8A • May 19, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Cannon Beach Academy scouts new location
Original site
said to be too
costly
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Days after securing enough
students to open the Cannon
Beach Academy, the board of
directors will have to find a
new location before opening
this fall.
The last-minute change
came when the board received
a cost estimate of $245,000
— more than $150,000 over
the $90,000 they budgeted
for construction costs. The
original location on Sunset
Boulevard would need to be
renovated extensively to meet
state school fire codes, board
member Phil Simmons said
Tuesday, May 9.
“We budgeted $90,000
based on what my contractor
friends told me, based on the
square footage we were reno-
vating,” Simmons said. “They
weren’t envisioning code re-
quirements for school.”
The board submitted their
plans for the charter school
more than two years ago, Sim-
mons said, but weren’t able
to get a formal estimate for
construction until after sub-
mitting their building permit
in March.
Board members are now
seeking to lock down the for-
mer Preschool and Children’s
Center at 3781 S. Hemlock,
hoping to fast-track the pro-
cess amid a looming fall open-
ing.
New space
When the board originally
submitted their charter school
plans to Seaside School Dis-
trict, the Children’s Center
was not available, Simmons
said.
But the Children’s Center
closed in April 2016, and in a
lot of ways, Simmons said the
building is more suitable than
the original location.
ments in the last location were
dependent on the fact the
space shared walls with other
retail businesses, Simmons
said. “When I got the email
(with the estimate) I believed
we were done. I didn’t have
a plan to raise $150,000,” he
said. “I’ve been surprised,
within a day there was an out-
pouring of support of people
determined to make this hap-
pen. To open this school it’s
going to take that.”
School or housing?
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
The Cannon Beach Preschool and Children’s Center may
be an option for the Cannon Beach Academy, a new charter
school.
“We were going to out-
grow the building on Sunset,”
Simmons said. “In the Chil-
dren’s Center, we can make
this space work for the fore-
seeable future.”
Simmons said the build-
ing would take fewer, if any,
renovations because it already
meets many of the school
building code requirements.
It’s larger, includes a play-
ground, and during a walk
through, Simmons said Coast-
er Construction gave him
a ballpark cost estimate of
$50,000.
Being a stand-alone build-
ing also helps reduce cost,
because the fire code require-
Before the academy can
start constructing anything,
it must submit a conditional
land use agreement to the city,
City Manager Brant Kucera
said.
Since the city owns the
property, the City Council
must vote to give permission
to Kucera to go ahead with
lease negotiations at the June
6 council meeting. Then the
earliest the request can go be-
fore the Planning Commission
for approval is June 22.
“The timeline is tight, but
if nothing out of the ordinary
happens, and the council de-
cides to grant permission, then
I think we can do it,” Kucera
said.
However, the city has also
designated the Children’s Cen-
ter as an option for affordable
housing in a strategic plan,
Kucera said, with a vision of
retrofitting the building into
nine housing units. Affordable
housing has remained a priori-
ty issue for Cannon Beach.
“We would be moving
away from that plan,” Kucera
said.
If councilors denied the
property to the academy, or if
the permitting and construc-
tion process don’t meet the
fall deadline, Simmons said
students enrolled would just
be enrolled in Seaside School
District.
“We’ll do what we can to
move the process along to
meet all of the deadlines if
council chooses to move for-
ward,” Kucera said.
‘Wind therapy’: Three-day event comes to Cannon Beach
“
Bikers from Page 1A
“I envisioned a community
of women to organize rides, a
community to turn to for sup-
port, education and training
and find inspiration to live
their dreams,” Belcher said.
Women from all over the
Pacific Northwest rode to
convene for the company’s
inaugural event, “Flock to
the Rock,” the first weekend
of May at the Sea Ranch RV
resort.
The weekend included
touring trips down through
Manzanita and east county,
group dinners to share expe-
riences of triumph and stig-
ma, and a presentation from
Mary McGee, the first woman
to ever compete in motocross
racing in the U.S.
Four years ago, it took
Belcher a 4,800 mile trip
across 10 states in 21 days to
overcome her fears of con-
quering the freeway by her-
self. Now she hopes to offer
the opportunity of adventure
to other women, she said.
“That’s the moment I got
my confidence back,” Belcher
said. “These trips are about
empowerment. I wanted oth-
er women to experience that.
Because we all have (mo-
ments of fear), we just don’t
know how to talk about it.”
How it all started
Choosing Cannon Beach
as the company’s first des-
tination trip came out of a
conversation Belcher and her
friend Stephanie Luper had
while visiting the town back
in January.
“What started out as a
chat on the beach in January
became this event,” Belcher
said. “I remember Stephanie
watching the people on the
beach, and she said ‘I can’t
believe it, people are just
flocking to the rock!’”
Belcher hopes to make this
an annual event.
Much of the support
Belcher looks to provide
within this organization
comes from a general feeling
of stigma women riders feel
in comparison to their male
counterparts. Belcher said she
feels women are faced with
specific challenges, including
‘What started
out as a chat
on the beach in
January became
this event.’
Ruth Belcher
CEO Global Moto Adventures
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Stephanie Luper, Mary McGee, Ruth Belcher and Dionne
Haroutunian pose for a photo by Luper’s bike. McGee and
Haroutunian were both speakers at the event.
Ultimately, she had to ask
permission from the Ameri-
can Federation of Motorcy-
clists to even be considered to
try out, she said.
“They just didn’t know
what to do with me,” she
laughed. “But that’s alright —
they were just afraid.”
McGee said while her hus-
band helped her get her start
in car and motorcycle racing,
it’s the adrenaline and cama-
raderie between other women
motorcyclists that kept her
riding up into her 70s.
“The exhilaration, oh my
God how do you describe it,”
she said. “The thing about
motorcyclists is you always
have a friend. You pull into a
gas station somewhere you’ve
never been, and you see a cou-
ple people on bikes, and in-
stantly you’re friends. There’s
a special connection.”
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
The event name “Flock to
the Rock” came out of a
conversation Ruth Belcher
and Stephanie Luper had
about tourists on the beach
back in January.
Event
organizer
Ruth
Belcher laughs with her
friend Stephanie Luper,
who helped develop the
idea organize a group ride
to Cannon Beach.
Wind therapy
less sponsorship and recog-
nition of their sport in the in-
dustry, fewer gear options and
certain cultural barriers tied
with family life.
“They are stifled by fami-
lies or partners, and I want to
be that light that lifts them out
of that,” Belcher said.
It’s a factor that’s been
around awhile in the sport,
McGee recalls. The key-
note speaker of the weekend
started racing cars in the late
1950s, and then transitioned
into dirt bike and motocross
racing in the early 1960s. She
became the first woman ever
to race the Baja 1000 — a
multi-day, solo ride through
the desert — in 1968.
But before she could even
enter her first motorcycle race
in 1960, she was presented
with a number of challenges.
McGee, now 80, was attempt-
ing to enter races in a time
where she wasn’t allowed to
use a debit card unless it was
under her husband’s name.
Some men refused to take her
measurements to have motor-
cycle gear made to fit her be-
cause she was a woman, she
said.
Barb Brown was one of the
many riders who joined the
event after Belcher reached
out to her. She said she was
inspired by the location and
the company.
“I love riding with other
women,” Brown said. “We
powered by
don’t get supported enough,
so we support each other.”
Brown has been riding a
motorcycle from 38 years.
Her journey started out of
necessity in Rochester, New
York. She was tired of riding a
bicycle, so she figured transi-
tioning to a motorcycle would
be cheaper than trying to buy
and insure a car.
Necessity soon turned into
a passion that took her on
multiple cross country road
trips. While if she had it her
way, she would ride a motor-
cycle everywhere, but she has
conceded to commuting by
car in her current city of Seat-
tle because of rain and traffic.
“It’s wind therapy. Mo-
torcycling is special because
you have no choice but to live
in the present,” Brown said.
“And women motorcyclists?
We are fearless. We don’t let
people stop us from what we
want to do.”
Dining on the
North Coast
NORMA’S SEAFOOD & STEAK
20 N. Columbia, Seaside
503-738-4331
Since 1976 discriminating diners have
sought out this Seaside landmark. There’s a
chalkboard fresh catchlist, exclusively natural
Angus beef and a great regional wine list as
well as local microbrews. From Steak & Lobster to Fish &
Chips (and Chowder to die for) - this is worth the drive!
11am-10pm daily. Visit www.normasseaside.com
PIG ‘N PANCAKE
223 S Hemlock
503-436-2851
7AM - 3PM Daily
From hashbrown potatoes ground fresh
daily and award-winning sourdough
pancakes to homemade soups and
clam chowder, you’ll find delicious family friendly dining
at the Pig ‘N Pancake. Over 35 breakfast varieties and a
complete lunch menu, too. Our dining area overlooks a
beautiful wetland area and downtown Cannon Beach.
TO PLACE YOUR
AD HERE!
25
ONLY $
music fi rst
per
issue
Seaside Office: 503-738-5561
Astoria Office: 503-325-3211
COASTER THEATRE
PLAYHOUSE
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COASTER THEATRE PLAYHOUSE
108 N Hemlock St
Cannon Beach, OR
Tickets: 503-436-1242
coastertheatre.com
Office of Gift Planning | 503-228-1730
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