Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 2022)
Friday, March 4, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3 In South County, an advisory committee seeks more autonomy By ERICK BENGEL The Astorian As Clatsop County over- hauls its comprehensive plan, a citizen advisory com- mittee tasked with updat- ing its own community plan around Arch Cape has turned in a document that may vio- late state statute, according to county staff. The county’s compre- hensive plan, which hasn’t been revamped since 1980, will shape the direction of development — from natu- ral resource management to housing to transportation — in the county’s unincorpo- rated areas for the next two decades. The plan is composed of statewide land use goals, as well as community plans for six regions: Northeast, Clatsop Plains, Lewis & Clark Olney-Wallooskee, Elsie-Jewell, Seaside Rural and Southwest Coastal. Cit- izen advisory committees were formed to update each plan. Last April, the county Board of Commissioners chose to press pause on the update process. They were concerned about the pace of the advisory committees’ work and with some of the policy proposals emerging from them. The update resumed in August. In December, the committees submitted the results. As drafted, the commu- nity plans contain aspira- tional goals — a number mention ways to mitigate the local impact of climate change, a goal some county commissioners have expressed misgivings about. But the Southwest Coastal plan, which covers the wealthy enclaves around Arch Cape, presents distinct problems and may run afoul of Oregon law. The new committee plan may curtail the rights of property owners and con- strain how their land may be developed. The plan would expand vegetated buffer zones from 25 to 50 feet from stream banks. Areas identified as tsunami inundation zones may be closed to develop- ment. The plan recommends vacating old undeveloped plats, essentially dissolv- ing owners’ property lines, drawn up before communi- ties were sensitive to the nat- ural topography. In addition, the plan includes a section for han- dling vacation rentals, appearing to get ahead of a process already underway at the county level for regulat- ing the controversial enter- prises in unincorporated areas. As the North Coast becomes a popular tour- ist destination, certain areas have felt the pressures of parking, noise and other nui- sances more than others. In its proposed plan, the Southwest Coastal commit- tee recommends that short- term rentals be defined as commercial ventures that should be confined to com- mercial zones. They also recommend that the county adopt a plan to phase out short-term rentals in Coastal Residential zones by not allowing property owners to renew or transfer their licenses, and to consider rewarding with tax credits those property owners who end their licenses early. Narrative Charles Dice, the chair- man of the Southwest Coastal citizen advisory committee, who lives in Cove Beach, said the short- term rental language was included because the expe- dited deadline to submit the updated plan happened to fall before the county’s short-term rental discussion ended. “If we were going to say anything on what our recom- mendations were, we needed to get them into the report,” Dice said. “We didn’t have the option of waiting.” A county staff memo also pointed to “bias displayed in the narrative.” For example, a section that seeks to resurrect a qua- si-judicial Arch Cape design review committee that the county Board of Commis- sioners dissolved in 2017 notes that the vote was taken “over strong support from the community for continu- ing” the committee. This design panel evolved out of the last Southwest Coastal advisory commit- tee that worked on the pre- vious comprehensive plan, and took a heavy hand in the area’s land use. The new proposal recommends some- thing similar with the current advisory committee: “It is the desire of the cur- rent CAC that this commit- tee be made a standing com- mittee to represent the region in land use planning and other development matters, and to facilitate the flow of information between com- munity members and county government,” the plan reads. Dice said the board’s desire in bringing back the design review committee was to adhere to the first of the state’s 19 planning goals: citizen involvement. “We felt really strongly that, to adhere to goal one, it was really essential to have a better mechanism for local involvement, such as the design review board,” Dice said. County staff told the Southwest Coastal commit- tee that some of the recom- mendations may not be legal. “They had told us it would go through a legal review in any event,” Dice said. “So we figured we’d make our recommendations and let it go through the legal review.” ‘It’s ignored’ At a Board of Commis- sioners work session last month, the board unani- mously disapproved of the document. County Commissioner Lianne Thompson, whose district encompasses South- west Coastal, asked, “How much more public money — taxpayer dollars — and vol- unteer time and staff time and commissioner time do we expend for a group that doesn’t want to play by the rules?” A land use attorney will review the community plans. Dice said committee members were “surprised and disappointed” by the board’s reaction. He said the plan they submitted was not intended as a statement. “We only had one thing in mind, and that was to make sure that our recom- mendations … reflected the current state of affairs in the community — and a num- ber of things clearly have changed in our area over the last 40 years — and to indicate what the people are very interested in,” he said. A Planning Commission review of the Southwest Coastal plan has not been scheduled. The Board of Commissioners is looking to adopt the updated compre- hensive plan this summer. County Commissioner Courtney Bangs said the Southwest Coastal plan highlights a reason for last year’s pause. “Even when staff is giv- ing guidance, and it’s giv- ing valuable guidance, it’s ignored,” Bangs said. Incumbents pile up huge cash advantage to start 2022 races for Congress By GARY A. WARNER Oregon Capital Bureau Oregon’s congressional incumbents have piled up a crushing campaign cash advantage over potential challengers, according to recent federal records. The one U.S. senator and five incumbent U.S. House members whose seats are up for election in 2022 began the year with a combined $13,895,939 in the bank, according to the Federal Elections Commission. The bulging bankrolls are seen as a hedge against the political upheaval that led to control of the White House, U.S. Senate and U.S. House swinging from Republicans to Democrats, with a strong chance of Congress swing- ing back this year. “Incumbency still mat- ters but it doesn’t have the importance that it once did,” said Kyle Kondik, a lead analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “A warchest can help deter challengers in both prima- ries and general elections.” The 2022 outcome mat- ters beyond the individual fates of one of 100 U.S. Sen- ators and Oregon’s six seats in the 435-member U.S. House. Republicans can take back the House by flip- ping just five Democratic seats. The Senate is split 50-50, with Democrats hav- ing official control because the U.S. Constitution makes Vice-President Kamala Har- ris the tiebreaker if needed, in her role as President of the Senate. While candidates, espe- cially challengers, will pro- claim that elections will be decided on issues, the finan- cial heft of incumbents give them a larger, louder mega- phone to make their case. Even in races when there is little audible voice heard from any other side. Oregon’s closed prima- ries allow voters to winnow dozens of candidates in the May 17 election to usually no more than two when all voters can cast a ballot. Campaign fundraising last year has been fueled by anxiety over pandemic-re- lated redistricting delays. The geographical shape and partisan tilt of Ore- gon’s congressional districts weren’t final until an Ore- gon Supreme Court decision three days before Thanks- giving 2021. Congressional race fund- raising must follow fed- eral campaign finance rules, which are far more restric- tive than Oregon’s nearly non-existent limits on races for state offices. Candidates must still file for office with the Ore- CANDIDATE FUNDS FOR 2022 ELECTIONS FOR CONGRESS Candidates running in the 2022 election for Oregon’s one U.S. Senate seat and six congressional seats on the ballot were required to file year-end campaign finance reports with the Federal Elections Commission. The reports includ- ed money raised, spent and on-hand in the candidate’s main political action committee at the end of 2021. The list below includes only candidates who filed to create campaign finance committees prior to Jan. 1, 2022. Can- didates with who raised or spent less than $5,000 are not required to file a report. Candidates who did not file reports or had zero activity are not included in this list. The Oregon Secretary of State requires congressional candi- dates to file for office. The deadline for the May 17 primary is March 8. Candidates must file with the FEC to raise and spend funds. The FEC and Oregon Secretary of State lists of candidates do not completely match because of different timelines and requirements. ONLINE Gary Warner Final map of the six congressional districts on the 2022 ballot. gon Secre- tary of State by March 8, but it’s redun- dant — the FEC requires a statement of Cliff Bentz candidacy filing to raise funds. Many were on file as early as January 2021. On the flip side, can- didates who file with the state for congressional races without filing with the FEC aren’t in the race. FEC rules are copious. Individual contributions to federal candidates in the 2022 election are capped at $2,900 — no direct $1 million checks of the type signed by Nike founder Phil Knight in the 2018 gover- nor’s race are allowed. There are a host of addi- tional limits for contribu- tions to and from political parties and the extensive menu of different kinds of political action committees. The rules have turned federal fundraising into an art form, often in the form of “bundling” seemingly separate contributions from individuals who work for the same industry, union or other groups. Websites such as opense- crets.org parse contributions to give roadmaps to which candidate is getting a major boost from a specific group or sector. More than half of the Oregon incumbents’ haul was held by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, who is seeking another six-year term in the seat he first won in a 1996 special election. His year-end report showed slightly under $7.18 million on hand. Wyden gets his largest donations from those list- ing “retired” as their occu- pation. As chair of the Sen- ate Finance Committee, his Peter DeFazio Kurt Schrader second largest grouping of donations is from the secu- rities and investment sector, with the single largest chunk — $41,500 — coming from Lazard Ltd., a New York- based investment firm. Of the seven candidates seeking to oust Wyden who have created fundraising committees with the Federal Election Commission, only four filed year-end reports. Their total available cash: $78,529. Wyden has nearly 100 times that amount. The five U.S. House incumbents — four Demo- crats and one Republican — have just over $6.7 million on hand at the beginning of the year. While some races appear now to be slam-dunks, incumbents were unsure who would come out as win- ners and losers in the redis- tricting done late last year by the Legislature and reviewed by the courts. U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Beaverton inherits a highly Democratic leaning 1st Congressional District. Same for U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Port- land in the 3rd Congressio- nal District. U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, saw his already heavily Republican 2nd Con- gressional District drawn even more red with Demo- cratic-tilting Bend extracted from his constituency. In the 1st, 2nd and 3rd dis- tricts, incumbents together have raised nearly $1.9 mil- lion. Opponents: zero. U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, started 2022 Ron Wyden with just over $1.26 million in the bank and filed a statement of candidacy for the 4th Congres- sional District race with the FEC in January 2021. With redistricting secur- ing a stronger Democratic edge, DeFazio announced late last year that he would retire. He’s endorsed Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle of Springfield, who dropped a re-election bid to jump into the congressional race. Republican Alek Skar- latos of Roseburg, who lost a tight race to DeFazio in 2020, is trying again. He is the best financed chal- lenger in any congressio- nal race, with $348,367 in See this story at seasidesignal.com to see a list of candi- dates and their campaign funds. the bank at the start of 2022. He’s also receiving money from two political action committees set up to share money between multiple candidates. In the 5th Congressio- nal District, U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby, totaled $3.5 million for his re-elec- tion bid. While the district number is the same, the boundaries were radically shifted east during redis- tricting. He’ll need it to fight off liberal challengers in the May primary. Schrader or an insurgent Democrat will face off against a well-fi- nanced Republican in November. The new 6th Congres- sional District that Ore- gon received for its popu- lation growth over the past decade has no incumbent. Unsurprisingly, 11 candi- dates have filed for the seat with the FEC, more than all the other five races, incum- bents and challengers, put together. Alongside the national political uncertainty, candi- dates face two other key fac- tors: closed primaries and delayed redistricting. Oregon has 2,947,391 registered voters as of Sep- tember 2021, the most recent count by the Secretary of State. The total includes 1,026,313 Democrats and 729,676 Republicans. Both parties hold closed primaries, wherein only reg- istered party members can vote on May 17. The scores of candidates for offices ranging from U.S. Senator and governor to county com- missioners are winnowed to mostly one-on-one races for the general election.