Virtual Town Hall Meetings: Southwest Coastal Community Plan
The Arch Cape-Falcon Cove Beach Community Club hosted a series of virtual town halls to hear community concerns and gauge community support for changes to the county’s Southwest Coastal Community Plan.
This Plan, a part of the Clatsop County Comprehensive Plan, sets policy for development and land use planning within the Southwest Coastal Region.
These Plans together form the basis for the zoning ordinances and other regulations which govern Arch Cape, Cove Beach, and the other unincorporated areas south of Cannon Beach. The Town Halls were held on three Saturdays from 4-6 pm on October 2, November 13, and December 4. (Attendance — October 2: 26; November 13: 31; December 4: 17.)
December 4 Town Hall
To watch a recording of the December 4 town hall meeting, click the button below:
November 13 Town Hall
To watch a recording of the November 13 town hall meeting, click the button below:
October 2 Town Hall
To watch a recording of the October 2 town hall meeting, click the button below:
Background
The Southwest Coastal Community Plan was adopted in 1979 after months and in some cases years of determined work by local residents and long-time property owners. The Plan was written with technical support from Astoria and elsewhere, and became part of the County’s first Comprehensive Plan.
It was reviewed and re-adopted in 2004 with few changes. In 2017 it was amended over strong objection from the community in order to eliminate the Southwest Coastal Citizen Advisory Committee, local design review, and the Arch Cape Overlay Zone.
In 2019 the County decided it was time to be forward-thinking and created a program called CLATSOP 2040 which would review and update the entire Comprehensive Plan and the associated Community Plans for all six planning regions. They said the process would be grassroots, with new Citizen Advisory Committees (CACs) being appointed for this purpose in each of the County’s six planning regions. The mission was to envision the lands, development and natural resources in the County as residents and visitors would like to see them 20 years in the future. It also specifically included looking at issues like climate change that had not been on the radar when the original Plan was conceived.
The new Southwest Coastal Citizen Advisory Committee consisting of Charles Dice (Chair), Tod Lundy, Chris Anderson, Linda Eyerman and Margaret Treadwell (who recently resigned after moving out of the region) worked diligently to cover the many goals and policies in the county-wide Plan, with the understanding that the Community Plan updates would follow.
But the schedule changed this past Spring when the Board of Commissioners declared a “pause” on the project, then decided the CACs would resume work only on their own Community Plans. Monthly meetings started again in August, and work on the Southwest Coastal Community Plan must be completed by December 2021.
Community Input Needed
The current Southwest Community Plan can be found here.
Committee members, who are not experts and were not involved in the Plan’s creation or revisions, would appreciate help in evaluating which existing policies to keep or delete (our default is to keep policies even when Staff recommends deleting them) and, most importantly, what new policies to include.
The following are some of the new issues which have raised community concern in the past few years. Your thoughts may be submitted verbally at the Town Halls or in writing (email acfcbcc@gmail.com). Written submissions will be read at the Town Halls so they can generate discussion.
Short-Term Rentals
The drafters of the original plan might be surprised to learn that Arch Cape and Cove Beach, where folks pretty much all knew each other in 1979, are now communities where homes fill up every week or weekend with visitors from Portland, Seattle and everywhere.
Except for a small commercial area at the south end of Arch Cape, these communities are zoned single-family residential (SFR). Commercial activity is prohibited in SFR zones except for Home Occupations with a conditional use permit. Yet the County has allowed rent-your-home businesses to exist and multiply at lightning speed. There are now approximately 70 short-terms rentals in Arch Cape and 25 in Cove Beach with occupancy at three persons per bedroom plus an additional two persons per house. Problems caused by this population explosion range from parking, noise or refuse to strains on the water, sewer and septic systems.
Housing Shortage
There are few long-term rentals in the Southwest Coastal Region, as many owners who might previously have rented out a room, an in-law unit, a guest house or an entire home have now opted to obtain short-term rental permits.
The lack of available housing for residential use is taking a major toll on our workforce, on the diversity of our communities, and on the many residents who rent because they can’t afford to buy a home. Should limits be placed on Short Term Rentals? Are there incentives which might induce owners to rent to residents rather than visitors, or perhaps to not rent at all?
Access Roads Not Connected to New Development No one can recall this happening until recently, when several landowners sought permits to construct public roads and utility access to their undeveloped lots without any plans submitted or even envisioned for developing their lots, and without any evaluation of whether the lots were even buildable.
The County allowed these permits based on an interpretation of the zoning ordinances which relies on plats created over a century ago without regard to topography, wetlands and other natural resources. Access roads in the Southwest Coastal Region could be tied to new development as a matter of policy, if there was sufficient community support for this idea.
Overnight Camping on Undeveloped Lots
Since camping is prohibited on beaches, many community members were surprised to learn that camping is not explicitly addressed by the current zoning codes or regulated by Clatsop County.
Concerns have been raised about sanitation, fires, and vehicle access. While some property owners might argue they have a right to use their own land, they would not by law be allowed to inhabit a dwelling on their land which did not have water, sewer or septic, and access for emergency vehicles. Is a camping policy needed, and if so, what would it say?
Bike Paths, Walking Trails and Open Space
New subdivisions and planned developments are required to budget land and resources for neighborhood parks and open spaces, and non-motorized transportation routes. This type of planning has not occurred in the Southwest Coastal Region where most lots are privately owned, and development is occurring on a lot-by-lot basis.
But the platted rights-of-way are publicly owned and some could be designated for these purposes. And some private landowners might be inclined to contribute to these types of amenities through incentives. Is this something worth working on?
Tree Removal
There currently is no ordinance addressing tree removal, but there are building regulations that require keeping vegetation in place to the maximum extent possible, prohibiting cut-and-fill techniques which can result in lots being clear-cut prior to new home construction, and keeping or planting tree buffers along Hwy 101.
These regulations are not strictly enforced, and with the proliferation of access roads permits which require roads to be cleared of all trees in the 40-50’ right-of-way, the Region is rapidly losing its trees. Tree removal impacts climate, wildlife habitat, flood control, drainage patterns, and the beauty of the area. Should tree removal be restricted? Should there be a mitigation plan which requires tree planting in exchange for permission to remove trees? Ideas needed.
Beach Access Improvements
The original Plan recommended ramps at some beach access points in order to allow disabled persons and others (parents with strollers, bicyclists) onto the sand. Nothing has been done in this regard, and it’s unclear even who owns or is responsible for the beach accesses outside State Parks.
Other beach access improvements which have been requested by community members over the years include refuse containers, benches and a water source.
Should the County or the communities provide public facilities at beach access points, and if so, which ones?
Wetland Buffers
Although the 1979 regional plan had the foresight to require stream (creek) buffers to protect these natural resources from nearby development, it did not address wetlands.
A Local Wetlands Inventory (LWI) for Arch Cape was completed in 2011 and entered into the State registry, but Clatsop County has never adopted it and has never created a local wetlands protection program.
Almost all wetland lots are in private ownership and therefore theoretically developable if technically and economically feasible means can be found to build on the lots, and the owner agrees to enroll in the State’s mitigation program.
Arch Cape’s wetlands are fragmented by decades of development, but there still is a window of time to preserve its largest and most significant wetland complex known as AC-13. What should be added to the Southwest Coastal Community Plan to accomplish this?
Emergency Preparedness
Last but surely not least is the pressing topic of emergency preparedness, made more critical and more imminent by changes in climate trends.
The Board of Commissioners recently suggested they might remove climate change from the list of those to be addressed by the Comprehensive Plan update, but the Southwest Coastal CAC intends to move forward with goals and policies to address this critical 21st century issue.
Those who tuned in to Rick Hudson’s talk at the Community Club’s meeting in May learned that we have a threat to the Southwest Coastal Region which is at least as serious as the tsunami risk.
This involves landslides on Hwy 101 which have the potential to cut the Region off from the nearest towns both north and south and leave both residents and visitors isolated without a food source, medical care, and probably without power, phone service, internet and possibly water. We need to be prepared and need policies to guide that effort.
Keep in mind the Southwest Coastal Region includes not just Arch Cape and Cove Beach, and not just properties on the west side of Hwy 101. It includes all lands, developed and undeveloped, within 1-2 miles of the ocean from the south boundary of Cannon Beach to the Tillamook County line.
Think about how you would like the lands, development and natural resources to look when we get to the year 2040. Your input on this vision is needed.