4A • October 23, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Who will be there to save us if the big one hits?
H
ow scared are you? If “The
Next Really Big One”
in The New Yorker and
“Unprepared” on Oregon Public
Broadcasting, haven’t worked
your nerves, please check your
pulse. An overdue natural disaster
could devastate our region — if
the quake doesn’t get you, the tsu-
nami will.
While we’ve been trying to
decide whether we’re living with
Chicken Little or the Boy Who
Cried Wolf,” it really doesn’t mat-
ter. We need the answer to, “If the
worst happens, where do we turn?”
That’s where, state of¿ cials
say, the Cascadia Playbook comes
in.
While it’s not exactly easy
reading — the operational plan
“doesn’t have any narrative, any
context, a plan or format,” said
Laurie Holein, deputy director of
the Oregon Of¿ ce of Emergency
Management — the Playbook is
touted as the state and federal gov-
ernment’s go-to document should
the earth begin to move.
But how valuable is it really?
State Sen. Betsy Johnson,
D-Scapoose, says it won’t make
much of a difference if we’re not
prepared at the local level.
“I think there’s more to meet-
ing this threat than putting up
little signs saying, ‘We’re tsu-
nami ready,’” she said. “It’s OK
in a high-level document to say
we take care of our disabled, but
what’s the practical reality for get-
ting some person who weighs 300
pounds down from ¿ ve stories?”
The Playbook
In 2014, state’s Adjutant Gen.
Daniel R. Hokanson of the Ore-
gon Of¿ ce of Emergency Man-
agement had a very good idea: a
tool to demystify “the very large
mountain of things: that needed to
be coordinated,” as described by
Holein. “Break it down with all
the different players.”
The document would detail
how state of¿ cials should respond
in the ¿ rst 14 days following a
magnitude 9.0 Cascadia Subduc-
tion Zone earthquake and tsunami
off the West Coast.
The Playbook is “a quick refer-
ence guide to what things need to
be done,” Holein said. “It’s kind of
like an aviator’s checklist before
he ¿ res up the engine: what things
need to make sure they’re getting
done, check the fuel, check, have
you done that with that gauge,
check.”
Hokanson proposed the Play-
book to former Gov. Jon Kitzhaber
and the ¿ rst Cascadia Playbook
was born in 2014.
Gov. Kate Brown liked the plan
too and this summer the Of¿ ce of
Emergency Management hailed
the release of the updated docu-
ment. The new Playbook, released
with some fanfare for an agency
usually in the shadows, provides a
checklist for state of¿ cials based
on federal, state and local emer-
gency response plans, which will
also be carried out during the
earthquake and tsunami.
This is not for the faint of heart.
The Playbook considers the
“worst disasters we would ever face
in the state of Oregon,” she said.
A Cascadia Subduction earth-
quake — a full eruption of the
700-mile subduction zone —
would be “absolutely the worst
event we would face here,” Holein
said. “We wrote it with that disas-
ter in mind and tried to do a very
comprehensive inventory of what
kind of things are going to be re-
quired.”
There could be 25,000 fatali-
ties, more than 10,000 buildings
destroyed and damaged; 10,000 or
C ANNON S HOTS
By
R.J.
MARX
Full disclosure:
I don’t even own
a go-bag. But I
am purchasing
fl ashlights, putting
meds and tools
in one place,
and reviewing
routes should the
ground shake.
more people in need of shelter and
$50 billion in economic losses.
Actions list how and when to
trigger a federal disaster decla-
ration, collect bodies, transport
supplies, or provide help in areas
destroyed by the quake. Shelter,
feeding, medical care, animal care
— all are critical elements.
All that and a bag of chips?
But Oregon State Senator Betsy
Johnson said this week she doesn’t
quite see it as the be-all end-all of
emergency preparedness.
“No, I’m not happy with the
measures the state has taken,” she
said. “We have too many agencies
acting unilaterally. There is not a
consistent coordination. It appears
that the planning is episodic.”
Johnson added the Legislature
tried to rectify this in the last ses-
sion, with a resilience person in
Gov. Kate Brown’s of¿ ce, respon-
sible directly to the governor.
Many cities along the coast
“have incredibly engaged constit-
uents that have done a lot of for-
ward-looking work,” Johnson said.
“There are others that have done
less so. While we have these silo-ed
plans, we don’t have, in my view,
a consistent expectation for what
makes communities resilient.”
She said she’s seen the Cascadia
Playbook. “I was up at Camp Rilea
when Gov. Kitzhaber rolled it out,”
Johnson said. “I don’t want to crit-
icize somebody else’s work prod-
uct, but I don’t know how a high
level planning document translates
into on-the-ground action.
“I think there’s a lot more to be
done on the ground,” she added.
State money is available for
state retro¿ ts for public buildings
she said, but in some cases these
retro¿ ts make no sense — for ex-
ample, when a school of ¿ rehouse
is in a tsunami zone. That’s going
to be more complicated,” Johnson
said. “If you take Seaside as an ex-
ample, they didn’t have site con-
trol when they went out for their
school bond.”
In order to get site control, Sea-
side needs to go outside the city’s
urban growth boundary. “Expand-
ing any Urban Growth Boundary
is incredibly complicated,” John-
son said, evidenced by the long,
well-attended and voluminously
documented meetings held in Sea-
side over past months.
Get your go-bag
All these tsunami pieces seem
to have a common thread, sort of
like the ¿ nales of “The Titanic” or
“The Towering Inferno.”
Full disclosure: I don’t even
own a go-bag. But I am purchas-
ing À ashlights, putting meds and
tools in one place, and reviewing
routes should the ground shake.
“We’re really glad the public is
playing attention to the topic right
now,” Holein said. “We want them
to know we are working very dil-
igently in our ¿ eld to make sure
we are recognizing and addressing
the needs of these type of event,
and there’s a call to action for cit-
izens as well. They need to realize
this threat exists and they need to
be prepared on their own to be re-
silient for at least two weeks.”
The only thing everyone seems
to recognize now is the risk.
“If residents live close to the
coastal area, they need to be very
aware, and if they happen to be
someone near the shoreline, if and
when there is that quaking they
need to get to higher ground as
soon as possible. They may have
10 to 15 minutes to get to higher
ground. Everything else can be re-
placed — but lives can’t.”
The Playbook
Initial response in the
event of disasters.
PLAY 1: Notifi cation, activa-
tion and authorities
PLAY 2: Life safety
PLAY 3: Damage assessment
PLAY 4: Mass Care and Shel-
tering
PLAY 5: Logistics and Re-
source Management
PLAY 6: Planning and Priori-
tization
PLAY 7: Emergency Repairs
PLAY 8: Outside Assistance
PLAY 9: Begin Recovery
Council rushed Nicholson project to fi t own agenda
I
n the Gazette’s article “Cannon
Beach property owner prevails
in state land use board deci-
sion,” (Oct. 9), Will Rasmussen,
attorney for the property owner
Jeff Nicholson stated, “The deci-
sion was, frankly, a win for Can-
non Beach.” We, the 66 members
of Friends of Cannon Beach, a
nonpro¿ t corporation founded and
funded to oppose and expose this
decision, strongly disagree.
Nicholson bought his 1/2 acre
parcel in 2014. It has steep slopes
and had, therefore, been restricted
to only the existing 100 year old
“historic cottage.” Immediately,
he asked to build “a couple of cot-
tages.” The city denied him three
times because it would violate our
steep slope laws. Unfortunately,
his lawyers found a loophole in
our code. So Nicholson appealed
and threatened a lawsuit.
Instead of standing ¿ rm, the
city endeavored to circumvent our
laws and agreed to allow Nich-
olson to re-apply to build FOUR
FULL-SIZED homes on his steep-
ly sloped parcel by simply calling
it something different. That’s how
the Planned Unit Development op-
tion came about. The city created
this option and gave it to Nich-
olson in exchange for putting his
lawsuit on hold. It’s that simple.
The relabel had to ¿ rst get past
the Planning Commission, which
was not privy to the PUD–for-law-
suit exchange. The Planning Com-
mission decisively voted 6-1 to
deny Nicholson a fourth time.
The City Council, however,
rushed the project to its own agen-
da. Two days before the Planning
Commission had even voted to
deny, council had already called
a “special meeting” solely to ac-
commodate Nicholson and vote on
the PUD scheme. The city sent out
two À awed and confusing public
notices.
On Feb. 10, council held its
rushed hearing. Opposition was
light. People felt the Planning
Commission had again done its
job by its denial and remained
confused about the process. Coun-
cil closed the record and tentative-
ly approved the project.
At the March 3 council meet-
ing, 36 angry citizens appeared
ready to be heard. Mayor Steidel
had already approved my speaking
during the public comment section
on behalf of our large group. How-
ever, city land use attorney Bill
Kabeiseman advised the mayor
NOT to allow us to speak saying
the record was closed (although
they had the option to reopen). The
mayor silenced the opposition, and
the council voted 4-1 to approve.
Only Councilor Bene¿ eld voted to
deny.
Friends of Cannon Beach then
formed. We grew to 66 members
quickly, with members citywide
and in four states. We raised over
$13,000 in donations ranging $25-
$1,000. This was a grassroots
effort by citizens who feel their
local government let them down.
This isn’t a local squabble or “not
Uncorked Ramblings
G UEST C OLUMN
By
JEFF HARRISON
President, Friends of
Cannon Beach
in my backyard” grousing. This
diverse group is dismayed by the
pro-development climate and ti-
midity displayed by four of our
councilors who bowed to a threat
and assisted a single developer in
circumventing our code. That’s
not the Cannon Beach way; at
least it didn’t used to be. Varianc-
es, rule bending or stretching, and
favorable interpretations should
bene¿ t the good of the whole «
not a single developer.
The Cannon Beach Historical
Society supported Nicholson’s
original plan because he promised
to save the 100 year old “historic
cottage”, thereby “preserving a
piece of Cannon Beach’s history.”
Some members even signed boil-
er-plate letters of support. When
they read in The Gazette that
the project would “allow him to
tear down and rebuild a decrepit
100-year-old home,” they quietly
backed off their support.
Our code requires PUDs to be
at least 3 acres, unless the Plan-
ning Commission ¿ nds the prop-
erty “unique.” Rasmussen claimed
the 1/2-acre parcel’s steep slopes
(the thing that prevented building
under zoning code) was the very
feature that made it unique. Our
code also says this PUD should
have 41 percent shared outdoor
living space. Rasmussen argued
that the 125-feet-long, 12-feet-tall,
interlocking concrete driveway
counted towards this percentage.
When challenged, he stated the
code says “should.” not “shall,” so
he didn’t have to provide the space
anyway.
The April 14 City Council
agenda shows staff was directed to
draft an amendment to “close the
loophole” Nicholson used. A city
of¿ cial said, “the issue is relatively
straight-forward: how do we make
it unambiguously clear that the
slope-density restrictions in [our
code] apply to situations like Nich-
olson’s?” The amendment is on
hold because Nicholson’s lawsuit
hasn’t been dropped. His threat is
still out there. The city says he’s
unlikely to drop his appeal against
them until his PUD is complete.
After the amendment, other small
property owners with steep slopes
couldn’t use this loophole again.
During one hearing, Nicholson
claimed Sierra Club membership,
and said, “that says something
that I like trees.” In May 2015,
nineteen of his spruce trees were
hacked (limbed and topped) for
view enhancement. The results
are proudly posted on “Lucie’s
Cottages” Facebook page. Trees
north of Ecola Creek and west of
Laurel are protected by code. Alert
citizens noti¿ ed the City and Nich-
olson initially faced a $9,500 ¿ ne.
In another letter from his lawyer,
Nicholson took responsibility for
only four trees and placed most of
the blame on the previous proper-
ty owner, David Ingalls. The City
Manager cut the ¿ ne in half.
During deliberations, Council-
or Cadwallader stated, “Change is
always dif¿ cult, and people have
gotten used to the property being
empty.” This is just not the case.
The concern of Friends of Cannon
Beach is primarily the disconnect
that exists between the values of
the citizens as reÀ ected in the code
and comprehensive plan versus
the apparent pro-development cli-
mate in city government. No one
wins in this scenario, except of
course, Nicholson and his law-
yer. The 66 members of Friends
of Cannon Beach certainly don’t
consider this decision “a win for
Cannon Beach.” Rather, we view
it as dangerous precedent.
Thank you, planning commis-
sioners, for correctly denying this
project three times. Thank you,
Councilor Bene¿ eld, for your
courage to vote “no” and your
common sense to see this project
for what it is: a bypass of regular
zoning provisions, solely to max-
imize density on a parcel of land
that has unbuildable or unusable
areas (see city code 17.40.010.C).
In Cannon Beach, steep slopes
and slippery slopes are very close-
ly related.
STEVEN SINKLER
Introducing one of Oregon’s most decorated wineries
You may not have heard
the big news, but Reustle
Prayer Rock’s 2012 “Masa-
da Block” Syrah was named
the Best Syrah at the 6 Na-
tions Wine Competition,
which was held last week in
Australia. The Six Nations
Wine Competition is one of
the most prestigious wine
competitions in the world
as top-rated wines from the
U.S., Australia, New Zea-
land, Chile, Argentina and
South America are evalu-
ated by some of the most
distinguished wine judges
in the world. The other thing
that’s unique about the Six
Nations Wine Competition
is that the wines are invited
to compete by the judges,
and then the wines are eval-
uated by the entire judging
panel.
For Reustle Prayer Rock
to win this competition is
amazing for a number of
reasons. First, being invited
to compete is a great accom-
plishment considering Re-
ustle Prayer Rock is a small
and relatively unknown
winery on the international
scene. Second, Syrah (also
known as Shiraz) is Austra-
lia’s signature wine. Imag-
ine for a second if an Aus-
tralian pinot noir came into
a competition in Carlton and
walked away with “Best of
Class” pinot noir.
Reustle Prayer Rock is a
small, family-owned win-
ery in Roseburg, but they
are quickly becoming one
of Oregon’s most decorat-
ed wineries. With a total
production of around 8,000
cases annually, all of Reus-
tle Prayer Rock’s wines are
made with estate fruit, which
gives them strict quality
control over the grapes that
are used in the winemaking.
Stephen doesn’t purchase
fruit from any other source;
he only uses fruit he grows.
It is this dedication to ex-
cellence that sets Reustle
STEVEN SINKLER
Prayer Rock apart.
I ¿ rst met Stephen Reus-
tle, owner and winemaker,
at the 2013 Savor Northwest
Wine Competition, held
here in Cannon Beach. Ste-
phen was a wine judge on
the panel that I was moder-
ating. Reustle Prayer Rock
wines have a great reputa-
tion and I was honored to be
working with him for a cou-
ple of days. Stephen and I hit
it off immediately. On the
¿ rst day of the Savor North-
west event, his malbec was
named “Best of Class,” beat-
ing out my Puf¿ n malbec.
Yet when Stephen walked in
to the room, he was talking
about how good the Puf¿ n
wine was. We introduced
ourselves and he asked me
if I had any wines in the
competition and I told him
that “Yes I do, Puf¿ n mal-
bec.” We both had a good
laugh and from that point
on, we’ve been friends. It
should also be known that
during that competition,
three other Reustle Prayer
Rock wines; Syrah, Tem-
pranillo and pinot noir, were
named “best of class.” I had
never seen a single winery
earn four “Best of Class” ti-
tles in a single competition.
When the competition
was ¿ nished, I asked Ste-
phen if he would be willing
to let me carry his wines at
the Wine Shack. This was
a big ask, as Reustle Prayer
Rock wines were only sold
at their winery and to their
club members. At ¿ rst,
Stephen was hesitant. He
explained to me that their
distribution strategy did not
include wine stores. While I
respect each winery’s sales
and marketing strategy, I
asked him to come into my
store and look at the quality
of wines that I carry at the
Wine Shack. My thought
was that if he saw the Wine
Shack carried Oregon’s ¿ n-
est wines, he would deem
our store worthy. Stephen
agreed and came into the
Wine Shack. He walked
around the store, looking at
each section carefully be-
fore saying “You, can carry
my wines.” Since that day,
the Wine Shack is one of
the few places in Oregon
you can ¿ nd Reustle Prayer
Rock wines.
Coincidentally, you can
come into the Wine Shack’s
tasting room and sample
Reustle Prayer Rock wines
on Saturday, Oct. 31, from
1 to 5 p.m. We’re pouring
Reustle Prayer Rock Grun-
er-Veltliner, Syrah, Tempra-
nillo and malbec that day.
Four delicious wines from
this amazing winery. As I’m
writing this, I’m not sure if
Stephen will be behind the
counter pouring the wines.
Since winning this presti-
gious competition, he sched-
ule has been very busy.
However, you can check
our Facebook page “Cannon
Beach Wine Shack” for up-
dates.
One last thing about last
week’s 6 Nations Wine
Competition, in the Syrah
division, not only did Reus-
tle Prayer Rock earn “Best
of Class” for their 2012
“Masada Block” Syrah,
their 2012 Reserve Syrah
took third place. Incredible.
Please remember to drink
responsibly and if you do
drink, please don’t drive.
We’ll see you at the Wine
Shack.