JANUARY 2, 2015 • VOL. 39, ISSUE 1
WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM
COMPLIMENTARY COPY
South Wind draft
plan ready for
council scrutiny
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
Th e master planning committee for the city-owned
South Wind property southeast of Cannon Beach spent
its fi rst meeting touring the property along with other
interested residents last January. A year later, the com-
mittee is ready to submit a draft plan to the City Council.
It may cost
$5 million to
develop the
site before
any structures
can be built
By Erick Bengel
Cannon Beach Gazette
A draft plan that calls
for the development of the
city’s 58-acre South Wind
site may come before the
City Council in February,
but before any buildings
can be constructed, at
least $5 million may have
to be spent for improve-
ments.
After a several-month
hiatus, the master plan ad-
visory committee, tasked
with developing the South
Wind site, met Dec. 8 to
support the draft plan for
the property.
City of¿ cials hope that
South Wind — located east
of U.S. Highway 101, south
of the Haystack Heights
neighborhood — will be-
come the future site of the
city’s essential facilities. In
the draft plan, the facilities
the city plans to construct
in the acreage are:
• a police station
(slightly less than 0.5
acres)
• a ¿ re station (slightly
more than 0.5 acres)
• the Cannon Beach
Food Bank (uncertain
space needs)
• an emergency shel-
ter and base of emergen-
cy operations (uncertain
space needs)
• the Cannon Beach
Preschool & Children’s
Center and — if the Can-
non Beach Academy gets
its charter proposal ap-
proved — a grade school
(2.1 acres total)
See Council, Page 4A
FOOD for a FEAST
Gift “baskets” enable households to cook a traditional holiday meal
By Erick Bengel
Cannon Beach Gazette
C
hristmas came early for some
residents of Cannon Beach’s
Shorewood Apartments, Elk
Creek Terrace Apartments and oth-
er
low-income
households
the
morning of Dec.
23.
Together, vol-
unteers from the
American Legion
Post 168, Cub
Scout Pack 540,
Cannon
Beach
Fire and Rescue
and Seaside High
School, plus other
community mem-
bers,
delivered
boxes (or “gift
baskets”) of food
to people who
might not otherwise have the mer-
riest of Christmases.
“I think it’s good to help other
people around Christmastime be-
cause some of them might not get
Christmas presents,” said Jackson
Schermerhorn, a 10-year-old Cub
Scout from Pack 540. His father,
Jason Schermer-
horn is a Pack 540
leader and Can-
non Beach police
chief.
At daybreak,
the
volunteers
packed the boxes
and loaded them
into a U-Haul for
distribution. In-
side the boxes
was enough food
to prepare a tradi-
tional Christmas
meal:
turkeys,
See Food, Page 4A
TOP: Seaside High School students Kirsten Lent, 15, and Lucy Bodner, 15, run gift “baskets” to apartments alongside Cub
Scout Toby Takitt, 10, right. Additional volunteers from Cannon Beach Fire and Rescue, including Fire Chief Mike Balzer
(in red and yellow) gather in the background. ABOVE: American Legion member Kelly Fitzpatrick, foreground, grabs a
gallon of milk to top off a gift basket, while his wife, Sandy Fitzpatrick, places eggs in a box carried by Cub Scout Jackson
ERICK BENGEL PHOTOS
Schermerhorn (who is supported by Legion member Heidi Lent).
Ecola Creek Forest
Reserve looking to
expand by 29 acres
City seeking
grant to buy
land owned
by Swigarts
By Erick Bengel
Cannon Beach Gazette
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
The city of Cannon
Beach hopes to add an-
other 29 acres to the Eco-
la Creek Forest Reserve
within the next couple of
years by adding a parcel
currently owned by Terry
and Carmen Swigart.
Last month, the city
sent a letter of interest to
the Oregon Watershed
Enhancement
Board,
which is administering a
$228,000 grant for “land
acquisition and resto-
ration proMects that bene¿ t
coastal watersheds” using
funds from the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service.
If the watershed board
gives Cannon Beach the
go-ahead this month, the
city will submit a full
grant application in Feb-
ruary. The city will learn
whether it got the grant
next summer, City Plan-
ner Mark Barnes said. The
See Ecola, Page 5A
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
Rodney Smith, center, of Seaside, helps his son, Ryan Smith. right, 10, and Jasmine Schemerhorn, left , 8, carry a box to the
community room of the Elk Terrace Apartments. Smith said the Cub Scouts talk about the annual gift basket event long
aft er its over and refl ect on the diff erent kinds of Christmases among families from diff erent income levels.
Move in store for Sroufe memorial fountain
City to repair and relocate historic
drinking fountain near library
By Erick Bengel
Cannon Beach Gazette
A fountain that was
created to honor an active
community resident 40
years ago will be moved to
a more prominent location
in his honor.
The Cannon Beach’s
public art committee aims
to repair the Sroufe memo-
rial fountain and relocate
it from behind the Can-
non Beach Chamber of
Commerce to the Cannon
Beach Library property.
The drinking foun-
tain — a roughly 3-foot-
tall slab crowned with a
bronze oyster shell sculp-
ture atop several smaller
bronze shells — was built
and dedicated to Cannon
Beach
citizen-at-large
James Harley Sroufe
shortly after his death
in 1964. It was designed
by prominent Portland
architect and Cannon
Beach resident the late
John Yeon, a friend of the
Sroufe family, who owned
property on Chapman
Point.
Harley Sroufe, who
owned Sroufe’s Grocery
on North Hemlock Street
from 1951 until his death,
was a member of the city
parks committee and led
the charge to establish
Th e Harley Sroufe
memorial fountain
resides behind the
Cannon Beach Cham-
ber of Commerce
near the tennis courts.
It was designed by
renowned Portland
architect John Yeon.
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
Cannon Beach City Park.
“Our father was one of
the main movers to get that
park created,” his young-
est son, Peter Sroufe, said.
“He was a highly respect-
ed and loved man in the
community.”
Out of the way
The fountain erected
in Harley Sroufe’s hon-
or originally stood in the
city park he helped create,
before the play equipment
was built, Public Works
Director Dan Grassick
said. For a time, the foun-
tain sat near the Christian
Conference Center.
Its current location, be-
tween the chamber build-
ing and the tennis courts on
See Fountain, Page 8A