April 10, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 5A
Cannon Beach’s 2014 travel and tourism broke $1M
The categories break
down thus:
• Lodging industry reve-
nues: $45,784,199 (39 per-
cent of all spending)
• Food and beverage rev-
enues: $29,348,846 (25 per-
cent of all spending)
• Retail
revenues:
$18,783,261 (16 percent of
all spending)
• Recreation revenues =
$11,739,538 (10 percent of
all spending)
• Transportation reve-
nues = $11,739,538 (10 per-
cent of all spending)
Compiled numbers say more than
53,000 walk-ins at Visitor Center
Multiplier
By Erick Bengel
Cannon Beach Gazette
In calendar year 2014,
the direct economic impact
of travel and tourism to
Cannon Beach totaled ap-
proximately $104,778,653,
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recently provided by the
city’s Chamber of Com-
merce.
State survey averag-
es calculated by Dean
Runyan Associates allows
chambers of commerce to
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amounts spent in differ-
ent categories. In Cannon
Beach, those amounts are:
• Lodging industry reve-
nues: $40,836,675 (39 per-
cent of all spending)
• Food and beverage
revenues: $26,194,663 (25
percent of all spending)
• Retail
revenues:
$16,764,584 (16 percent of
all spending)
• Recreation revenues:
$10,477,865 (10 percent of
all spending)
• Transportation reve-
nues: $10,477,865 (10 per-
cent of all spending)
However, the only ex-
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lodging industry, which is
extrapolated from the 8 per-
cent transient lodging taxes
paid by the city’s visitors
who stay in a hotel, motel
or inn.
Last
year,
Cannon
Beach’s lodging taxes to-
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ure comprises the 6 percent
lodging tax collected by the
city, the additional 1 per-
cent tax for the city’s Tour-
ism and Arts Fund, and the
1 percent lodging tax that
goes to the state.
The economic impact of
travel and tourism is even
greater when one factors
in the “multiplier effect,”
which considers the mon-
ey that is re-spent within
the community by the peo-
ple employed by the local
businesses raking in visi-
tor dollars. The money is
turned over and over within
the local economy until it is
saved or spent elsewhere.
Generally, the multipli-
er effect ranges from 3 to
Walk-ins
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
At this year’s Chamber Awards ceremony, Patrick Nofi eld, center, president of Escape
Lodging, accepted the award for Excellence in Leadership on behalf of the company’s CEO
Tom Drumheller. Left : Sheri Russell, secretary of the chamber board. Right: Becki Sperley,
chief fi nancial offi cer of Escape Lodging.
7 times the direct econom-
ic impact, so, at minimum,
Cannon Beach saw about
$314,335,961 in economic
impact in 2014.
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are calculated from tran-
sient lodging dollars, they
only account for the visitors
who stayed overnight. It
doesn’t count the day-trip-
pers. “So add a whole lot
more people,” and Cannon
Beach’s travel and tourism
industry is a “much bigger
industry than most people
understand and realize,”
said Courtland Carrier,
executive director of the
chamber.
On the Seaside side
In Seaside, the direct eco-
nomic impact of travel and
tourism in 2014 totaled ap-
proximately $117,395,384,
according to Jon Rahl, as-
sistant general manager of
the city of Seaside’s Visitor
Bureau. With the multiplier,
that’s $352,186,152.
How do Cannon Beach’s
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those from previous years?
It’s hard to say; as far as
Carrier knows, the chamber
hasn’t run these numbers
before. Carrier compiled a
preliminary version of these
percentages for the cham-
ber’s newsletter in Febru-
ary.
And here’s another 2014
statistic: the Cannon Beach
Visitor Center tallied about
53,766 visitors who walked
in to ask for help. By
comparison, an estimated
20,000 enter Seaside’s Visi-
tor Center annually, accord-
ing to Rahl.
Council confronts some citizens’ concerns
about ODOT tree-thinning on Hwy. 101
cials determined that about
200 dead or dying alder trees
hanging over the road posed
a hazard to drivers and need-
ed to be eliminated. About
5,000 trees stand along that
By Erick Bengel
stretch of road, according to
Cannon Beach Gazette
Bill Jablonski, manager of
ODOT District 1.
The April 7 Cannon
Phil Massebeau, John-
Beach City Council meet- son’s neighbor and son-in-
LQJ ZDV WKH ¿UVW VLQFH WKH law, said the city should
Oregon Department of have “let us know what’s
Transportation cut down going on.”
about 55 trees from U.S.
His wife, Kirsten Masse-
Highway 101 between Can- beau (Johnson’s daughter),
non Beach’s north entrance said she wishes the city
and Sunset Boulevard on had asked its arborist, Will
March 9, and the council- Caplinger, to conduct an
ors got an earful during the independent review of the
public comment period.
targeted trees.
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“I’m not happy with the
that the trees would be re- result. I’m not happy with
moved and when they would the way the city handled it.
be removed upset some res- I’m not happy with the way
idents whose properties bor- the state handled it,” John-
der the affected area.
son said.
“It seems like you — the
people here representing No negotiations
Toward the end of the
‘We the People’ — have not
followed through very well meeting, Councilor Mike
with being diligent in your %HQH¿HOG WROG WKH DXGL
responsibility to inform us ence he felt the council was
Benefi eld to
residents: ‘We
do hear you’
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
Th e building that housed Dooger’s Seafood & Grill in Can-
non Beach for about 23 years, and has gone unused for
more than three years, may soon be home to a brew pub
owned by Pelican Brewing Company.
Dooger’s building sold
“I think it’s a great move
for the community to get
a viable restaurant back in
the location,” Blankenship
said. “It’s one of the best
locations in town, and the
Pelican Brewing people
By Erick Bengel
have a longstanding rep-
Cannon Beach Gazette
utation for good quality,
so I’m excited to partner
A new brew pub may with them here in Cannon
open at Hemlock Street and Beach.”
Sunset Boulevard in the
The name of the new
not-too-distant future.
business is also up in the
Hallmark Inns & Resorts air — it may be called a
recently sold the building “brew pub,” maybe a “pub
that housed Dooger’s Sea- and brewery,” or combina-
food & Grill in midtown tion thereof — but “it will
Cannon Beach for 23 years, be ‘Pelican’ something,”
and that has stood vacant Prinzing said.
since 2011, to Pelican
In addition, the brewing
Brewing Company.
company has not yet set a
Though an offer has timetable on renovating the
been made and accepted, building and getting its op-
the brewing company has erations underway, he said.
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Formed in 1996, Peli-
deal and is still in the rou- can Brewing Company —
tine 30-day “due diligence” whose original name was
phase, where the company 3DFL¿F %UHZLQJ &RPSDQ\
takes a closer look at the — also owns businesses in
building and its environ- 7LOODPRRNDQG3DFL¿F&LW\
ment to ensure there are Their parent company is
“no surprises,” said Jim Nestucca Ridge Develop-
Prinzing, CEO of Pelican PHQWEDVHGLQ3DFL¿F&LW\
Brewing Company.
Courtland Carrier, exec-
The plan is for Pelican to utive director of the Can-
close on the property before non Beach Chamber of
July, said Kirby Blanken- Commerce, said that Peli-
ship, general manager of can Brewing Company has
Hallmark Inns & Resorts. “a great reputation,” add-
“It’s not really over till the ing that he’s anxious to see
fat lady sings,” he said.
what the Pelican “folks are
The brewing company all about.”
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“We are really excited
for the building or what about Cannon Beach, and
equipment will eventually we love the community,
go in there, but Prinzing and we’re super excited to
said he expects the result be a great partner for all
will be similar to the com- the other businesses and
pany’s brewing facility, residents and (to) add some
Pelican Pub & Brewery, in more value to the commu-
3DFL¿F&LW\
nity,” Prinzing said.
Vacant space
may become a
new midtown
brew pub
‘No one supersedes [ODOT] authority in
that right of way.… How would we feel
if someone tried to supersede our right
of ways in our own city, you know?’
City Manager Brant Kucera
(about) what’s going on in
a timely fashion,” said Ed
Johnson, a Cannon Beach
resident.
Johnson lives directly
east of the highway cor-
ridor where ODOT em-
ployees and contractors
with Trails End Recovery,
a Warrenton-based timber
recycling company, felled
about 30 trees, 8 or more
inches in diameter, and 20
to 25 smaller “brush trees.”
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“being lectured to, and the
ones who should’ve been
lectured to was ODOT.”
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was “as surprised as any-
body” to learn that ODOT
and its crew were down on
the highway, he said; the
department had been post-
poning the tree-removal
project for almost a year.
City Manager Brant
Kucera said that, before the
thinning occurred, he met
with Jablonski and asked
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‘Developing a
relationship’
ODOT will not return
to cut more trees until next
year, Kevin Werst, the de-
partment’s transportation
maintenance manager for
the Warrenton Section of
District 1, said March 9.
“I don’t want them to
come back and cut more
trees, is basically the bot-
tom line,” Phil Massebeau
said at the meeting.
“We feel they’ve done
enough,” Kirsten Masse-
beau added.
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speakers for their com-
ments, telling them that “we
do hear you,” and that the
council will “work on these
things as best we can.”
Meanwhile, the city staff
has “spent a lot of time with
the ODOT personnel and
been working to develop
a relationship there that I
think is going to improve
the situation,” he said.
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means possible and the saf-
est means possible. And, in
their minds, this is safety.”
In addition, once ODOT
marked certain trees as
“hazard trees,” the depart-
ment became legally lia-
ble for what would happen
if any collapsed onto the
highway.
“You can question their
arborist in his choice of
trees, but ODOT is not go-
ing to question the fact that,
once they’re marked ... they
are essentially cut at that
point,” Kucera said. “There
is no choice in the matter.
That was made very clear
to me.”
ODOT told Kucera that
the department is willing to
negotiate on whether to re-
plant the trees, what species
to replant with, and how to
handle the understory, “but
there was no negotiation on
the trees that were coming
down,” he said.
Defending
Jablonski,
Kucera said, “the man is
a landscape architect. He
has professional training on
how to handle vegetation.
The man is not just an engi-
neer that wants to pave and
concrete over everything.”
Jablonski also “works
very well with the city” and
has shown interest in get-
ting input from the commu-
nity in the future, Kucera
said.
Buzz Johnson, LTC
Visit us online at
Present
Est. 1980
him to hold off on the proj-
ect. Jablonski indicated that
ODOT was unwilling to
wait any longer and cited
Oregon law 366.366, which
clearly states the depart-
ment can remove trees from
a state right of way without
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“That was the end of the
discussion, as far as I was
concerned,” Kucera said.
“No one supersedes their
authority in that right of
way.”
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was almost no way the city
could have stopped ODOT,
except “take our heavy
equipment out there, and
block them, and then get
sued for it.”
“How would we feel if
someone tried to supersede
our right of ways in our own
city, you know? It makes it
impossible to do business
that way,” Kucera said.
“(ODOT is) a transporta-
tion department. Whether
we like it or not, their job is
to move things along high-
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