderson
Siuslaw News
By Chantelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
Gearing up to cheer
INSIDE — SPORTS
RECORDS
Obituaries &
emergency
response logs
Inside — A2
KID SCOOP
Activities and
comics every
Wednesday
Inside — B3
After 20 years, the Siuslaw
School District announced the
completion of the Siuslaw Middle
School bond.
“Taxpayers said ‘yes’ for a bond
starting in 1999, and 20 years have
passed. We made our final pay-
ment June 30,” said Siuslaw School
District Business Manager Kari
Blake. “This last payment was $1.6
million, so I’m happy to not have
to write that check again.”
In February 1999, the Siuslaw
School Board voted to include the
middle school, bus barn and an
athletic facility on a bond measure
for the May 1999 election. The to-
tal cost was projected to be $15.39
million on a 21-year bond.
Under those estimates, “The
CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS
Siuslaw Middle School was approved for its current location, 2525
Oak St., through the passage of a bond in 1999.
proposed new middle school
would be built at a cost of $12.04
million and would be a two-story,
95,000-square-foot building to ac-
commodate classroom space for
600 students and a ‘core’ for 800
students, which would encompass
the commons area, administrative
offices, gym, auxiliary gym and
locker rooms,” reported the Siuslaw
News at the time.
The former middle school was
built in 1954. By the 1980s, the
school district began to consider
replacement of the building due
to increased maintenance costs,
building deterioration and the
need to better serve students.
The Nelson Report, a public
opinion research firm, conducted a
telephone survey in 1999, ultimate-
ly talking to 386 registered voters
within the district.
See SMS BOND page 10A
CLASSIFIEDS
Council approves sale of Airport Road property to NEDCO
Listings and public
notices
Inside — B4
sale by citing specific aspects of the
location — located at 1424 Air-
port Road, just south of the Boys
and Girls Club facility and Miller
Park — as a primary reason for the
recommendation of approval from
staff.
“It is zoned multi-family, it has
a central in-town location and it
has utility infrastructure already
available,” Weese said. “It is really
close to family services, it is owned
by the city and its lot size is kind of
the perfect lot size for this type of
development.”
Willamette Neighborhood Hous-
ing Services and NEDCO merged
in November 2017 and have worked
jointly in pursuing the grants need-
ed to build the 12 structures planned
for the undeveloped site. A delay
FOLLOW US FOR THE
LATEST NEWS :
/S IUSLAW N EWS
@S IUSLAW N EWS
T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM
Nonprofit will build
12 new houses on
1.73-acre city lot
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS | 18 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2019
Florence City Council approved
the sale of a parcel of city-owned
land to the Willamette Neighbor-
hood Housing Services and the
Neighborhood Economic Devel-
opment Corporation (NEDCO)
at Monday’s regularly scheduled
council meeting.
Councilor Joshua Greene had
been excused from the meeting,
and the presentation to councilors
by City Recorder Kelli Weese was
comprehensive, recommending the
Dunes City discusses
housing project,
water testing, deer
in the approval and distribution of
these grants and the attendant reg-
ulations surrounding the financing
has set back the sale of the Airport
Road property for nearly a year.
The proposed sale Monday eve-
ning was the latest step in the two-
year effort to offer moderate income
earners the opportunity to purchase
a home in Florence, for less than the
current market value, in an attempt
to increase the availability of less ex-
pensive homes.
NEDCO Executive Director Em-
ily Reiman and NEDCO’s Director
of Real Estate Development, Erin
Day, recapped the process and ex-
plained the delays in arriving to the
point where the city would offer the
land to NEDCO for free.
See HOUSING page 9A
The Little Woahink Lake proj-
ect was again a topic of discussion
during last Wednesday’s Dunes City
Council meeting, along with issues of
how water quality is tested in Woa-
hink and Siltcoos Lakes, public works
equipment and an unusual rise of
deaths in the local deer population.
The public comments that opened
the meeting were centered around
a planned housing development on
Little Woahink Lake. The project,
which has gone through multiple
legal issues for over a decade, has
seen struggles between developers,
Dunes City and local residents on the
environmental impacts on the lake,
which is used as a drinking water re-
source for some residents.
The city’s Planning Commission
had done an initial review of the
project in late July, ensuring that
the project adhered to city code.
See DUNES CITY page 8A
8th annual Coastal
Caucus Economic
Summit begins today
In what has become an annual
tradition, the Oregon Legislative
Coastal Caucus is sponsoring
a coastal Economic Summit, a
two-day event designed for state
legislators from the coast to discuss
the region’s economy and commu-
nities.
The tradition has been to hold the
summit at one of the tribal casi-
nos on the coast. This year will be
somewhat different. The event will
be held at two venues. The first day’s
activities on Wednesday, Aug. 21,
take place at Three Rivers Casino,
See CAUCUS page 11A
A SAMPLING OF WATER-RELATED HOMES FOR SALE IN FLORENCE...
“We’re next to the Bridge”
SILTCOOS LAKEFRONT CABIN
MERCER LAKE VIEW CHALET
6 ACRES CREEKFRONT & SHOP
5394 Buckskin Bob
Quaint 1938 Cabin w/modern updates,
studio below. $359,000
5918 Mercer Lake Road
12421 Hwy. 126
Sweeping views, Cozy Chalet on 1 acre
with 1,900 SF & privacy. $324,900
1,200 SF original 1950’s home,
1,000’ Knowles Creek, shop $279,000
100 Hwy. 101
See all Florence Listings at cbcoast.com
COAST REAL ESTATE
541-997-7777