6A • December 1, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Committee recommends phasing in rate increase
Water from Page 1A
costs without dipping into
the general fund, according to
both Arndt and his predeces-
sor, Dan Grassick.
The sharp increase would
allow critical projects to be
steadily funded by ratepayers
rather than relying on hotel
and rental room tax revenue
— which, when the economy
is poor, can create funding in-
stability for these projects.
Financing 100 percent of
these high-priority projects
with rates would help the
department catch up on proj-
ects, as well as reduce the
impact on future maintenance
costs, Arndt said. But doing
this would require rates to
raise closer to 60 percent.
“We want to provide for
and maintain this system sus-
tainability,” Arndt said.
Most committee mem-
bers agree there are parts of
the system that have been
neglected and need to be re-
placed, but are uncomfortable
recommending a rate increase
that would finance any more
than 50 percent of water in-
frastructure projects and 75
percent of wastewater proj-
ects listed in the plan. Doing
so still generates $2.1 million
and $1.61 million for water
and wastewater projects, re-
spectively.
Most members have dis-
agreements about what in-
frastructure projects should
be considered as a No.1 pri-
ority, so only providing par-
tial funding encourages the
city to prioritize projects and
pursue alternative funding
options like bonds and grants,
committee member Douglas
Craner said.
“We want to encourage
the city to look at other solu-
tions,” Craner said. “We’re
not wanting things to fall
‘We want to encourage the city to look
at other solutions. We’re not wanting
things to fall apart, we just don’t want
it all to fall on ratepayers.’
Douglas Craner, public works committee
apart, we just don’t want it all
to fall on ratepayers.”
The committee also is rec-
ommending the City Coun-
cil phase in rate increases
over five years, which would
mean residents would see a
35 percent and 5 percent rate
increase for water and waste-
water respectively in the first
year, and single-digit rate in-
creases for the following four
years. After five years, rates
would only be adjusted for
inflation.
“There are things that
need to get done, and I think
we can do that with a low-
er funding level,” said Rich
Bertellotti, the public works
committee chairman. “We all
recognize issues with how it
was prepared, but this is an
outline — not a plan to be
followed like a blueprint.”
Lingering issues
While the committee vot-
ed to recommend approving
the water and wastewater
master plan and rate increas-
es, they did so with reserva-
tions.
Les Wierson, the one com-
mittee member who voted
against the recommendation,
said there are still too many
issues with the plan itself for
him to support rate increases
associated with it.
Wierson took issue with a
plan that appeared to be try-
ing to replace an entire water
system, which he deems as
excessive, he said.
“The proposed 20-year
plan is very large, especially
for a small city staff available
to guide, inspect and approve
the new construction,” Wier-
son said.
Craner expressed concerns
that the plan lacks “schedule
and implementation ability.”
The committee chose to re-
tain the current rate structure,
which includes an allowance
of 400 cubic feet of water us-
age, after deciding the alter-
native rate options provided
by the consulting firm Civil
West Engineering Services
would disproportionately im-
pact homeowners in compar-
ison with large commercial
outfits. The committee, how-
ever, is still recommending to
the city to continue exploring
more equitable rate structures
that would encourage more
conservation,
committee
member Carolyn Propst said.
“I think we should work
forward with what we have,
get an increase to pay for
some of these projects and
then take a deeper dive into
structures,” Propst said. “This
is not a static, one-time deci-
sion.”
Arndt will provide a rec-
ommendation that “follows
the need of the system,”
which could differ from the
conclusion of the public
works committee, he said.
“We aren’t trying to re-
build a whole system in 20
years. It’s good practice to
replace them every 80, and to
do that you have keep up the
progress, little by little, so the
system lasts in perpetuity,”
Arndt said.
Commissioner Bernt objects to changes
Housing from Page 1A
COURTESY HRAP
Wearable art jewelry made from microplastics.
Trash Talk: Marine debris
wearable art jewelry
The Haystack Rock
Awareness Program has
created a wearable art jew-
elry line crafted from ma-
rine debris named “Trash
Talk,” intended to support
the program and spark con-
versations that lead to more
environmental stewardship.
Participants are invited
to collect microplastics —
small plastic trash that wash-
es up on our beaches — and
donate it to be repurposed
into wearable art jewelry.
The Haystack Rock
Awareness Program is also
accepting donations of old
or broken jewelry that will
be reused in these new piec-
es. Microplastic collections
and old, broken jewelry
should be placed in a bag or
container and left in the gar-
bage bin labeled “Haystack
Rock Awareness Program
Marine Debris,” located at
the back entrance of Cannon
Beach City Hall next to the
Dumpster. Include contact
information.
One gallon of beach de-
bris is sufficient material to
host two to five workshops,
make more than 30 pieces of
jewelry or one art piece.
The art and jewelry
can now be purchased on-
line through the Friends of
Haystack Rock’s new Etsy
shop. A selection of special-
ty pieces is also being sold
through the Cannon Beach
Art Gallery. The funding
received through this proj-
ect supports the Haystack
Rock Awareness Program’s
ongoing efforts to provide
high quality student and cit-
izen science programs and
to spread awareness to all
visitors.
For more information,
contact Pooka Rice, Hay-
stack Rock Awareness Pro-
gram Outreach Coordina-
tor at 503-436-8079, email
lrice@ci.cannon-beach.or.us.
Revamped WOW! event
‘not just for women’
WOW from Page 1A
While the annual mid-No-
vember event still has a fem-
inine bent, Melissa Dupre of
EVOO and Buddie Ander-
son from the Cannon Beach
Library renamed the event
WOW! — which is how the
event was referred to casual-
ly — as a way to expand the
event to be more inclusive of
all people.
“I moved here a few years
ago, and I fell in love with it.
Why? Because it is amazing.
This event is to show why we
love Cannon Beach,” Dupre
said. ”We wanted to make
sure it’s not just for women.
It’s still geared that way —
still pink, still women leaders.
But this event is for everyone
— and every type of woman.”
Dupre got involved after
the former organizer, Wen-
dy Higgins, left town and
reached out to her about par-
ticipating. Before this year,
the event was sponsored
business by business, and
individual vendors would
receive the proceeds of their
sales. But in order to ex-
pand, Dupre needed to apply
for a Tourism Arts Commis-
sion grant, which requires
grant funds to benefit some
kind of non-profit.
That’s where Anderson
stepped in.
“I knew of WOW before,
but we had never been asked
to participate,” Anderson
said. “Last year, was the first
time we got involved when
Melissa asked if we would
have a female author for the
weekend. We made sure we
had a female author for that
weekend,” Anderson said.
“When she said she needed
to partner with a nonprofit, I
said ‘Hey, why not us?’”
With a $6,500 grant se-
cured from the Tourism
Arts Commission fund, the
two were able to expand the
weekend to offer painting
classes, craft events, chil-
dren’s events, music and a
poker night. All of the pro-
ceeds of the event will then
benefit the Cannon Beach
Library.
“We could take every-
thing to the next level,”
Anderson said. “Last year,
everything was done on a
shoestring budget. Without
worrying about pinching
pennies, now we are making
it fun.”
Since this is the first year
the Cannon Beach Library
has been the recipient, An-
derson isn’t sure what to ex-
pect from the proceeds. But
with hotel rooms booked
and events near full, Ander-
son expected it to be signif-
icant.
This trend, paired with
very little developable land,
makes affordable housing a
challenge. Bartl suggests re-
ducing the city’s parking re-
quirements as a way to entice
more developers to build.
“This is not a unique prob-
lem. Parking takes up a lot of
land, and it drives up cost for
the developer. The require-
ments are excessive, and if
you are using that land for
parking, that’s land you aren’t
using for housing,” Bartl said.
The issue of parking re-
quirements hindering afford-
able housing has been a topic
of discussion in cities across
the country, including Port-
land and Eugene. A study by
the Victoria Transport Policy
Institute in British Columbia
found that one parking space
per affordable housing unit in-
creases costs by approximate-
ly 12.5 percent, which eventu-
ally translates into higher rent.
It also found the demand for
parking in affordable housing
complexes surveyed was 50
percent of what most cities
required.
While the study mostly
considered urban areas, Bartl
argues these impacts are sim-
ilar in Cannon Beach. Bartl
surveyed how many parking
spots were occupied at Shore-
wood Apartments and Elk
Creek Terrace — the two sub-
sidized housing complexes in
town – and found on average
80 percent of all of the parking
was occupied by residents.
Bartl is also asking the
city to raise building height
requirements from 28 feet to
32 feet in the R3 zone — the
zone that permits multifamily
housing. Because hotels are
already permitted to be built
to 32 feet, he argues most peo-
ple would not notice a visual
difference.
His last proposal would al-
low developers to build multi-
family housing on land zoned
for commercial. Currently,
only 50 percent of property in
commercial zoning can be al-
located for housing.
In the interest of transpar-
ency, Bartl said changing the
zoning requirements is in the
best interest of Clark, who is
seeking to develop workforce
housing on land he owns that
is zoned commercial. But
Bartl argues the positive im-
pacts of these changes extend
beyond Clark’s project.
“Coaster has lots of em-
ployees, and always has a
hard time finding housing for
them. Having half developed
as housing is good, but think
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
Nick Betts with Coaster Construction paints a room in a new house in Cannon Beach.
‘People will always find reasons to oppose affordable
housing. (The Sea Lark Apartments) is a test case. Do you
want to add to affordable housing or not?
It’s the difference between rhetoric and reality.’
Rainmar Bartl
if you can make the whole site
more housing,” Bartl said. “At
some point you have to de-
cide what your priorities are,
and the city has signaled af-
fordable housing is a priority.
If you’re going to rely on the
private sector to solve this, it
financially has to work out for
them.”
A lukewarm reception
City Planner Mark Barnes
said he has talked with many
people who have expressed
similar frustrations as Bartl
and Clark when it comes to
attempting to develop afford-
able properties in Cannon
Beach, but said this is the first
time someone has gotten as far
as to request code changes in a
public way.
“There’s only so much a
city can do as a regulatory
body for affordable housing,”
Barnes said. “A lot is directed
at private developers. So we
do want to look at our code to
see if we have any roadblocks
that make it harder for them to
create affordable housing.”
During Bartl’s testimony,
many planning commission-
ers had reservations about the
changes, and questioned the
city’s role in creating work-
force housing. Some wanted
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to wait to see more progress
with the city’s plan to estab-
lish affordable tiny homes in
the town’s RV park before ap-
proving major code changes.
“Why is it that this is our
problem rather than the em-
ployer’s problem?” Planning
Commission Chairman Bob
Lundy said. He suggested em-
ployers should offer subsidies
and salary supplements so
workers could live in town.
Barnes responded that it is
important to make sure current
ordinances aren’t acting as ob-
struction for employers who
do want to provide housing.
Commissioner Joe Bernt
questioned the validity of the
parking survey Bartl conduct-
ed at the low-income housing
complexes. Without robust
public transit, some commis-
sioners argued cars are a ne-
cessity in places like Clatsop
County.
“I’m not sure if how many
cars you see at 8 p.m. for three
nights is a good way of deter-
mining parking standards,” he
said.
Bernt also objected to rais-
ing rooflines to 32 feet in a
residential zone, and said he
thought there were ways to
build three-story buildings
without doing so.
“I think we are better
off facilitating exceptions
and variances,” Bernt said.
“There’s not much land left in
Cannon Beach, and there are
houses that could be built fol-
lowing our current rules. This
R3 zone will be increasingly
valuable and attractive to peo-
ple who want to move here
and retire.”
For now, city staff will cre-
ate a draft ordinance reflecting
Bartl and Clark’s suggestions,
which will be evaluated by
commissioners and the com-
munity at January’s public
hearing.
“People will always find
reasons to oppose affordable
housing,” Bartl said. “(The
Sea Lark Apartments) is a test
case. Do you want to add to
affordable housing or not? It’s
the difference between rheto-
ric and reality.”
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