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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 2022)
Friday, February 18, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3 Gearhart Planning Commission gets first look at firehouse plans Goal is to survive all but the largest tsunamis By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal The Gearhart Planning Commission gots its first look at plans for a new fire- house and police station off U.S. Highway 101 near Highlands Lane. The plan, if approved by voters at a bond vote in May, calls for a 20-year $14.5 million bond cost, at a cost of about $1.15 per $1,000 of assessed home value. Commissioners reviewed preliminary design costs and drawings provided by Pivot Architecture, which has built fire stations in the past, including a station being built in a similar tsunami-re- silient manner, City Admin- istrator Chad Sweet said. Cost at the new site is about $325 per square foot. “We are required to build using critical infrastruc- ture designs because we’re relocated in a potential for a 9.0 earthquake,” Sweet said. “Our building has to be built very resiliently, so it’s expensive. But if you divide that, take that cost per square City of Gearhart Gearhart resiliency station, looking northwest. City of Gearhart Conceptual site plan of the proposed resiliency station. foot and multiply it by any home that’s for sale right now, it’s very similar.” The budget includes $10.9 million for the build- ing itself and construction, which includes $4.29 mil- lion for the 13,000-square- foot fire station, plus costs for earthwork, sidewalks, site improvements, water systems, lighting and a 21,500-square-foot open area for helicopter use. A 17% design contingency adds $1.2 million to the building and site construc- tion cost, estimated overall at $10.67 million. A design fee of $1.7 million and per- mits, inspections, equip- ment and other costs amount to $3.1 million. With a 2% overall project contingency, total estimated project costs reach $14.3 million. “This is going to be a station that’s adequate for us for some time to come,” Sweet said. “But it’s nothing really fancy. Our firefighters have changed over the years. Almost a third of our fire- fighters are females, which is fantastic. But it creates all these issues, especially when we’re sharing one bathroom right now with no shower and no decontamination.” The resiliency station will also act as an emer- gency operation center in the future so will be designed to be able to help us in any cases such as the 2007 storm, Sweet said, in which electricity and communica- tions were down for days. Plans also incorporate a future 2-acre park. “I think a park in this area is very positive for all the people that live in this area to get to a park more easily,” Sweet said. About 45 homes will be built by developers after the land is brought into the city’s urban growth boundary, Sweet said, about double what developers could have built if the land remained zoned by the county. A traffic study clocked 50,000 cars over the high- way last July during a 30-day period. Traffic from the 45 additional homes should not alter that impact, he said. A light could prove costly and unnecessary, estimated at an additional $2 million, and studies cast doubt as to whether it would enhance safety. “Right now it’s just not justified,” Sweet said. “But we’ll continue to do studies and watch that.” Overall, the goal is to withstand all but the largest tsunamis. “This is survivable,” Sweet said. “You see that this is something that we can deal with. It’ll be devastat- ing. But if we’re prepared, we’ll be able to recover faster. If we’re not prepared, recovery will take a much longer time.” Cannon Beach gets disaster prep grant By NICOLE BALES The Astorian CANNON BEACH — A state grant will help the city build sites that can turn into emergency village shelters after a disaster. The city was awarded $360,000 from the state’s coronavirus fiscal recov- ery fund to add resources to its safety and survival cache sites. The City Council accepted the grant in January. Warrenton and Cannon Beach have received all-terrain vehicles from the state. Warrenton, Cannon Beach fire districts add emergency vehicles as a water filtration sys- tem to pull from streams in the event of a water system failure. Warrenton will also add a tank and pump system to its vehicle, Warrenton Fire Chief Brian Alsbury said, once the city is able to fit it into the budget. The vehicle will also be used for navi- gating sand dunes. The fire department has relied on mutual aid and Camp Rilea for help in the past. “That’s really our big- gest, troubling spot is being the state has the option to request them elsewhere if an emergency occurs. The addition of the all-ter- The state has awarded rain vehicle, Alsbury said, is six fire departments across a part of his push to bolster Oregon with new high-axle, the city’s wildland response all-terrain vehicles. Clat- and rescue capabilities. sop County received two of “You’ve seen in the last them. few years, how these big The Warrenton Fire fires are happening in Ore- Department and the Cannon gon and we’re drying out,” Beach Rural Fire Protection he said. “The last two sum- mers have been pretty dry District acquired the rigs in … Unfortunately, our future January through grants from is getting warmer and things the state’s Office of Emer- gency Management. are drying out quicker and The vehicles are staying dryer longer, capable of access- and that basically is ing flooded areas, per- building a perfect storm forming water res- in a way. cues and fighting fires. “I want to be ready Benches in the flat- for it. I want to stop it bed allow firefight- before it gets here. I’m ers to relocate a large trying to do as much number of people in an as I can to protect the emergency. community.” Both fire depart- To test the rig’s effec- ments applied for the tiveness, Alsbury took it grants several years to a spot the fire depart- ment has always had ago, but recent flood- ing and wildfire condi- —Warrenton Fire Chief Brian Alsbury problems with — the tions made the vehicles road that divides Fort all the more needed. Stevens State Park from “It has been a long time able to get into the dunes Camp Rilea and turns into coming,” Cannon Beach and into the shore pines and Strawberry Knoll. The area Fire Chief Marc Reckmann really thick stuff where big is filled with deep holes. said. problems can happen if we Alsbury was impressed with Cannon Beach’s fire dis- don’t get on it right away,” its performance. trict plans to utilize the new Alsbury said. “We powered right vehicle for multiple pur- While the vehicles, con- through that stuff,” he said. poses, but it will primarily structed by a company in “It’s a remarkable vehicle. I serve as a brush rig running Bend, will be under man- think we were pretty fortu- out of the Arch Cape Fire agement by the fire districts, nate to get it.” Station. Since firefighters have easier beach access in The most valuable and Cannon Beach, Reckmann respected source of local news, thought it would be of better advertising and information for use in Arch Cape. our communities. The fire district plans to install a removable tank www.eomediagroup.com and pump system, as well By ETHAN MYERS The Astorian ‘IT’S A REMARKABLE VEHICLE. I THINK WE WERE PRETTY FORTUNATE TO GET IT.’ Rick Hudson, the city’s emergency manager, said the grant will help the city add electricity, sanitation, heat, lighting, generators and security to the cache sites. He said investing in and maintaining the sites will help ensure people have a safe place to tem- porarily harbor if the city cannot be reoccupied after a disaster. “It means there is a safe place off grid that creates a lot of resiliency to the community,” Hud- son told the City Council. “And there are other resi- dents around our area that would end up migrating to our location anyway due to the geographic island nature of where we are. So it does create a safe harbor for many, many people in this area.” Hudson said the sites are on safe ground, outside of the tsunami inundation zone for a Cascadia Sub- duction Zone earthquake. Developing the sites is costly, so the grant is a serious benefit, he said.