Spring is here! time to get ready for the beautiful weather and guests!
We do Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or whenever you need cleaning for your home or vacation rental. Please just give us a call and ask what we can do for you. Years of experience.
Please just give us a call and ask. 503-717-2585
Thank you so much for all your support, everyone!!!!
Exciting new classes in the Fitness Center are also supported with Friends’ funding of one spinner bike for Spinning Classes and for instructor certification. The A/V equipment provided for Adult Activities last fall is enhanced by Friends’ funding for a camera and microphone upgrade. A computer, printer, and wifi access for community use will be available in the mezzanine above the Welcome Center Lobby, thanks to Friends’ support.
At the heart of Friends’ funding are scholarships to offset fees for Youth, Aquatics and Fitness Department programs. Children and families are always top priority. Generous donations from Friends’ members and the community, along with fundraising proceeds, have made it possible for Friends to spring forward with widely branching support for our flourishing recreation district.
Join us in our effort to promote and support North County Recreation District by becoming a member of Friends of NCRD. If you’d like to make a donation toward one or more spinner bikes for the new Spinning Classes, your contribution will help acquire enough bikes to get the program off to a good start.
You may donate online: friendsofncrd.org home page; send your check to Friends of NCRD, PO Box 511, Nehalem, OR 97131; or take your contribution to the Welcome Center at NCRD. Friends is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and donations are tax deductible.
For more information, contact Secretary, Gail Young: gyoung@friendsofncrd.org
The Local Option Tax celebrates our right to choose. It allows us to demonstrate our continued community history of demonstrated commitment to enhance our personal and children’s quality of life by providing opportunities for growth and learning that is literally not available in many communities.
Supporting our Library with the Option Tax sets an example for our children and grandchildren of how important it is for each succeeding generation to renew their commitment to their community. This commitment provides a means for all of us to grow and prosper, not just as individuals but as an extended family who recognize and maintain their commitment to each other.
As citizens, none of us relish the prospect of paying more taxes. We don’t like the idea of turning our hard earned money over to a politician, to do with our money as they please or whomever lobbies them the most.
The beauty of the Local Option Tax is that it enables each of us be our own lobbyist and give their money to those public institutions that we truly value and support……our local Library!
Please vote YES on renewing the Library Option Tax.
Jack Bloom
Manzanita, OR
The new year has sprung!! We are here for you!
We do Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or whenever you need a cleaning for your home or vacation rental.
Please just give us a call and ask. 503-717-2585.
Thank you so much for all your support, everyone!!!
Dune Grading Application Denied
As the Planning Commission Meeting began on Tuesday afternoon I saw an email message pop up on my phone. In the subject line: 2998 Permit Decision from Oregon Parks and Recreation Department for the view grading application between Horizon and Spindrift. I opened it up and checked the link.
PERMIT DENIED! The best news I’ve had all week!
I went by the library and printed the pdf so I could read for myself how OPRD came to its decision and why the City issued the permit to begin with. Here is part of the text:
“The City of Manzanita adopted a foredune management plan as a component of the Comprehensive Plan in 1996. The city issued a permit on October 28, 2021. Through written testimony, the City has indicated that it has not supported foredune grading activities since 2014. The City submitted a statement for the record, confirming it issued a permit for the project while also explaining the plan does not appropriately balance the City’s current priorities or address public concerns about offsite impacts.”
I was so pleased to see that the City went on the record in opposition but confused about how we got here since we haven’t allowed grading since 2014.
The City failed to update the Comprehensive Plan as required between 2003 and 2006. The Comp Plan includes the foredune management plan. As the Zoning Ordinances have been amended over time adding a little here and deleting a little there, the Comp Plan and the Ordinances have drifted apart like a couple on the verge of a nasty divorce. While the Plan is our primary land use document with the force of law, the City has ignored the work necessary to give it the bones and teeth it needs to protect our town from what we’re experiencing now–rampant, cancerous growth, which has decreased livability and pissed a bunch of people off.
It seems quite a few things on the City’s Honey Do list just fell by the wayside between 1996 and this past year. The Comp Plan update and Dune Management plan, the digitizing of City records, an Ordinance update from the ground up, the failure to increase development and building fees to align them with our neighbors on the coast, not raising STR fees like other communities on the coast have. So now we’re faced with the cost, time and effort of doing all of these vital things at once…. and oh yeah, we’re building a new City Hall.
But enough of that. Back to the dunes.
OPRD’s report cited the public’s opposition as the main reason they’ve denied the application.
“The applicants are proposing to undertake a significant alteration of the dune, and the area of disturbance would affect 4.4 acres of land presumably dedicated to public right-of-way to improve views for 7 single-family dwellings on 9 lots.
After OPRD’s review of the request, including extensive public participation at a public hearing, it is evident that the public is overwhelmingly opposed to the project. The only identified proponents of the project are the applicant and co-applicants, who would benefit from improved ocean views as a result of the project.
Justification for this project to occur on land assumed to be dedicated to public right-of-way, against overwhelming public opposition, is difficult to establish.
“Because the land proposed for alteration is likely dedicated public right of way, the strong public opinion in opposition to the project displayed during the review process carries significant weight in OPRD’s permit decision…OPRD finds that justification for the project has not been demonstrated by the applicant, particularly considering the interests of benefitting private property owners weighed against overwhelming public opposition to the project.”
When we come together united with a purpose to change something, we can do it. We did it this time. Let’s do it some more.
To read the decision:
www.oregon.gov/oprd/PRP/Documents/PRP_OS_DENIAL_STAFFRPT_2998.pdf
Kim Rosenberg
loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com
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I just recently moved to Manzanita from Portland and I’m happy to be here!
I’m looking to rent a small office or desk space where I can work remotely during the business week.
Currently, I work full-time for Nike as a Color Designer for Running Footwear. During the last two years of the pandemic, I have worked remotely. I occasionally make a day trip to the Nike campus in Beaverton to work with my teammates.
The nearest co-working space I could find online is located in Astoria. I’d love to find something a little closer to the community where I’ll be living (within 40 minutes of Manzanita).
I’m open to creative ideas for workspace options — a local business or office with an extra room; a tiny house, shed, yurt, or RV; an office in someone’s home while they’re out of town, etc. If applicable, I’m happy to caretake (ie. plants and pets) while renting the space.
Ideally, I’m searching for a workspace that has:
— privacy (preferably a door to close while I’m on Zoom calls)
— a desk and chair (or space for me to bring my own desk and chair)
— reliable access to WiFi
— space for a small filing cabinet to leave materials overnight (will stored beneath my desk)
I’m hoping to rent the workspace 4-5 days a week from 9 AM to 4 PM. That said, my schedule is flexible depending on the availability of the space.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions or recommendations you may have.
Thanks!
Mica Russo
Rand Corp is an insider “nonprofit”, mostly funded by grand arbiters of loving-kindness such as the Pentagon, etc., that provides policy analysis that almost invariably promotes warfare and/or exploitation of markets and lives.
www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_briefs/RB10000/RB10014/RAND_RB10014.pdf
Some Highlights:
“Providing lethal aid to Ukraine would exploit
Russia’s greatest point of external vulnerability. But
any increase in U.S. military arms and advice to
Ukraine would need to be carefully calibrated to
increase the costs to Russia of sustaining its existing
commitment without provoking a much wider conflict
in which Russia, by reason of proximity, would have
significant advantages.”
Read the whole thing, and then compare to what’s happening now. It ain’t what they’re telling us ANYWHERE in the corporate press. Hmmm.
“That doesn’t mean that Putin is not still a gangster—of course he is.” – Dr. Cornel West
You don’t like it? Wanna voice dissent? Well you will be censored, deleted, cancelled, smeared, given a dehumanizing label (in EVERY corporate network, newspaper, social media…) Wanna donate $50 to an opposing political party or protest or simply join one? Don’t wanna take your mandated injections? Don’t support the Banker’s war? Wanna speak out against the new biosecurity/registration/surveillance/financial control system being built right now? The one that will know in pretty much real time that you’ve been a “bad actor”? Well, they’ll simply freeze your assets and block your access to ALL government and corporate services… no job, no travel, no buying, no selling, no medicine…no deal. Hear the door creaking shut on a once “open” society. These tools will be used to repress EVERYONE, not just “right wing extremists”. Unless we do something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnpoySIujjM
www.yahoo.com/now/credit-score-based-history-183000645.html
PS – I’m a liberal Buddhist, and I pray daily for the wellbeing of ALL people. I do advocacy work for local undocumented folk, etc. etc. Not trying to virtue signal here, but we’ve been conditioned by the media to make certain assumptions about ideas outside the corporate narrative. I’m not a “Right Wing Extremist”, “Antivaxxer”, “Trumper”, “Racist” or any of the myriad new dehumanizing labels being foisted on good people (conservative AND liberal, of all colors, creeds and orientations) every single day by the corporate press and their acolytes… sowing discord and hatred…you know, because diversity of opinion is a threat to a free society? Dangerous times indeed.
Happy to discuss with anyone. It’s about time we do. Self censorship is the final adherence to the coward’s path, and well, life is short.
Here in Tillamook county many businesses and services cater to visitors. While t-shirt and boogie board rentals shops dominate our main streets, locals often must travel great distances to find services to meet their everyday needs.
The dominance of tourist economy makes it all the more important that our towns include places for locals to gather, to get information, and to support the day-to-day needs of all.
A library fulfills some of this need. It is a cultural hub and trusted resource for those who call a small town, “home.”
Our Tillamook County Library system is a vital service to North Coast rural communities. The main and its branch libraries provide books, videos, magazines and other services to all our citizens. Libraries are great equalizers; meeting places for people from every walk of life:
Programs for children, including support for parents home-schooling their children during Pandemic school closures.
Bookmobile service for those unable to get out; isolated seniors especially benefit from the connection a bookmobile can provide to the wider world.
Book kits for book clubs provide a no-cost way for friends to discover and discuss new authors and ideas.
Those without internet access can access library Wifi and use branch computers to do essential on-line tasks, such as job applications.
Many towns lack businesses that provide copy services; libraries provide copy machines for public use.
Our libraries are central to community life. Please vote in support of Measure 29-164 to keep our library system operating for all of us.
Mary Ruhl Manzanita
Because of People like you, our students are successful and moving toward a bright future.
Guest Column – Deb Simmons
My husband and I are long-time residents of Manzanita, drawn to this incredible place by its natural beauty, sense of community, and quality of life. For 13 years, I taught at Nehalem Elementary School, and no doubt have had many of your children in my classroom. I have good friends and neighbors here, and we are invested in this town. It is our home.
So it pains me to say that the character of our community is being threatened by the city’s dependence on income from short-term rentals (STRs).
Of course, we should welcome visitors, but there needs to be a better balance; the city, first and foremost, must serve the needs of the people who live here.
We have a comprehensive plan that is law, but is not being honored. It states that:
“Manzanita’s primary asset is its residential character.”
That Manzanita should “foster housing and living environments to meet the needs of families of different size, income, age, taste and life style.”
That the Comprehensive Plan is not to be used for the benefit of a few property owners or special interests, but for the city as a whole.”
Let me ask you: Are short-term rental homes that accommodate 21 people in harmony with existing homes? Where do 21 people park their cars in a neighborhood? A house with 21 visitors is not a neighbor, it’s a business.
Short-term rentals used to help second homeowners cover some of their bills. But they’ve become big business, operating in the heart of our residential neighborhoods. The owner of an average short-term rental collected $30,000 or more in rent in 2019-2020, compared to $7,500 in 1994-95.
Homes used to be rented primarily in the summer. Now they’re leased year-round. In 15 years, the STR usage has increased nearly 400% in our residential neighborhoods. Larger houses have replaced small beach cottages, bringing more visitors. Although there are seven companies in town to manage all the rentals, the oversight still falls mostly to local residents.
They are the ones who call, time and again, when six or eight cars show up at a rental house, when the limit is half that.
They are the ones who have to ask renters, time and again, to please take the party indoors after 10 p.m.
They are the ones who endure the constant stream of cleaners, repairmen, and visitors in neighborhoods of single-family homes.
Sure, you need a permit to operate a short-term rental, and yes, the city caps, and enforces, the number allowed at 17.5 percent of existing homes. But that cap is citywide and misleading. In areas close to the beach and town, where most visitors want to rent, the concentration of rentals can top 50 percent. Many of our friends have STRs on two or three sides of their home – new people every time a car pulls in. Does that sound like a neighborhood to you?
The explosion in short-term rentals has virtually eliminated long-term rentals for families and workers. It’s just not as lucrative for the landlords. The result is fewer young people and families can afford to call Manzanita home and our local businesses can’t find the help they need.
So I’m gratified to see that the city is holding a work session on Wednesday, from 3-5 p.m. to discuss the future of short-term rentals. It is long overdue. I hope you’ll turn out to share your experience – and a vision for the future of Manzanita — because our current path is not sustainable.
We need to take back our city. Put a pause on short-term rentals until we find a sensible way to regulate them. Look for other sources of revenue to fund the services we need. Update and honor the comprehensive plan – and adhere to the principals it lays out.
Forward-looking cities have gotten smart and are acting to preserve their communities. We need to do likewise.
Livability: A Community Conversation
For those of you who don’t watch the City Council meetings–WHY NOT?
It’s like reality TV or maybe a soap opera only without an island or Susan Lucci. Plus, you get to be part of democracy and how cool is that?
At the last council meeting Mayor Scott tabled discussion on the formation of a standing Short Term Rental Oversight Committee for the next meeting of the council March 9. Why? Because people started using the CHAT feature to ask questions and make comments. So instead of voting right then, Mayor Scott slowed the roll and I’m glad he did.
The Oversight Group was formed to tackle the ways in which livability here is affected by short-term rentals. In some parts of town, it’s more like living next door to a Motel 6 than living in a neighborhood. During the season, which is most of the year these days, it can be stressful. Little things like people throwing trash in your garbage can or worse in your yard or people blasting music while hosting an all day corn hole tournament add up and after awhile, you just want solutions to the problems you deal with all the time. Thus, the Oversight Group was formed.
In the current Oversight Group there’s one full-time resident, a council member who Chairs, a Planning Commissioner, and three people who don’t live here at all but do own or manage rentals in Manzanita.
Creating a new standing committee is the perfect opportunity for our Council to diversify its make up and represent folks who live here either part or full time and are affected the most in their daily lives by vacation rentals.
People who don’t live in town don’t experience vacation rentals in the way a person who lives here part or full time does. Rental management companies know what the problems are–they get the phone calls from angry residents but since they don’t live in town, it’s more a mental exercise than a lived experience.
I mean, you can hear all about a vacation rental party house but until you’re washing high-octane vomit off your driveway on a Sunday morning after a noisy Saturday night in July, you have not experienced the wonder that is the vacation rental party house.
Most everyone has big feeling about short-term rentals in our community–all sides have big feelings and those big feelings have created animosity, anger, and mistrust, between us. It’s my understanding that forming this work group was meant to address livability in town. It seems to me that living in a place is a very different thing than working in that place and driving away at the end of the day.
And then there’s the way it looks when three people with an investment in what they’re meant to regulate make up the majority of the committee. I’m not saying that these folks who volunteered their time and energy have done anything wrong at all. But how things look really does matter. If things don’t look right to the people in the cheap seats, there’s a problem, Houston.
Why add the appearance of a conflict of interest to the committee when it isn’t necessary? There are plenty of people living here part or full time who want to be part of this committee. If there aren’t any property management owners living in Manzanita who want to volunteer, which might be the case, why not use a representative as a non-voting consultant to present information and put their two cents in?
How do we include different and diverse perspectives so that the standing committee truly addresses the needs and feelings of our community?
Who can speak to livability in Manzanita better than part or full time residents? Some part time folks use their homes for themselves AND rent sometimes.
There are also second homeowners who don’t rent at all. There are those who live in town full time and a few of those folks own businesses in town. We could use all these perspectives to have a real conversation about short-term rentals and their impact on our town and its livability.
On Wednesday, March 9 at the next Council Workshop from 3-5 the only thing on the agenda is The Future of Short-Term Rentals. At the workshops you’re able to ask questions and make comments. You’ll be part of the discussion. You’ll be part of democracy. After the workshop is the Council Meeting at 6, so if you can’t make it to one maybe you can make it to the other! You can also write an email to the Mayor, Council and City Manager (you can cc everyone) and tell them what you think. The beauty of a public meeting where people can say what they think is all the new solutions that can pop up when we get together to solve a problem.
Democracy is messy and loud but we don’t have to be mean and rude. We can be respectful of other people’s opinions (even when we don’t agree at all) and we can be open to the idea that somewhere in the middle is the way forward.
We’ve got this, kids. We can do this.
Link to Zoom and Comment at the City of Manzanita Council Work Session:
us02web.zoom.us/j/85475112626
Link to watch only the City of Manzanita Council Work Session:
ci.manzanita.or.us/broadcast
Kim Rosenberg. loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com
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Written by Chris Freeland, Contributor
Posted in Tech Broiler on February 10, 2022 | Topic: Government : US | Editor: Jason Perlow
The disturbing trend of school boards and lawmakers banning books from libraries and public schools is accelerating across the country. In response, Jason Perlow made a strong case last week for what he calls a “Freedom Archive,” a digital repository of banned books. Such an archive is the right antidote to book banning because, he contended, “You can’t burn a digital book.” The trouble is, you can.
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A few days ago, Penguin Random House, the publisher of Maus, Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, demanded that the Internet Archive remove the book from our lending library. Why? Because, in their words, “consumer interest in ‘Maus’ has soared” as the result of a Tennessee school board’s decision to ban teaching the book. By its own admission, to maximize profits, a Goliath of the publishing industry is forbidding our non-profit library from lending a banned book to our patrons: a real live digital book-burning.
We are the library of last resort, where anyone can get access to books that may be controversial wherever they happen to live — an existing version of Perlow’s proposed “Freedom Archive.” Today, the Internet Archive lends a large selection of other banned books, including Animal Farm, Winnie the Pooh, The Call of the Wild, and the Junie B. Jones and Goosebumps children’s book series. But all of these books are also in danger of being destroyed.
In the summer of 2020, four of the largest publishers in the U.S. — Penguin Random House among them — sued to force our library to destroy the more than 1.4 million digital books in our collection. In their pending lawsuit, the publishers are using copyright law as a battering ram to assert corporate control over the public good. In this instance, that means destroying freely available books and other materials that people rely on to become productive and discerning participants in the country’s civic, economic, and social life.
Copyright law grants authors and publishers a limited monopoly over the books they produce. The law also enshrines a host of socially beneficial uses the public may make of those books without permission or payment. The famously flexible fair use doctrine has allowed libraries to continue serving the public in the face of rapid technological and social change.
If ever there was a moment of compelling “socially beneficial” access to books, it came in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person library use almost everywhere. In response to the unprecedented crisis, more than 100 libraries holding critical books they could not lend signed a statement supporting the Internet Archive’s establishment of a temporary National Emergency Library. The NEL allowed patrons controlled digital access to those collections that were locked away physically. It was a lifeline to trusted information for parents, teachers, and students around the world.
Yet, in an extreme overreaction to the facts, the publishers sued in June 2020 to shutter the NEL, along with our book lending practice as a whole. And in addition to demanding millions of dollars in monetary damages and fees, the lawsuit is calling on the Internet Archive to destroy all the digital books in our collections. It’s a digital book burning on a massive scale.
If the publishers prevail, much more than the future of the Internet Archive will be at risk. What publishers want is to end libraries’ ownership of their own collections. Instead, publishers want to rent digital books to libraries, like landlords. They want to control our cultural commons for their own commercial benefit.
Think about what just happened with Maus. When a local government entity banned this book, the publisher decided to pull it from a digital library’s bookshelves, restricting our patrons from reading it in order to extract maximum profits. Whether through corporate bullying or government banning, digital books are not immune from censorship.
The Internet Archive’s lending of a digital version of the book did nothing to diminish Maus’s recent surge in sales. Even so, the publisher decided it had to do everything possible to remove the book from our library. It turns out you can burn a digital book.
Chris Freeland (@chrisfreeland) is a librarian and Director of the Internet Archive’s Open Libraries program
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Then, right after high school we moved to an area that had no internet access.
I started college that year and getting my school work done meant daily trips to the local library which was half an hour away. I would stay there for six to eight hours on some days.
Sometimes, I wouldn’t get my work completed before the library closed. In those cases, I would load everything I could on to my laptop and take it all home to finish. I can’t tell you how many times my aunt drove me the 20 minutes to the closest internet hot spot at 11:30 at night so that I could upload my assignment.
Eventually we learned that we could get very limited, very slow, and very expensive, internet access that came with a two year contract through a satellite connection. Initially, we said no to this option. Then the pandemic hit and the libraries closed.
We muddled through for a month or so by going back and forth to the hot spots, but this was psychologically draining and very time consuming. As the pandemic carried on my family, reluctantly, made the decision to invest in the satellite internet.
It was slow, slow, slow, video conferencing had a 3 second delay, and there was a data limit. But, it was heaven for a while. No more 11:30 hot spot trips and no more feeling devastated if I forget to download something.
The data limit is what really got us. We started with the amount recommended by the provider for our size household at $60 a month. It was gone in a week, so we went to the next level up at $100 a month; gone in two weeks. We went to the maximum level available at $150 and created a detailed usage chart to make sure we weren’t “wasting” our data.
Despite our careful usage, we went over the limit every month, and much like old cell phone usage, we incurred huge bills. They averaged about $300 a month.
Over the course of time it took for me to complete my transfer degree my family paid over $6,000 for internet service. I know how fortunate I am to have a family that was willing and able to invest in my education in this unexpected way. It probably cost me the car I might have received for graduation, but that’s okay. I’m here. I made it.
I made it because someone made a huge sacrifice to make sure that I had the opportunity. I imagine what would have happened if the circumstances were different. Simple; I would not have graduated with three Associates Degrees and I would not be writing to you from the wicked fast internet connection on the Oregon State University.
Internet access is OPPORTUNITY that should be granted to everyone. Please support the effort to bring high speed internet to every household in Tillamook County by signing the letter at tinyurl.com/weneedhighspeedinternet
Richard G. Bain, III
Nehalem
NOTE: In addition to signing the letter, you may wish to attend the next meeting of the Tillamook LightWave Board on Tuesday, March 8th at 9:30 am.
The meeting will be held at Tillamook People’s Utility District’s Emergency Operations Center located at 1115 Pacific Avenue, Tillamook, OR 97141
Please call Marissa Durrer 503-842-2535 for details on how to attend virtually via Zoom.
Friends of Netarts Bay WEBS (WEBS) works to build a community of environmental stewards around the Netarts Bay watershed and the areas between Cape Meares and Cape Lookout. We recognize the role that students can play in this stewardship, and we are pleased to announce a new scholarship opportunity for Tillamook County residents that plan to enroll in any University, College, Junior College, or Trade School and work toward a degree or certification in the field of natural resources.
“WEBS is committed to supporting local students who care about our natural resources. We are thankful for the support we have received from our community. As a result of these contributions over the years, we are excited to announce a new scholarship opportunity open to individuals pursuing careers in science and conservation that inform future natural resource decisions related to the Netarts Bay watershed,” says WEBS Executive Director Chrissy Smith. “We are excited to be able to pay it forward and hope this will make it easier for residents and students to start a career in science, watershed health, bay ecology, oceanography, or a related field.”
Multiple scholarships may be awarded each year at the discretion of the board and based on applicants. This scholarship opportunity is available to any graduate of Tillamook County schools and current residents. Applications are due February 28, 2022. Funds will be allocated via the Tillamook School Foundation. More information can be found on the Friends of Netarts Bay WEBS website at www.netartsbaywebs.org/scholarships.
Questions about this opportunity can be sent to Friends of Netarts Bay WEBS by emailing director@netartsbaywebs.org.
In school… Kennedy was shot.
Loudspeakers calmly announce the news,
directing us to go home.
Raking leaves, I ask our neighbor if he knows.
He nods quietly.
At our house. Cronkite, intoning the dark story.
Grim and resolute.
Words go on for hours.
Years later.
Martin too..
Tears of sadness
A huge void in our world.
Finally,
Bobby..
We’ll never see that light again.
The Case of the Missing Marsh:
A Manzanita Mystery
When I heard from the City in January that .34 acres of wetland on the 3rd Street lot did not exist, I was confused. How did a little more than a third of an acre of land go missing? I thought wetlands were protected in Oregon. Forested marshy swamps are especially valuable to the environment and in great danger because they depend on developers for protection.
The forested land formerly called The Marsh by old timers was where elk wintered, songbirds lived and deer birthed their babies every spring. That land was like the rug in The Big Lebowski–it really tied the room together. Did it not?
Searching through the records, I found the Wetland Delineation Report that was filed with the Department of State Lands back in April 2021. It shows where the wetlands are located and how large they are. So, unlike the ice cream I thought was in the freezer, I didn’t dream this up. I asked a couple of people I know with expertise in land use to look over the report, too. They advised me to ask for the mitigation plan to understand how the water from the wetland would be managed. Sometimes there’s an engineering solution or a site plan change to incorporate wetlands into a development’s landscape.
If you walked down 3rd Street this winter and watched the giant houses at Whispering Pines going up, you saw water standing a foot deep on the concrete foundations. On the south end of the lot between Merton and Edmund you’ve watched as existing trees and brush were bulldozed, No Trespassing signs put up and trenches filled with water even when it wasn’t raining.
We’d just experienced the latest atmospheric river events. Many of our neighbors on the north side of Edmund adjoining the 3rd Street lot had flooded yards, and many houses on both sides of the street had standing water underneath. The water table on the lot is super high already (thus, The Marsh) and water has to go somewhere. We were worried.
The City doesn’t issue, maintain or review Wetland Mitigation Plans and I learned that what is happening on the lot isn’t called grading; it’s called surface preparation for fill. Good to know because there is plenty of fill on its way.
I contacted DSL for the mitigation plan and learned that instead of the other options available, the developer simply bought his way out of those messy wetlands by purchasing $102,000 in credits in the mitigation bank. This is why small, forested marshes like 3rd Street are in trouble. They are small. They are on land that can be developed. It doesn’t “pencil out” for developers intent on making as much cash as possible to think of preserving trees or wetlands or wildlife or existing neighborhoods.
When you have a lot of money you can make things like wetlands and dunes disappear. You can poop in one place and flush in another.
In 2017, before buying the property, the developers first made the proposal for a similar style pocket-neighborhood. It was denied by the Planning Commission and strongly opposed by residents. After the meeting one of the developers is quoted in the Tillamook Headlight Herald saying, “I’m not entirely sure the city understands what a pocket-neighborhood is.”
I think we actually do know what a pocket-neighborhood is and why we didn’t want it then and don’t want it now.
In the current proposal for the Heron’s Rest pocket-neighborhood, the land will be raised higher with fill–yes, raised–to afford the 26 two-story houses an ocean view while dwarfing the existing homes and businesses surrounding them. Much of Neahkahnie will be blocked from view in the south part of town by these two story houses. Facing 3rd Street a “residents only” 29-space parking lot with an additional 12-space lot on Hallie also for residents of the development only. I think together that’s bigger than the IGA’s lot.
Contrary to what some people think, no workforce housing is included in the proposal.
And those big Whispering Pines houses going in behind Wild? First off, there are no trees left there to whisper and likely to be none that can thrive in the space left on those lots. The houses are zoned R4 and can immediately be used as vacation rentals.
The proposal for Heron’s Rest hasn’t gone to the Planning Commission yet but when it does there will be a public hearing like the one coming up about awnings and variances for the winery tomorrow, February 22 at 4pm.
If you don’t like the way things are looking in our town, read what’s on the Planning Commission’s agenda, read the Ordinances involved, read the Comprehensive Plan. She may be old but she is still the primary land use document acknowledged by the State of Oregon. Write emails and letters to the City Council and the Planning Commission, show up at the meetings, be part of the decision making process.
Whose town? Our town!
Kim Rosenberg
loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com
