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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2018)
6A • June 29, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com Finding the ‘right fit’ in Cannon Beach Almost $300,000 awarded by Tourism and Arts Committee Grant recipients CANNON BEACH ARTS ASSOCIA- TION — WORKSHOPS: 24,051 — 96 percent of funding. CANNON BEACH ARTS ASSO- CIATION MUSIC FESTIVAL: $10,554 — 100 percent of funding. By Brenna Visser Cannon Beach Gazette The Tourism and Arts Com- mission allocated more than $298,000 to fund a dozen events and projects for next year. Many familiar faces were funded, including the Cannon Beach Museum Cottage and Garden Tour, Savor Cannon Beach, Get Lit at the Beach and the relatively new Fat Bike Festival for either full or partial amounts. About $86,000 was allocat- ed into a reserve. But four new events and projects pitched generated the most discussion, with some causing commissioners to question and reevaluate the structure of what should qual- ify for the revenue generated from a lodging tax passed in 2008. All requests will be either approved or denied by the City Council in July. Here’s a look at three new events that were approved — and one that was denied‚ and the conversation that surround- ed them. Klootchy Creek Trail The commission was split down the middle over a pro- posal to develop a network of bicycle trails based 4.5 miles from Cannon Beach at Klootchy Creek County Park off Highway 26 on private in- dustrial timber land owned by GreenWood Resources. Com- missioners awarded about $12, 243 — about 49 percent of what was asked. A divided council voted to either not fund or fund the project minimally based on legal concerns presented by the general fund. The other $220,000 would be available to invest in ideas like public art, creating an event center at the former Cannon Beach Elemen- tary School or possibly funding portions of the Haystack Rock Awareness Program. The proposed tax increase, which is set to be discussed at a work session in August, would raise the lodging tax from 8 percent to 9 percent. The last time the lodging tax went up was in 2015, after the Chamber of Commerce argued new rev- enue would fund better mar- keting. The chamber is still in contract with the city to use the tourism-restricted money from the tax hike for promotion. The new increase was first suggested during budget com- mittee hearings by City Man- ager Bruce St. Denis as a way to address shrinking gener- al-fund reserves. Years of heav- ily subsidizing other city funds like public works, which has projects that can’t be covered by water and wastewater rates, has caused the general-fund balance to decrease over time. “If everything stopped, we would make it about three months,” St. Denis said in May, referencing the city’s reserve. Raising the lodging tax would allow the city to pay for items like the Visitor Informa- tion Center or a possible event center without having to dip into the general fund. “There might be other things that are clearly related to tourism promotions and it would be nice to explore that,” St. Denis said. Some in the lodging com- munity, however, are pushing back. Jason Brandt, CEO of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association, sent a letter to the Cannon Beach City Council in mid-June, raising concerns about the proposal. “Our concern has every- thing to do with little commu- nication between city and lodg- ing stakeholders,” Brandt said in an interview. In May, a Deschutes Coun- ty judge ruled in favor of the industry group in a lawsuit against Bend, asserting the city misappropriated lodging tax dollars to fix roads. COTTAGE TOURS: $25,429 — 99 percent funded CULINARY FESTIVAL: $23,143 — 58 percent of funding. SAVOR CANNON BEACH: $44,419 — 95 percent of funding CHAMBER OF COMMERCE VID- EO PROJECT: $16,500 — 97 percent of funding. COASTER THEATRE: $36,457 —90 percent of funding The Fat Bike Festival is among recipients of Tourism and Arts Commission dollars in Cannon Beach. FAT TIRE BIKE FESTIVAL: $16,804 — 97 percent of funding. KLOOTCHY CREEK: $12,143 — 49 percent of funding City Attorney Tammy Herden- er. Herdener raised questions about whether or not the trail project fit the definition of a tourism facility, which an Or- egon statute defines as “real property that has a useful life of 10 or more years and has a substantial purpose of sup- porting tourism or accom- modating tourist activities.” Because the agreement is only five years between the associ- ation and the landowner, this fact could come into question. Matthew Weintraub, vice president of the Northwest Trail Alliance and grant ap- plicant, said multiple cities and counties have used state dollars to fund similar projects without issue. Herdener also said the proj- ect was a legal gray area when it came to Cannon Beach’s lo- cal ordinance, which states that an additional emphasis should be given to grants where the tourism is tied to the arts com- munity. The project is sits right on the boundary of Cannon Beach city limits. Weintraub argued other arts projects, like the Fat Bike Festival, were funded last year and that noth- ing in the ordinance requires it to be art related. NORTH COAST PARTNERSHIP: $16,714 — 48 percent of funding. GET LIT AT THE BEACH: $29,143 — 97 percent of funding COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP Some commissioners voted against it, out of fear of possible legal challenges and whether or not it was “the right fit” for tourism and arts money. Others worried about how room nights would be counted since it isn’t a formal event. Weintraub responded that many events — like the art festivals — don’t have formal- ized ticketing and can’t prove “heads in beds.” The City Council held sim- ilar concerns in a preliminary review, with questions about the purpose of the funding in the big picture. “Is the council shifting its focus from arts to outdoor ac- tivities?” Mike Benefield asked at a work session. Those who fully funded the project, like Swedenborg, saw a trail system as a year-round benefit to the tourism industry, and that as long it was promot- ed as a tourist destination, the gray area “isn’t so gray.” “It’s an investment in the fu- ture. I liken it to surfing. Twen- ty years ago, you just saw a few surfboards on cars. Now they are everywhere, and we have multiple surf shops to support it,” Swedenborg said. “That’s where biking is going.” Music Festival For $10,480, the Cannon Beach Arts Association is ful- ly-funded to start a Music Fes- tival the last weekend of Sep- tember. It is an expansion of the Manzanita Music Festival, according to the grant applica- tion, and will be held in the Can- non Beach city park. There will be music-related workshops, lectures and performing artists throughout Friday and Saturday. Commissioners over- whelmingly supported this event. Commissioner and own- er of Ice Fire Glassworks Jim Kingwell commented that it’s an event the town needs, and that the grant would be a “small amount for an experiment with a lot of potential.” Earth to Ocean Arts Festival The longtime event of Plein Air & More Arts Festival was also funded, but with notable conceptual changes like moving the date to be out of the town’s peak season of June, and piv- Room tax hike undergoes debate Bed tax from Page 1A CANNON BEACH GALLERY GROUP FOR THREE ART FESTI- VALS: 56,750 – 100 percent of funding. Brandt cited no specific concerns with how Cannon Beach so far has planned to use the tax revenue, but rather takes issue with the fact local hotels and vacation rentals weren’t invited to the table be- fore an increase was suggested. “Local lodging property managers are the experts. They can help determine whether there is enough demand to jus- tify an increase,” Brandt said. “If the experts aren’t at the ta- ble for the discussion, how are you going to make the best of these funds?” Greg Swedenborg, the gen- eral manager of The Waves Cannon Beach, has come out against the tax increase, calling it an “extremely inefficient” choice since only 30 percent of the new tax would benefit the city’s general fund. “The other 70 percent goes into promotion, and a lot of our scuttlebutt in town is how we’re promoting ourselves too much,” Swedenborg said. A common argument for raising local lodging taxes has been that the impact of the increase is minimal, often go- ing unnoticed by hotel guests. But Swedenborg argues the lodging community is already “paying its fair share,” with lodging tax dollars making up about 70 percent of Cannon Beach’s general fund. He said continuing to raise the lodging tax does not ad- dress the problem of maintain- ing city infrastructure under the pressure of thousands of tour- ists. He suggested instead that the city find revenue by taxing a different kind of tourist — those who only visit for the day HALO: No funding. oting the focus to environmen- tal activism by changing the name to “The Earth to Ocean Arts Festival.” Some commis- sioners objected to the change, believing the Plein Air Festival has built a brand, and argued changing it could hurt atten- dance. According Jeffrey Hull, who submitted the application, the gallery group believes the June date is inconvenient and doesn’t fit the criteria of the “off-season,” and September could offer better weather and a chance to rebrand with environ- mental themes. Culinary Festival A culinary festival, pitched for a weekend in April, was giv- en $23,143 — about 58 percent of the funding requested. Spon- sored through the Chamber, EVOO Cannon Beach Cook- ing School owner Bob Neroni is organizing the event, which intends to feature four visiting chef’s to be each paired with a chef from the Cannon Beach area to celebrate, educate and appreciate the culinary offer- ings available in town. On Sat- urday, a larger festival event at the Surfsand is imagined, high- lighting a variety of cuisine. The event was only partially funded, however, because some commissioners took issue with the timing of the event being so close to the wine-tasting event, Savor Cannon Beach. “I like the concept, but I don’t like the timing,” Steve Sinkler of The Wine Shack said. “I fear it will cannibalize Savor.” But others, like Linda Beck-Sweeney and Claudia Toutain-Dorbec, voted to fully fund the event, arguing that the festival would ultimately be an asset to the restaurant commu- nity. “Bob (Neroni) is focused on preserving the restaurants. I don’t think it’s taking away — it’s adding to,” Beck-Sweeney said. Rockdance Ecofest A proposed environmen- tal film festival, which would be called Rockdance Ecofest, asked for $48,735 in funding but received nothing. For 10 days, the festival would have been held in March around spring break, and showed a number of environmental ac- tivist films and hosted videog- raphy workshops. While every commissioner supported the idea of an envi- ronmental film festival, most felt the proposal was still in the conceptual stage, and needed more revision before awarding funds. “We’ve long needed a film festival, but I didn’t feel comfortable with where this group was in the planning,” Toutain-Dorbec said. Commissioner Greg Swe- denborg also took issue with the timing around spring break, which is when the lodging community usually is already booked. powered by — through parking surcharges or a food and beverage tax. “You’re going back to the same well, and you are mak- ing people already contributing 70 percent of the general fund contribute even more,” Swe- denborg said. LEWIS & CLARK TIMBERLANDS Recreational Access Permit Public Notice All recreational activities on Lewis & Clark Timberlands Oregon will require a no fee recreational permit effective June 1, 2018 music fi rst SERVING LUNCH & DINNER OPEN AT 11:30 Tuesday’s Open at 4pm To acquire a permit (available 5/21/18): Go online to greenwoodresources.com and click on Recreation Access, or Scan the QR code using your smartphone at one of our access gate signs. Call 503.755.6655 for recorded information. Our goal is to provide a quality recreational experience while improving communications with our timberland visitors. 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