May 19, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 7A
County won’t budge on Arch
Cape committee dissolution
County intends
to disband
panel
BUSINESS
DIRECTORY
H EATING & C OOLING
Expert Service,
Repairs & Installation
By Jack Heffernan
Cannon Beach Gazette
Testimony
The hourlong hearing
Wednesday night included tes-
timony from five people who
disagreed with county staff’s
and most of the commission-
ers’ characterizations of the
design review committee.
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Residents in Arch Cape have fought to save a design review committee.
Opponents have raised con-
cerns about Arch Cape resi-
dents losing power to review
lands in their community. But
neighborhood associations and
amendments to the county de-
velopment code could provide
review in the absence of the
committee, Community De-
velopment Director Heather
Hansen said.
“The issue before you to-
night is not whether citizen
involvement is important to the
Clatsop County Board of Com-
missioners,” Hansen said. “It’s
about the appropriate role for
a county-appointed committee
that advises on land use deci-
sions.”
County counsel Chris
Cream said the county has been
liable to legal ramifications be-
cause the committee has not
followed procedural or public
meetings rules. Commissioner
Lianne Thompson added she is
one of multiple Arch Cape res-
idents that has been confronted
by members of the committee
either in person or over the
phone regarding various issues.
‘Insulting’
Michael Manzulli, an at-
torney from Cannon Beach,
said during public testimony
that the committee is advisory
in nature and makes no deci-
sions. He called the charge that
the committee did not follow
legally mandated procedures
“insulting.”
“This council is drumming
up all kinds of fear to get rid
of us,” he said. “This is a
staff-driven mission to dismiss
us, and it’s really upsetting.”
Tevis Dooley, a contractor
from Arch Cape, presented
commissioners with a petition
in favor of the committee —
formed in the 1970s — with
216 signatures and 94 com-
ments.
County
Commissioner
Kathleen Sullivan, who repre-
sented the sole vote against the
ordinance, said she hopes the
county will find a way to keep
the committee functioning.
“This organization has
been existing a long time, and
people seem like they want to
work it out,” Sullivan said. “I
wish we could find a way to
work it out.”
Because commissioners did
not reach unanimous agree-
ment Wednesday, the commit-
tee has staved off elimination
for another few weeks.
“The county is at fiscal
risk,” Commission Chairman
Scott Lee said.
City proposes funding housing project
Housing from Page 1A
employees could benefit,
Kucera said.
“I think it’s important to
have the sector that attracts
this type of work help offset
the cost for housing,” he said.
But City Councilor George
Vetter said in a work session
May 9 that the cost to busi-
nesses may outweigh the ben-
efits.
“I’m uncomfortable with
this whole idea. We’re taxing
such a tiny group of people,
and not making that much
money off of it,” Vetter said.
“If there was more develop-
able land in Cannon Beach, I
could see this making a differ-
ence.”
City Councilor Mike
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Cannon Beach affordable housing task force recom-
mended installation of four park-model homes like this
one shown from Woodburn.
Benefield said he saw Vetter’s
point, but would consider the
tax as one of many ways the
city can support affordable
housing.
“It’s not our only option.
It could help just supplement
expenditures,” he said.
Vetter suggested the pos-
sibility of floating a bond in-
stead.
“Affordable housing is
everyone’s problem, so ev-
eryone should help solve it,”
Vetter said.
City councilors will have
to vote to approve or deny
the tax by the end of June be-
fore the budget is submitted.
Kucera said if the tax is not
passed, there is discretionary
money in the general fund to
help make up the difference to
ensure the four new units are
built and operated.
Residents to see 3 percent water rate hike
Butting heads
During a special meeting
Tuesday, May 9, Grassick and
members of the public works
committee did find common
ground on projects such as
replacing brittle water lines,
upgrading outdated pump sta-
tions and fixing sand filtration
systems.
But there were clashes
over the necessity and cost of
a supervisory control and data
acquisition system, called
SCADA, that would automate
data-point collection and give
remote access to operators.
“I think we should be cau-
tious and take slow steps into
this instead of all at once,”
committee member Les Wier-
son said.
Grassick reminded the
committee to think of the
plan more like a 20-year wish
list to work off slowly. The
advantage of a plan like this
is so that when it is submitted
to the state, there is evidence
to say the city has a plan
to solve a known problem,
Grassick said. That in turn
helps keep a city’s insurance
rates low.
“You want to replace your
system every 80 to 100 years,”
Grassick said. “That is an in-
dustry goal. It’s about resilien-
cy.”
While the committee
agreed many of the projects
were necessary, they didn’t
feel comfortable recommend-
ing to City Council a rate in-
crease that committee member
Carolyn Propst said felt prob-
lematic.
“For the past four years,
the average amount of water
used per household has been
4,270 gallons. But in the rate
study, it was based on 3,270
gallons,” she said. “Funda-
mental assumptions were not
reconciled between actual us-
age and that is my main con-
cern. How can the amount of
water we use be that different
from one year?”
Next steps
The public works commit-
tee will now spend the next
week preparing what they will
recommend to the City Coun-
cil to adopt at the next coun-
cil meeting. But in the long
term the committee will need
to spend time reviewing pri-
orities and looping back with
consultants about alternatives,
Grassick said.
“Those decisions will drive
what rates may look like,”
Grassick said.
Some on the committee
believe that many of the proj-
ects included in the master
plans should be paid for with a
general obligation bond rather
than revenue bonds from rates.
“GO bonds are something
the people can vote for,” Wi-
erson said. “And it’s the best
way to have second-home
owners pay their fair share.”
It’s a strategy that has
worked in the past. In 2012
voters in Cannon Beach
passed a bond to construct the
wastewater treatment facility.
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Following a contentious
public hearing, a decision to
nix the Arch Cape Design
Review Committee has been
tabled, though its dissolution
may be inevitable.
The Clatsop County Board
of Commissioners voted 4-1
on Wednesday, May 10, in fa-
vor of an ordinance to dissolve
the committee, but needed
unanimous approval since the
vote was called immediately
following the public hearing.
Another vote likely will take
place at the board’s meeting
later this month, which will re-
quire a simple majority to pass.
County commissioners pre-
viously voted twice to dissolve
the committee, and an appeal
was filed with the state Land
Use Board of Appeals.
The appeals board sent the
decision back to the county,
saying it did not provide pub-
lic notice of a previous hearing
in a newspaper of general cir-
culation.
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BUSINESS
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