AUGUST 26, 2016 • VOL. 40, ISSUE 18
WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM
COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Cannon Beach weighs afordable housing options
Task force moves
forward, with some
pushback
By Lyra Fontaine
Cannon Beach Gazette
The Cannon Beach affordable
housing task force has zeroed in on
rental housing for middle-income
residents, moving closer to identify-
ing locations for workforce units and
concentrating on areas outside of
downtown to conserve parking and
provide lower-cost alternatives.
City goals include providing 25
affordable housing units by 2018,
then adding 25 more units by 2020.
“I think what makes Cannon
Beach unique is that you own the
land,” Todd Johnston, Northwest Or-
egon Housing Authority executive
director and a task force member,
said at a meeting last week. “What
has made it dificult in other com-
munities is there’s no place to build.
A developer would have to come in
and purchase the land.”
The task force has seen 24- and
25-unit affordable housing concepts
for the RV Park on Haskell Lane
and the downtown Spruce Street
parking lot, and a nine-unit design
for affordable housing at the former
Cannon Beach Children’s Center in
Tolovana Park. In a inal report to the
council, the task force might not sug-
gest housing in downtown, but may
recommend using small park model
homes as one portion of affordable
housing on the city-owned RV Park.
Consultant Terri Silvis estimated the
parking lot option would cost about
$4.5 million, the children’s center
property $1.7 million and the RV
Park about $5 million. The numbers
BAGPIPE SUNSET IN CANNON BEACH
A change
of use for
former
children’s
center
assume each square foot is $150 and
the city leases land to a real estate
developer. Task force members dis-
cussed opportunities for local fund-
ing and private investors.
Narrowing down the options
The task force agreed that putting
affordable housing on the down-
town Spruce Street parking lot was
See Housing, Page 7A
Details of
Seaside
bond vote
coming in
September
Options include
community event
space, afordable
housing
District hopes to
relocate three
at-risk schools
By R.J. Marx
By Lyra Fontaine
Cannon Beach Gazette
Cannon Beach Gazette
The former Cannon Beach
Children’s Center building is va-
cant, but could be used as a com-
munity hall soon — or eventually
torn down for affordable housing
units.
As the city works toward its
goal of increasing affordable hous-
ing, Cannon Beach city councilors
will explore how the structurally
sound building can be used. Build-
ing housing on the site or using the
existing space for a community
hall were discussed as potential
options at a work session Tuesday,
Aug. 9.
Another idea is to use the
space as an interim community
hall while the city decides wheth-
er affordable housing is viable on
the site.
“It’s a wonderful asset, no mat-
ter what you decide to do with it,”
City Manager Brant Kucera said.
“It could be a great site for afford-
able housing but it could also be a
great site for a community hall or
senior center.”
The building became city prop-
erty after the children’s center
closed in April due to lack of funds
and declining enrollment.
Kucera said the building could
become a maintenance issue in
terms of landscaping and paying
for heat in the winter. He asked
the council to begin thinking about
how to use the building in the next
couple of months.
“From staff’s perspective, we
want to know what road we’re go-
ing to go down,” he said.
Housing, community
hall are options
In a letter, Cannon Beach
Children’s Center board president
Barb Knop proposed keeping the
The unknown Scotsman
While watching the sunset at Tolovana Thursday, Aug. 18, visitors were treated to a bag-
pipe farewell to the setting sun by an unknown Scotsman. “This seemed a novel way to
celebrate the closing of another day,” commented photographer Bob Kroll.
BOB KROLL PHOTO/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Finding the way to
safely evacuate from
Haystack Rock
PAID
By Lyra Fontaine
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
See Bond, Page 7A
New blue lines mark tsunami safe zones
See Hall, Page 7A
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
Seaside School District Su-
perintendent-emeritus
Doug
Dougherty said details of a bond
vote for a new campus will be
unveiled next week.
In announcing the Sept. 1
meeting, Dougherty also thanked
Weyerhaeuser Co. for a gift of
80 acres to be used for the relo-
cation.
A $128.8 million bond mea-
sure to relocate the schools on a
hill east of Seaside Heights Ele-
mentary School failed in 2013.
The amount of the new bond
will be guided by results from a
polling irm, Dougherty said in
July, and will likely be less than
$100 million.
The proposal will be shared
at the board meeting and it’s al-
ways possible that the board may
change the presented language,
Dougherty said.
According to Dougherty, the
district “faces a predicament
without precedent or equivalent
in Oregon.” Three of the district’s
four schools are located just a
few feet above sea level within
the tsunami inundation zone.
Three schools — Broadway
Middle, Seaside High School
and Gearhart Elementary School
— are too far from high ground
Cannon Beach Gazette
“Follow me” are two words
Jeneé Pearce-Mushen encourages
residents to tell people in the event
of a major Cascadia Subduction
Zone earthquake. But to help lead
others to safety, one needs to irst
understand where to go when the
ground starts to shake.
A walk on Saturday from
beach-access stairs near Haystack
Rock to the assembly area, orga-
nized by Haystack Rock Awareness
Program, presented an opportuni-
ty to practice. The walk was part
of the program’s summer potluck.
Groups took about 10 minutes or
less to reach the assembly area. The
goal is to reach an assembly area
within 15 to 20 minutes of an earth-
quake.
According to the tsunami evacu-
ation pedestrian map, the best route
from the stairs by Haystack Rock
is to take Viewpoint Terrace and
Arbor Lane to the Midtown South
assembly area on Arbor Lane and
South Spruce Street.
The area by the rock is consid-
ered the Midtown South area. Can-
non Beach is divided into 10 areas,
from the north end to south Tolova-
na. Each area has its own evacuation
route map, which can be found on
the city’s website.
For more opportunities to prac-
tice, residents and visitors can join
monthly evacuation practice walks to
designated assembly areas through-
out the city. Led by Pearce-Mushen,
the walks were originally organized
by former City Councilor Nancy Gi-
asson to educate participants and test
routes.
Participants meet at Cannon
Beach City Hall at noon every fourth
Monday of the month. Upcoming
walks are on Sept. 26, to the assem-
bly area from the presidential streets
in midtown; and Oct. 24, to the as-
sembly area from midtown south.
After each tsunami walk, emer-
gency preparedness committee mem-
ber Les Wierson and Pearce-Mushen
provide a report for the city. Wier-
son’s recommendations after the
walk Saturday included painting
one of the beach access stairs blue,
adding another route sign and better
marking at the assembly area.
New blue lines,
signs installed
The Cannon Beach emergency
preparedness committee and the city
LYRA FONTAINE/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Blue lines, accompanied by “Leaving tsunami hazard zones” signs, have
been marked on Ecola Park Road at North Hemlock Street.
have marked blue lines on pavement
at two areas: the intersection of Eco-
la Park Road and North Hemlock
Street, and South Hemlock Street by
the “S” curve.
Inspired by blue lines indicating
tsunami safe zones in areas of New
Zealand, the markings are accompa-
nied by signs notifying pedestrians
and vehicles that they are leaving the
tsunami hazard zone.
Wierson said the blue lines raise
daily awareness, reduce the number
of signs needed and allow people to
plan their own evacuation route.
“If people don’t have a map, they
will see it with signs and by the mark
in the pavement,” he said.
The emergency preparedness
committee has worked on the blue
line project for about a year and a
half, chairwoman and founder Kar-
olyn Adamson said. The committee
has spent many years working on
signs and developing routes.
“We’ve made a lot of progress,
but we still have a long way to go,”
she said.