NOVEMBER 3, 2017 • VOL. 41, ISSUE 22
WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM
COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Delays, controversy hinder pot shop openings
City councilors
to review rules,
comprehensive plan
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Almost a year has passed since
residents narrowly voted to allow
recreational marijuana sales . But as
retailers apply to open stores , con-
versations about appropriate loca-
tions and procedure have unsettled
the community .
T hree marijuana retailers have
submitted land use compatibility
statements to operate . Each are at dif-
ferent stages of the permitting process.
But one — Five Zero Trees at 140 S.
Hemlock St. — has been inspected by
the Oregon Liquor Control Commis-
sion and is expected to open within
the next few weeks, pending the city’s
approval of a business license.
Earlier this year, controversy sur-
rounding the Hemlock Street loca-
tion led city councilors to reevaluate
an ordinance that spells out where
and how marijuana shops can op-
erate . The issue came up after Matt
Ennis, a resident at 140 S. Hemlock,
told the city at a July meeting that his
landlord planned to evict him to rent
the commercial space under him to
Five Zero Trees.
Councilors voted 3-2 to maintain
the ordinance, which prohibits mari-
juana stores in mixed-use buildings to
adhere to the community’s desire to
keep marijuana out of residential ar-
eas. The building meets the city code
for a marijuana store because the res-
idents have since moved out and the
building is no longer mixed-use.
Despite this, the Ecola Square
Homeowners Association, spear-
headed by David Frei, is still urging
the city to deny a business license
to Five Zero Trees, citing concerns
about the application process and
inconsistencies with the comprehen-
sive plan.
“By not informing the p lanning
d irector of the apartments in the
building, they led the p lanning d i-
rector into saying that the property
in question was in fact compatible
with the city code and zoning when
in reality it was not,” Frei said in an
email.
After hearing Frei’s concerns,
city councilors decided at an Octo-
ber work session they wanted to take
another look at the comprehensive
plan and put the marijuana ordinance
back on the agenda. Interim City
Manager Jason Schermerhorn said
if any changes are made out of these
discussions about the ordinance it
would not affect Five Zero Trees.
“I’d like to hear some kind of re-
sponse to the claims that this is a vi-
olation of the comprehensive plan,”
City Councilor Mike Benefi eld said.
“I’d like to have a discussion to
know what our options are.”
See Pot, Page 6A
A hoppin’ Halloween
Cannon Beach Academy kids
celebrate school’s fi rst Halloween
with costumes and games
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
K
ids dressed as princesses, ninjas and superheroes all de-
scended upon Tolovana Hall Monday night for Cannon
Beach Academy’s fi rst Halloween party.
Infl atable pumpkins, hacky sack games, witchy crafts
and ghoulish cupcakes marked the season. Community
members and parents donated bags of candy and watched as the
students played in the infl atable bouncy house.
The party also marked roughly two months since the charter
school opened its doors.
“It’s been wonderful,” said Emma Molyneux, a parent of
two children enrolled. “At bigger schools you have to fi ght for
volunteer time, but in a small classroom setting it’s easier to get
to know all the kids.”
The volunteering spirit is part of what Molyneux thinks
makes the school special, working with the other parents to help
serve lunch or to haul boxes of personal Halloween decorations
for a party.
“I suppose I’ve always been a Halloween person,” Moly-
neux laughed.
The Halloween party is one in a series of fi rsts for the acad-
emy. In the past two months, students have taken their school
photos, participated in a mock farmers market to learn about
their food and where it comes from, and completed a collabora-
tive art project for the Lower Columbia Hispanic Council to cel-
ebrate Dia de los Muertos, Executive Director Amy Moore said.
See Party, Page 6A
AMELIA O’CONNOR
Cormorants nesting at Cape Falcon Ma-
rine Reserve.
Tracking
reserve’s
cormorants
Volunteers help collect
data on bird colonies
By Katie Frankowicz
EO Media Group
The cormorants always saw the eagles
before he did.
Jeremy Sappington would be at his spot-
ting scope above Devil’s Cauldron in Os-
wald West State Park, watching the sea birds
as they cleaned, preened and clamored.
Then, suddenly, the birds would go deathly
still. Out of the corner of his eye, Sapping-
ton would see an eagle cruise past the cliffs.
Sappington, who lives in Manzanita, was
one of over a dozen volunteers who spent
the summer observing cormorants at the
Cape Falcon Marine Reserve. One day each
week, they set up their scopes and honed
in on the colonies, recording the number
of eggs in nests and keeping track of the
chicks’ development from afar.
The data they collected feeds broad, ae-
rial surveys conducted by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service each year. While the agen-
cy can collect general information about the
number of birds present in a region, com-
munity scientists are helping paint a more
detailed picture of how the birds are faring.
Doing this work without volunteers
would be challenging, especially for agen-
cies like Fish and Wildlife where there is
less and less funding to go around, said Joe
Liebezeit, avian conservation manager for
the Audubon Society of Portland.
“More and more, community science is
going to be important for agencies and (or-
ganizations) like Audubon,” he said.
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
Citizen science
The Cape Falcon Marine Reserve, lo-
cated between the Falcon Cove natural area
Jacob Carlsen attends a Halloween celebration at the Cannon Beach Academy on Monday.
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
See Birds, Page 6A
Volunteer eff orts celebrated at HRAP party
Haystack Rock Awareness
Program promotes
education, cleanup eff orts
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Dozens of people dressed as creatures from the
land and sea fi lled City Hall Saturday to celebrate
Haystack Rock Awareness Program’s end of the
season.
The party, which featured an assortment of Hal-
loween-themed treats and a silent auction, served
as a way to say thank you volunteers who help edu-
cate people on the beach and in the classroom about
Haystack Rock and general environmental steward-
ship, program coordinator Melissa Keyser said.
Some of the highlights the program saw this
year was the addition of more educational programs
for children, as well as the expansion of a clean
up event that fi lters microplastics out of Cannon
Beach’s sand, Keyser said.
This year alone, dozens from as local as Cannon
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Haystack Rock Awareness Program coordinator
Melissa Keyser and education coordinator Lisa
Habecker share a laugh at the program’s end-of-
year party last Saturday, Oct. 28.
Beach to as far away as Washington state donat-
ed 2,560 hours of volunteers hours. In those hours,
they helped remind 901 people to keep their dogs
on leash around the tidepools, told more than 650
people to stop climbing the rock and overall talked
with more than 87,000 people on the beach.
Each year the volunteer who contributed the
most hours is recognized, and for the fi rst time ever
that award went to one of the program’s junior vol-
unteers, Jacie Gregory, who clocked in 141 hours.
“I’ve been volunteering for about two years ago,
when my mom saw me not doing anything during
the summer, she said ‘Hey, HRAP looks fun,’”
Gregory said. “I love doing it now.”
There’s lots to love in role, Gregory said — the
people, the puffi ns, and when it happens, sunny
days on the beach. While it started as a way for
the Seaside local to spend her summers, being the
beach has inspired a deeper interest in the marine
sciences, which she hopes to pursue after high
school.
While overall volunteer hours dropped this year,
Keyser said this year she had the highest number
of volunteers under the age of 18 in the program’s
history.
“Jacie was always there, ready to do whatever
we needed whenever. She brought such a positive
energy to the offi ce,” Keyser said. “I don’t think
people understand how much (volunteers) do to
make all of this program work.”