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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2020)
1932: Sea Lion Caves opens to the public 2020 E RS SIUSLAW NEWS: A LOOK B ACK AT 130 Y EARS EA CEL SN BR SATURDAY EDITION | AUGUST 1, 2020 | $1.00 S SIU THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM W 1890 AW NE L S AT I N G 1 30 Y INSIDE — A7 Bringing the valley back to ‘a dynamic, chaotic system’ Siuslaw News Fivemile-Bell Creek restoration project enters final stage of completion I Volunteers and USFS crews work together along Fivemile-Bell to capture creek critters such as young Coho, crawdads and Pacific giant salamanders to relocate downstream as they restore the valley. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) valley, it was a lively wetland, with side of the valley to make room for and its many partners have worked abundant native plant communi- crops and grazing fields for their together for over nine years on the ties shading the water and slowing animals. Fivemile-Bell Restoration Project, it to a meandering stream, creating This caused the water in the which aims to restore a critical an ideal rearing habitat for young streams to increase in speed and floodplain to pre-settler condi- Coho salmon. In the late 1800s, cut into the ground eight to 10 feet tions and improve the habitat for homesteaders began straightening in some areas, an impact that was Oregon Coast Coho salmon, a fed- the streams of Fivemile and Bell devastating for young Coho. erally threatened species. creeks, tributaries of Tahkenitch Before settlers arrived in the Lake, and pushing them to one See PROJECT page 7A Deadline nears for Siuslaw schools consider Planning Commission approves code council candidates reopening metrics changes on building for Florence, Most grades to remain online at heights, density Dunes City start of school year on Sept. 14 By Jared Anderson Siuslaw News See CANDIDATES page 5A While the Siu- By Jared Anderson “With the met- slaw School Dis- Siuslaw News rics coming out trict is currently Tuesday night, scheduled to open that scrapped our on Sept. 14, new state opening hybrid plan,” said Grzeskowiak. metrics released Tuesday by “Our current county case rate Oregon Gov. Kate Brown will is trending down. It’s under 15, mean the majority of students going to 10. The positivity rate will be attending online only is [between 1 and 2]. … But until at least October. The only the Oregon positivity rate is too exception to this could be K-3 high for any school to open for students, which may possibly be general onsite operations.” allowed to attend onsite class in Right now, the state positivity a limited hybrid model as early rate is trending downward, but as September. it’s still brushing against the 5 “For the past few weeks, we’ve percent threshold. been talking about this being On Thursday, Oregon Health metric driven, but nobody knew Authority (OHA) reported that what the metrics were,” said Dis- the rate was 5.1, though it was trict Superintendent Andrew as high as 7 the week before. It’s Grzeskowiak. “And so, we’ve also dipped as low at 4.6 per- been working on a hybrid plan cent. But even if the positivi- having half the kids onsite every ty rate declines to 5 percent, it day, and the other half viewing could spike up again, resetting the class virtually at home.” the whole process. The metric that Siuslaw was “Where we stand today, we going with was specifically lo- won’t get three weeks of data cal, working hand-in-hand with until Aug. 15,” Grzeskowiak Lane County Public Health to said. monitor outbreaks in or around And that is a few days after the district. the date the district was sup- But on Tuesday night, Brown posed to turn in its reopening changed plans by releasing three plan to Lane County for approv- additional metrics: al — which included start dates. • Statewide, the positivity rate “We want to make sure we’re for all tests must be at or below 5 doing good solid chunks of time percent to allow opening. to continue with one learning • County-wide, the positivity mode, regardless of the health rate must also be below 5 per- metrics, to make sure we’re ac- cent. tually getting education done,” • Also, county-wide, there Grzeskowiak said. must be 10 or fewer cases per Because of that, the district’s 100,000 people over a seven-day plan is to now hold the first day period. of school, Sept. 14, online only. For Siuslaw, the biggest issue is the state metric. See SIUSLAW page 6A Partly cloudy leading to afternoon sun. High of 64 and a low of 50. Full forecast on A3 COMMUNITY Eugene man win jackpot at Three Rivers INSIDE — A3 LIFESTYLE By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News The Florence Planning Commis- sion met virtually Tuesday evening for a regular session with a short agenda. Commission Chairperson John Murphey began the meeting, followed by City Recorder Kel- li Weese, who again updated the commissioners on the most recent COVID-19 related protocols for al- lowing public participation in city meetings. There were no public comments during the session. The first new item on the com- mission’s agenda was the consid- eration of Resolution PC 20 06, which had been rescheduled to this meeting. This concerns a request for a conditional use permit for a marijuana retail use in the exist- ing building at 470 Highway 101 in Florence. Murphey informed the commis- sioners that the applicant, Rosa Ca- zares, had requested an additional extension. Commissioners granted the ex- tension and rescheduled the con- sideration of the resolution until the Planning Commission meeting scheduled for Aug. 25. The second item commissioners discussed was Resolution PC 20 20 TA 02, a city-initiated code amend- ment finalizing the building heights allowed in the Commercial, High- way, and Professional Office and Institutional Districts and amend- ing the residential name references in the North Commercial District. See PLANNING page 5A OCHS warns against pets in hot cars INSIDE — B RECORDS Obituaries & emergency response logs Inside — A2 SIDE SHOW Activities and comics every Saturday Inside — B4 CLASSIFIEDS Listings and public notices Inside — B5 FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST NEWS : /S IUSLAW N EWS @S IUSLAW N EWS T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 16 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2020 Filing deadlines for mayoral and council positions for the City of Florence and Dunes City are ap- proaching, as residents from both cities begin applying for open posi- tions. There are still two weeks left to submit applications (Aug. 25) for a variety of open positions. Voters will determine the following races in the Nov. 3 General Election. For the City of Florence, three positions are up for election this November, the first being Mayor. The position is for a two-year term. In addition, council seats current- ly held by Joshua Greene and Ron Preisler are up for election this year. Each position is for a four-year term. So far, the City of Florence shows two candidates for the mayoral po- sition and four candidates for the two councilor positions. To qualify for these positions, candidates must be registered to vote in the City of Florence and have residency of at least one year before the election, or since Nov. 3, 2019. The role of the Florence City Council is to work as a collective body to pass laws, fees, policies, budget and the supervise the city manager and municipal court judge positions. “In order to be versed enough to make such decisions, serving on the council requires countless hours of study into the pressing is- sues of the City of Florence, as well as attendance at regular meetings, VOL. 130, NO. 61 F LORENCE , O REGON WEATHER Story & Photos By Lena Felt Siuslaw News n a basin just 10 miles south of Florence, Ore., lies a watershed restoration site in its final stage of completion. What was previ- ously a valley of wide, open fields of invasive grasses and blackber- ries is now once again home to a free-flowing creek that slowly winds its way through thick wil- lows and other native plants, pro- viding shade and shelter for im- portant aquatic and terrestrial life. NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY C elebrating Over 30 Years in Real Estate JIM HOBERG Broker/Owner 9 201 VOTED F BEST O E SIUSLAW NEWS READERS CHOICE WINNER Voted Best Realtor for 6 Years! F LO E N C R 1870 Hwy. 126, Suite A • PO Box 3040, Florence, OR