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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 2018)
November 30, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 7A County study gets public hearing in Seaside A harder line on short-term rentals? By R.J. Marx Cannon Beach Gazette COLIN MURPHEY PHOTO Performers portraying the Munchkins react to seeing the Wicked Witch of the West on the set of “The Wizard of Oz” at the Coaster Theatre. Coaster Theatre hosts ‘Wizard of Oz’ onstage Wiz from Page 1A Ellen Jensen, who plays Glinda the Good Witch of the North and Aunt Em, said she went as Glinda four times for Halloween and is excited to wear the iconic costume. For Kelsie Peterson, who plays a tree, Winkie and Ozian, this is her first time be- ing part of a large production. Rosalie Ennis, who plays a Winkie and Ozian, is get- ting back into theater. En- nis grew up in Astoria and earned degrees in theater but hasn’t acted for many years. “I wanted to get back into it because it was a huge part of my life since I was really lit- tle,” she said. Coaster regulars David Sweeney and Sue Neuer play the Tinman and Hicko- ry and the Wicked Witch of the West and Miss Gulch. Lathrop said he’s playing the characters as not really women or men but just as their character: “They’re farm hands, and then they’re a lion and scarecrow,” he said. Allison Johnson plays the Cowardly Lion and Zek, and Katherine Lacaze plays the Scarecrow and Hunk. Lacaze, a Coast Weekend contributor, said she audi- tioned specifically for the role of the Scarecrow. “I’ve always wanted to play this role since perform- ing arts camp in high school. I thought it would be really cool to do it as a woman,” she said. Magic moments The Coaster has never staged “Oz” before. “I think we wanted to challenge ourselves and see how we could do with it,” Lathrop said. The show is a Royal Shakespeare Company pro- duction and is based on a stage that is four times the size of the Coaster, Lathrop said. The show will have a set that changes from Munch- kinland to the Poppy Field, Emerald City and the Wiz- ard’s Chamber. Other scenes will utilize wagons to rep- resent the corn field and the Tinman’s house. Costumes are designed by Judith Light. The show is using pre-re- corded music to accompa- ny the cast. Choreographer Lisa Fergus, who also di- rects shows at the Coaster, said she wants to honor the choreography from the film while still being original. Fergus said it’s exciting to see the actors master the movements. “There’s just a magic mo- ment where all of a sudden their bodies know what to do without thinking about it,” she said. “That’s the best part of choreography to me is when you see that moment, when it becomes easy.” Authors of a new county housing study came to Seaside to unveil results from the report. “This process is not over,” announced project manager Brendan Buckley of Johnson Economics, a co-author of the study. Buckley and Jamin Kimmell of Angelo Planning Group pre- sented two hours of numbers confirming what many in the audience already knew: there’s not enough workforce housing and for too many, housing is completely out of reach. Kimmell said a key strategy should be to keep higher-den- sity development at a high- er-density level, to make sure that land is used for multifam- ily or town-homes. For coastal cities that are more constrained like Cannon Beach, Seaside and Gearhart, existing lots that can be developed, acces- sory dwelling units and other approaches could be used to increase availability. While there seems to be enough supply of land and housing in terms of numbers, much of the supply is serving the short-term rental market, leaving not enough for year- round and workforce housing — “the missing middle: town- homes, cottage clusters and other types of homes that can attract first-time home buyers,” Buckley said. “Where will local housing go that won’t just be used as vacation houses?” Freeing up properties used as short-term rentals or vacation rental dwellings was considered a driving force in promoting housing availability. “You might want to think about it as putting commer- cial uses in a residential area,” Buckley said. Renting out homes is a com- mercial use, like a hotel room, he added. “Thinking of it in those terms can help frame it and differentiate it from some- one’s second home.” R.J. MARX City Councilors Tom Horning (left) and Steve Wright re- view findings from the county housing study. Members of the audience at the mid-November forum, in- cluding South County officials, businesspeople and residents, picked up on this theme. “Looking at the ages of the people in my residential neigh- borhood here in Seaside and looking at many of them and realizing they won’t be here af- ter two or three more years, and they’ll be selling their houses,” an audience member comment- ed. “The trend I see is people from outside saying, ‘I’m going to make a big buck, I’m going to buy a house and turn it into a vacation rental.’ I’ve seen that happen. It seems there’s a rub- ber stamp that goes on top of all those. I’m seeing our neighbor- hood become a VRD.” Others pointed to homeown- ers who, they said, rented their homes “under the table.” The Clatsop County Hous- ing Study, taken with the partic- ipation of the five county cities of Warrenton, Seaside, Cannon Beach, Astoria and Gearhart, with the unincorporated town- ships around the county. The study profiles and an- alyzes the current countywide housing supply, housing and demographic trends. Using this information, the authors intend to review exist- ing plans and develop projec- tions based on data and policies. Meeting the county’s need for housing of all types is the goal of the study. The study, available at the county website, provides details on population growth, house- hold characteristics and avail- able land. While the study says that there is “ample buildable land” throughout the county to fill need for the past two decades. Seaside is the most constrained compared to its 20-year housing need. War- renton, Astoria and unincor- porated areas have the most buildable land. County growth is about 1 percent since 2000. Warren- ton and Seaside are the fasting growing cities; Cannon Beach and Gearhart have been show- ing “slow and steady growth,” Buckley said. Planners used the indus- try standard of 30 percent of gross income to determine how much a person can afford, Buckley said, a measure used by banks and government agencies. Residents shared concerns that those figures don’t really reflect affordability. “Could we say the numbers don’t translate into actual cost?” asked an audience member, add- ing that utilities, taxes and other necessities are not figured in. Future studies could consider residential possibilities for soon- to-be vacated school properties in the Seaside School District, not included as available acre- age in the study. Residents have the opportunity to comment on the document, with findings posted on the county’s website. The completed document will include proposals for ini- tiatives that may encourage more production of needed housing types, as well as rec- ommendations on forming partnerships and “capaci- ty-building” strategies. Seaside Mayor Jay Barber shared the theme of regional collaboration, and like resi- dents, recognized the need to address short-term rentals. ”The solutions to the issues we’ve seen on the screen is a regional, five-city solution,” he said. “The mayors of these five cities are meeting soon to grap- ple with these,” Barber added. “One of the major issues clearly is that we need to revisit vaca- tion rental policies. That will be high on my list and I think that’s true of the other councilors and other jurisdictions as well.” Dining on the North Coast Excellence in family dining found from a family that has been serving the North Coast for the past 52 years Great Great Great Homemade Breakfast, lunch and pasta, Clam dinner steaks & Chowder, but that’s not all... menu,too! seafood! Salads! Seaside • 323 Broadway • 738-7234 (Open 7 Days) Cannon Beach • 223 S. Hemlock 436-2851 (7am-3pm Daily) Astoria • 146 W. Bond • 325-3144 Need help getting health insurance by the Dec. 15 deadline? 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