[0:11] I'm ready to go. >> You know me. I like to start on tone.

[1:13] figured out how to disable that >> that bell of yours that you hear

[1:20] » join and come in. >> Oh, okay. Are you are you

[1:28] » starting? Okay. So, at 6 PM

[1:32] I'm doing that. I call the order of the Gear Heart Planning Commission.

[1:37] Thursday, July 9th, 2026. All members of the commission are

[1:42] present and um Chad and Garrett are here for the staff. Um we have a consent

[1:49] agenda the minutes of May 14th that have been adjusted, but I I didn't leave the

[1:55] meeting last time because I wasn't here. um the uh financial report

[2:03] and we don't have any correspondents. Do I have um a motion to accept the consent

[2:09] agenda with the improved and edited uh minutes?

[2:19] » Hello.

[2:22] Russ moves. Do I have a second? >> Second.

[2:25] » Second from Jennifer. Uh any discussion or anything?

[2:30] » Cool. Uh all those in favor say yes. >> Yes.

[2:34] » All those opposed say no. Okay. >> And I sustain that is in here.

[2:39] » Okay. Reports staff. Chad, do you have anything to report to us?

[2:43] » I do. I wanted to give the planning commission a brief update on several

[2:46] things. Uh the city has been working on. First and foremost, our uh police

[2:51] department and our officers are safe. Uh they went through quite an ordeal

[2:55] yesterday. They were involved. They're all in the middle of it and uh we're

[2:59] considering uh working through that. Uh no injuries on our part. Uh and we are

[3:04] supporting uh those guys that were there to make sure that they get what they

[3:08] need. And uh >> can you tell us what this was about?

[3:11] » Oh, I'm sorry. I'm assuming Yeah, you haven't been in my day all day. Um my

[3:15] apologies. So there was a a a bolo went out which is an attempt to locate uh for

[3:23] a person that committed some potentially some terrible crimes murder in the

[3:28] Tolman area and uh they pinged him in maybe cell phone or credit cards with in

[3:35] Atoria and then seaside and they located and uh when he was not even really

[3:45] approached but they were beginning the approach. Uh our officers our officers

[3:49] were shot in and uh with a rifle and uh our officers returned fire. um not sure

[3:57] exactly, you know, everything after that, but

[4:01] that gentleman is deceased and so um they're working through all of the

[4:08] things that go along with that >> made me very much appreciate uh what

[4:13] they have to go through and especially now that I've been through this

[4:16] perspective on how to protect your officers through that process. Very

[4:21] interesting. Law enforcement definitely uh deserves

[4:26] some kudo for the work they do that he's safe. No injuries and we're working

[4:30] through that with a great team of people uh throughout the entire community. So

[4:36] sheriff, all the departments uh and uh the public bringing things all day long.

[4:41] So it's been nice. Yeah. Uh tonight we're also going to be

[4:47] talking about the zoning amendment work uh that's moving forward. I'll leave

[4:50] that update uh to Mr. Garrett. We're also continuing to work through the

[4:55] beaches and dunes permitting process uh especially around the vegetation removal

[5:00] and access issues and due vegetation uh work that work just keeps coming up and

[5:06] people are wanting to do things out there. So, we're working on our process

[5:10] to make sure it's clear, defensible, understandable to property owners. Uh

[5:14] trying to communicate that a little bit better as well. So, more to come. uh

[5:18] Helila and McCormic Gardens area that direction continues to be pretty active.

[5:24] Uh there's two subdivision well there's two subdivisions going in smaller uh

[5:30] eight houses and under for each one of them. Uh and staff we're working with

[5:35] consultants. Uh we're reviewing issues like access to fire access, water

[5:41] service, fire flow, future waterline looping. Fireflow and waterline looping

[5:46] is a a something that we have had planned in

[5:51] that area, but now the plan has been um brought right to the front because of

[5:58] these developments. So, working on that situation. Uh but the long story short

[6:03] is the infrastructure changes we're going to make in there to make things

[6:06] float better and to have better pressure are going to be better for the community

[6:10] all the way around. So, it's a good project, but it is keeping us busy. Uh,

[6:15] the 13th Street and the Kid property issue, uh, we've been trying to keep the

[6:19] different issues separated. Uh, the legal review has not found in this

[6:25] legally established public trim or public beach access route on 13th

[6:30] Street. This is where the fence came up. People were upset. Uh uh the fence

[6:37] appears to be on private property and uh separately any beaches and dunes

[6:41] vegetation removal issue being handled as a code enforcement matter. We have

[6:46] issued some citations for some beaches and dunes mowing that shouldn't have

[6:51] occurred. Seemed like a good idea at the time but uh so we're uh holding some

[6:57] folks accountable for that. Uh the important part is that access ownership,

[7:02] septic easements, dune vegetation and all the other enforcements are separate

[7:06] issues shouldn't be bonded together. It's really a private property issue. If

[7:12] the condo association is upset that they don't have the access that they've had

[7:15] and those are difficult moving forward, that's going to be a civil matter

[7:19] between the two of them. Um but everything else that we have allowed

[7:23] including the construction of the houses, the septic systems, the fence

[7:27] installation, uh and that uh were legal and so we're moving on from that. We did

[7:36] get a a lot of good information out of our process that we used with our

[7:39] attorneys. We learned a few things as well that the city did everything right

[7:44] in that matter. Uh so we move forward. Uh Thompson Creek is also moving

[7:51] forward. I don't know if some of you are aware of Thompson Creek. Uh it's up

[7:55] Lewis and Clark Road. It's about 60ome acres that the city of Deerheart owns of

[8:00] forested land. Uh it used to be our watershed back in the day when Dehart

[8:06] had 200 residents. Uh there was a 2-in line that fed those residents water. Uh

[8:13] and I came to Thompson Falls through a damning process that was up on the hill.

[8:18] Well, we still own that property and during the one of the rainstorms, some

[8:22] issues with rain and some culverts washed out. So, we have an opportunity

[8:26] to improve that area and we're working with NCLC, the tribe, engineers,

[8:32] Department of Forestry, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and whatever other

[8:36] department that I can't think of at the moment uh to kind of move forward with

[8:40] some of those things, but we're taking our time to make sure we do it right.

[8:43] That is a salmon stream that's up in there as well. So if there's an

[8:47] opportunity to enhance that system to make it work better with the guidance of

[8:51] things like NCLC and ODFNW and all those um we have an opportunity longterm the

[8:58] city has no plan for that property. It's not harvestable timber. 2007 storm

[9:03] didn't knock down a lot of the timber and there was a salvage harvest the city

[9:07] did gained them about $20,000. Um but that's it. It's an unmanaged

[9:12] unplanned area. So there's some opportunities and conversations to be

[9:16] had in the future here with that. Uh the public safety facilities issue,

[9:21] the fire station is uh also still very much alive. Uh obviously the bond did

[9:26] not pass, but the underlying problems did not go away. Uh we still have

[9:31] serious fire station deficiencies, police and city hall space needs,

[9:35] seismic concerns, public works facility needs. So, the city is preparing a more

[9:41] structured public conversation before deciding what to do next. We're

[9:46] going to try to bake that cake a little bit differently. And so, we're trying to

[9:50] learn as much as we can. And so, there'll be a town hall that'll be

[9:53] coming up to have some discussions about that situation and to get more

[9:57] information from folks. Um, because frankly, some of us are still a little

[10:02] perplexed, but we'll figure it out. So, excuse me, Jeff. That the don't we

[10:08] have OSHA violations on that building? >> We mitigated a few of them.

[10:14] » I mean, >> but there are things that we can't fix

[10:17] that they would like us to see if it was a new building, but the ventilation

[10:21] issue, the door issue, uh the um turnouts in the fire station,

[10:29] in the exhaust are all issues we have to fix. And that is part of the OSHA issue.

[10:34] » I mean, so if we never build a fire hole, could eventually say shut that

[10:40] building. >> They could give us willful violations

[10:42] for not repairing what it is that needs to be repaired, especially in those

[10:45] three safety areas. And I might be missing one, but I don't think so. The

[10:48] doors, the ventilation, uh, and what was the third I mentioned?

[10:53] » The turnout. >> Thank you. The turnout and the exhaust

[10:56] systems and the turnout needs to be repaired. And those are things that we

[10:59] can do. The underlying issue is the building. Walk along the outside of the

[11:04] walls, take a look at it on the west side, and you'll see some things that

[11:07] are a little concerning. Cracks all the way through and through. Um,

[11:11] seismically, that building was top and that disconnect between people

[11:15] understanding what type of infrastructure needed to happen in order

[11:19] to get a new fire station there, which caused a lot of panic, you know, $33

[11:23] million versus trying to fix this one up and to

[11:28] make it last as long as possible. kind of seems like that's where we're at. I

[11:33] mean, a new building, no matter what, is going to cost you between5 and $10

[11:37] million just in the foundation. So, we're going to deal with it the best

[11:41] that we can, but we're going to have open communication and we're going to

[11:44] we're trying to learn everything we can a ton of conversations.

[11:48] Uh, and so we want to structure that next conversation to try to elicit as

[11:53] much information as possible and bring the community along a little bit

[11:56] differently.

[11:59] Um that connects directly to I think 4th of July. Uh from the outside I think

[12:05] most people saw the next morning the town was pretty well cleaned up and back

[12:08] to normal. Um we had a wonderful street dance. It was great. Kids out there was

[12:16] amazing and and then the adults afterwards were were fun to watch. Um

[12:21] the Fourth of July parade went really smoothly. Uh no issues to be had with

[12:26] that. Um,

[12:30] but what you did not see was how close to capacity the city was. And I'm not

[12:36] sure how this really affects the planning commission and making decisions

[12:40] for land use, but I just kind of wanted to make you aware uh that our police

[12:45] public or fire department public works and volunteers were active from about

[12:49] 7:30 in the morning Saturday until roughly 4:30 in the morning the next

[12:54] day. uh police and fire both handled with

[12:57] very high call volume. I think in the fire department we had 90 calls for

[13:02] service of various fashions in that one day and police had over 70.

[13:07] It may have been one uh and also Dearheart turns out to be the most busy

[13:12] with law enforcement and fire um action uh of any city in the county. We were

[13:18] busier than seaside. We had other communities calling us on the radio,

[13:22] both police and fire, but especially police saying like Canon Beach, can we

[13:26] send you out? You guys sound like you're extremely busy. And we were. Um,

[13:34] so I from a public safety standpoint, it was I I guess I don't want to overstate

[13:39] it, but we barely held it together and it became dangerous and we need to have

[13:43] a serious afteraction conversation about staffing, communication, crowd control,

[13:48] beach impacts, garbage, public safety facilities, and the state responsibility

[13:52] for what happens on the beach. Um but yeah, even the counselors, I haven't had

[13:59] a chance to talk to them about what had happened. But the staff uh here and we

[14:04] we had well there was rumors of 20 state police

[14:09] in Deerheart at one point helping us, but there wasn't quite that many, I

[14:13] don't think. Um we had between 10 and 15 additional officers trying to assist us.

[14:20] uh the public generally doesn't see that side of it because we clean everything

[14:24] up and make it look normal again. But we were at the limit. Uh so that needs to

[14:30] be a part of future Fourth of July planning and we'll make sure it did. But

[14:34] um just wanted to make you aware. Uh the city's also working on broader strategic

[14:39] planning. Uh the council is trying to develop a clear direction around

[14:42] maintaining the existing services that we have including public safety, water

[14:48] infrastructure, reserves, livability, long-term financial stability.

[14:53] Uh that matters to the planning because growth, infrastructure, service levels,

[14:58] and public expectations are all connected. So, you know, we'll just be

[15:02] more plain with you folks about where we're at budget-wise, so that when we're

[15:05] making decisions in the planning commission that that can be helpful to

[15:09] you. Uh, water planning is becoming more central to land use decisions as well.

[15:14] The city's working on water rights, as you know, Warrington water supply

[15:18] coordination. We got a good agreement with the city of Warrington for a good

[15:22] amount of time for a good amount of water. So, I that doesn't stress us out

[15:26] at all. Warrington's been a good partner with that. It is expensive.

[15:30] Uh, and you're paying that through your rates. Um, but, uh, it's working. So,

[15:38] I'll let you know. I haven't heard of the review. Um, again, they're way

[15:43] behind at WRD and we're probably 6 months into the time they said they were

[15:48] going to respond to us and they haven't. And, uh, we've been keeping in contact

[15:52] with them to try to get that going as best as possible.

[15:56] Uh USPS mail delivery transition still active. Uh we're still working with USPS

[16:01] on the gearart delivery boundaries, street delivery cluster box option

[16:05] service impacts after the post office contract unit closure. Uh it's not

[16:09] strictly a planning commission issue, but it affects the residents. So I

[16:12] wanted to make sure that you knew that uh was going on and uh at the end of

[16:17] this I can answer any questions. I've gotten some answers back from USPS on

[16:21] some of the things that we're asking. Uh this one is the we're discussing

[16:26] transient lodging tax and short-term rental tax right now to make up for the

[16:30] budget cap that we have here in Gearart. Um because general fund revenue is not

[16:35] keeping up with cost of course and so we're looking at doing that increase and

[16:39] I've been getting contacting uh some of the uh

[16:44] administration with condo association together a group of people so that

[16:50] they're aware of what's going on. But as we look at what we're going to do with

[16:54] these taxes and the revenue that comes in, keep in mind the law change that

[16:59] starts January 1 of this upcoming year. I any new tax that we put on to these uh

[17:07] is a 50/50 take. So the city general fund could take 50% of it and then the

[17:12] other 50% has to be used for a visitor type activity which is a little money

[17:17] and don't ask me anything really particular about that but my team is

[17:20] working on that with burials or enh

[17:26] we'll continue to have some communications about that and maybe some

[17:29] of you would want to get involved. So yeah, I guess the theme is planning

[17:34] and infrastructure and uh safety. Um any questions?

[17:42] That was a lot. Sorry.

[17:47] » Thank you. >> Um what what is the budget gap?

[17:53] » How much is the budget gap this spring? >> Uh less than what we thought it was

[17:58] going to be. Our cash carry forward was better than what we anticipated. Uh

[18:02] because we were saving money at the very end pretty um you know we were taking

[18:07] some measures. Uh so it's let me guess around under 200,000.

[18:15] » Okay. And so that

[18:19] in seaside they call it the tourism tax but we don't really do that here in

[18:23] Gary. It's called saving money. >> Transient lodging tax,

[18:28] » right? But you call it visitors. >> Well, visitors is how we'd have to spend

[18:33] those, >> right?

[18:34] » Whether or not that, you know, so that's not necessarily a transient.

[18:38] They are, but >> Right. That's the Yes.

[18:41] » So, for example, would that be able to hire more

[18:46] safety personnel for the 4th of July? No.

[18:50] » No. programs that you already have, things that already happen, those would

[18:53] be difficult uh to defend the spending on that. Um so the 4th of July, yeah,

[19:00] you know, it's all visitors, it's all people. Yeah. Well, everybody does the

[19:03] 4th of July. That's not something new. It's actually things that are geared

[19:07] specifically to bring people into your town. Um maybe some park money uh could

[19:12] be spent there. Maybe uh some tools and things that we need. Uh maybe we could

[19:18] look at grants and things to help businesses in town, right? Uh develop,

[19:25] get some help, what have you. Uh maybe it can be to beautify a few areas uh and

[19:32] that sort of thing. But it is very restrictive and will be controversial in

[19:37] every move that we make scrutinized. So BEH

[19:42] our attorneys happen to be experts in this. Um, so they're going to provide us

[19:47] with some good work to do and that would probably look like some sort of a

[19:52] committee that would assist us with the spending of those money. And I think

[19:55] that the representation from the hotels, the condos, uh, you know, would be a

[20:02] good idea as well, but we're not sure exactly how that's going to pan out, but

[20:06] we know we have that budget yet. >> I can I served on the tourism

[20:13] seaside for 10 years, so you know, their money and and they've

[20:18] got this big surplus because they do marketing and and and they're more

[20:23] resort than we are, but they do do it for things like murals that are being

[20:28] put up. They put things on all the trash cans down in the city. Um

[20:35] promoting an event, say someone wanted to do a music event, and I think we've

[20:40] got some of those going. It can be used to help fund those. Um there are lots of

[20:46] things if you are creative and the way you present it that you can use that

[20:53] money for but um the the cities I mean like see would love to use it for

[21:00] infrastructure or police or or fire just as Gearhart would and they can't really

[21:07] do that but their flower flower flower baskets downtown that's what is dudes

[21:14] forward. So that's okay. We can mow the lawn out here.

[21:19] I I was coming north from the south part of seaside last night when all the

[21:26] emergency vehicles were heading south. And I have to say there are still people

[21:31] that do not realize that some vehicles got their lights flashing and sirens

[21:36] going doesn't mean turn in front of me. I

[21:42] It was a little scary. I think I saw six go through in a matter of minute or so.

[21:47] Couple minutes. So, much excitement. Sorry about this. You

[21:51] missed that. >> Okay. Are you done?

[21:55] » Yes, ma'am. >> I have a couple questions.

[21:56] » Oh, yes. Eric, >> are you done?

[21:58] » Yes. Thank you. >> A couple different things. Uh, first

[22:01] off, with regard to the transit loging tax, the 50 50% of it you can use at

[22:07] your own discretion. >> Correct.

[22:09] » Yeah. >> Plus the tax

[22:11] » that part. Plus the tax entire process, right?

[22:15] » I do and I know the law has changed from 7030 or whatever to 5050.

[22:20] » Right. >> Um so I'm aware of that.

[22:22] » Right. Right. So part of it is there to be used.

[22:26] » Yes. And the original uh 7% that we have is still 100%.

[22:31] you referring to the city attorney Behner

[22:35] and Hamilton. >> Are they still uh just filling in for a

[22:39] vacancy or have they now hired as attorneys?

[22:42] » Not officially, but they are uh our temporary attorney. Uh and we're going

[22:48] to be probably within the next couple months opening up the uh RFP process

[22:53] again and they will be able to bid on it.

[22:56] » Uh burials are going to happen in order to say that they were ready to take us.

[23:00] They've also been in a building here. >> Uh so they've got some older attorneys

[23:05] that have retired. >> Uh excuse me, more experienced attorneys

[23:08] that have retired. I don't know if they're old.

[23:10] » Um and uh some new attorneys that are coming in to fill their gap. And then so

[23:16] they're balancing in that. They want to make sure that that'll work before they

[23:18] pick us up. >> Um so far I've been pretty pleased with

[23:22] uh everything. It's not like having one Peter Watts though. That was nice

[23:26] because he understood all the stories >> and the code. So, every time we get into

[23:31] something, there's a little bit more work to get people up to speed with what

[23:34] we're at, but it's starting to happen. >> With regard to Thompson Creek, is that

[23:39] going to cost money? >> Yes,

[23:41] » we have it in the budget.

[23:46] » Uh, it depends on where we pull it from. There might be some street money. Uh,

[23:50] generally though, all of our reserve funds are skinny.

[23:53] » So, I would say that it's, you know, we're tight everywhere. It's going to

[23:57] strain us, but yeah, we'll be able to figure out how to do the work depending

[24:01] on whether or not when we were initially starting it, they were talking about a

[24:05] $50,000 repair. Uh then it went down to $10,000, but now there's more um

[24:12] uh state and involvement

[24:17] » and they're still trying to consider, you know, what needs to be done.

[24:22] » The cool thing is is at the end of it, it's going to be better. And there might

[24:25] be France because it's environmental related and

[24:29] » yeah look at that as well. We're going to slow that down a little bit so that

[24:33] we can look at those items. >> One last thing, you may not know this,

[24:36] but I just asked you a conjecture. Do you have any clue as to why Gearhart was

[24:41] ground zero in the entire county for >> Yeah. I mean Seaside's a little bit

[24:47] better prepared. Um they have a bigger force of people to pull from uh to be

[24:52] able to and and they're a little bit more contained. uh they don't have all

[24:55] the driving on the beach and things like that. Uh they know what to expect and

[24:58] they've got a pretty good system that's down for that. Uh and I think it's a

[25:02] more controllable atmosphere. Uh as ridiculous as that sounds.

[25:06] » That being said, the $4,000 firework ban did not quite work like I think they

[25:11] planned it to. >> Um because as soon as the overwhelming

[25:14] numbers come in, there's nothing that you can really do other than maybe reach

[25:19] your hand in, pull one out, give them a 4,000, but there's another, you know,

[25:22] $4,000 fine. But there's another 50,000 people out there that are not going to

[25:27] pay attention to that and it's just Yeah. too overwhelming. So,

[25:31] » but were we more inundated by people? Yeah.

[25:34] » Other years. >> Yeah. We had uh Yes.

[25:37] » because I mean Yeah. Every other year those things stay the same. It just

[25:40] seems like this year we >> Well, there's the 250 year, you know,

[25:45] I'll give it the the anniversary. You know, 250 years was a big deal. Yeah.

[25:49] » Uh but this has been a growing issue where it seems like we've been sought

[25:54] after for certain types of parties on the beach that are attended by many of

[25:58] the public school kids that are out of Portland. I mean I don't not all of them

[26:06] uh but a large majority uh C Gable Lincoln uh Benson um all of them the

[26:13] word gets out on social media that there may or may not be a rave or a party or a

[26:17] dear heart takeover they're calling it on the beach and that's what on social

[26:21] media it was called >> uh where these kids were prepared uh and

[26:26] very well equipped to have a good time >> uh a lot of fireworks, a lot of alcohol,

[26:32] a lot underage drinking >> uh and all of that. And the streets were

[26:37] lined on both sides of Marian with people that were parked even on the side

[26:41] you're not supposed to park on. Uh and we quickly lost control at that point

[26:46] because we couldn't get those drivers back. We couldn't tow

[26:48] » cuz that's new. We haven't seen that. >> No, they were all camping in their cars.

[26:52] We had probably It felt like I thought I counted up to about 90 campers,

[26:58] you know, people camping, not campers, a few campers

[27:00] » sleeping in the car. And at that point, we're not going to move along. It's too

[27:04] dangerous for various reasons. So, uh, that was an issue. Uh, the 10th Street

[27:11] beach access worked. Okay. But there were four and five cars deep on the

[27:17] beach. Uh and there was probably oh 30,000 people out there, you know,

[27:25] from 10th Street to uh past um Sunset Beach and uh it got really crazy. It was

[27:34] to one point to tell a little story and then

[27:38] uh we had a call at about 11:30 at night. We pull all of our forces off

[27:42] when dust hits because it's too dangerous. Okay. So, there's, you know,

[27:46] where we've gotten, it's always kind of been like that, but not like this.

[27:52] We got a call for an overdose. Young man was overdosing, and so we had to

[27:58] tactically figure out how we were going to get down to the beach. Uh, and to do

[28:03] that, we had to put a convoy together with uh law enforcement and the fire

[28:07] department because we knew we were going into a war zone.

[28:11] And they got in there, they went and immediately it started going bad. They

[28:16] kind of circled the vehicles around like wagons. Uh crowds started coming in.

[28:22] Fireworks started hitting the police cars. Um and we're talking the major

[28:26] mortars lit thrown and the explosion goes that's supposed to put it up in the

[28:31] air. Then the explosion goes uh and so at the cars and crowd was coming in.

[28:36] Thank goodness a a rave started. A 40 foot uh uh

[28:43] bonfire went off. The music and the light show started because they actually

[28:47] had lasers at this thing. And uh the kids turned around and was like, "Hey,

[28:51] let's do this instead of, you know, surrounding what was going on." So, it

[28:55] was it was very dangerous. Um we're still having people that are questioning

[29:00] what they were doing out there, what we were doing out there. And I can't put my

[29:05] team in that position again. Um, it was that dangerous. We had the state police

[29:10] assisting us. We had uh the county doing everything that they could.

[29:16] » This isn't the time place for this conversation, but I can't imagine what

[29:20] you can plan for doing different next year.

[29:23] » Yeah, it's going to have to be some big decisions made by some

[29:27] » uh government entities to >> figure out how to help slow down and

[29:30] quiet. We'll do everything we can. We're going to start planning it a lot

[29:33] earlier. We thought we were ready. >> Yeah.

[29:35] » Um but not for that. >> Just overwhelmed.

[29:39] » Is it possible to get the state to shut down all the beach accesses?

[29:43] » Great question. That's one we put into the idea bucket. You know, we're not

[29:47] advocating for anything. We're just putting ideas in there. Shut down 10th

[29:51] Street. Well, then where do they back up and walk into? You know, we're going to

[29:54] have to consider that. You know, human movement is is a study in school on its

[30:00] own, right? So, how do you move that? How do you advertise in advance? Do we

[30:06] shut down the beach? Do we tell them that we're not going to go on the beach

[30:10] no matter what and the state's going to have to take over? Um, and how would

[30:14] they do that short of um National Guard? Uh, I've been around here for 30 years.

[30:20] I love the Fourth of July. I love everything it's about, but this was

[30:24] different. Yeah. So, we'll work on it. But you

[30:29] know, I don't think most of Deerheart understood any. They didn't see that. I

[30:33] except for the people there, but there's a lot of good videos online if you want

[30:36] to see them. >> I was down the beach at seaside

[30:42] Saturday. There were fewer people down seaside.

[30:47] The safety zone was almost twice as big as it been where people can actually

[30:52] come in to see the fireworks. So, everyone was shoved to the north

[30:59] and the cabanas that they put up were like huge three-bedroom cabanas. Um, but

[31:05] it's mostly families. There's so much families down there.

[31:11] There were not as many people down the beach on a Saturday, Fourth of July, as

[31:16] I've seen in the past. A lot of a lot of them are day triggers.

[31:23] But it's just different. And and but part of the thing was Canon

[31:29] Beach, they don't allow fireworks because they have their puffing thing.

[31:34] They created the puffin thing. Actually, no fireworks came before the puffin

[31:38] thing. Um and then the seaside with the 4,000 fine. No, it doesn't make a lot of

[31:44] difference, but for some of them don't make a difference. So, the next place to

[31:49] go to is Gearhart. >> Mhm. So, but I would say there are

[31:55] probably 20,000 down on the beach in Seaside. It It was not as big a crowd as

[32:01] I've seen before. >> Some of the highlight videos are pretty

[32:03] incredible in Seaside as well. I think later it gets pretty busy, but

[32:08] » they had they had a controlled good time. It seemed like it

[32:11] » it was it was pretty controlled. Part of it being because they were so tightly

[32:16] packed, you really couldn't be having the big bonfire. You're going to

[32:22] set your cabana on fire and and the next door neighbors to banana. I mean,

[32:27] » some of the differences is through agreements. Both Canon Beach and Seaside

[32:31] have certain rights on the beach, >> right?

[32:33] » That we do not. Um and that was established a long time ago and held uh

[32:38] to where they could you uh you or the uh city council could not put an ordinance

[32:43] in place that would affect the beach. >> Well, Seaside has jurisdiction.

[32:50] » Seaside has had discussions this last about not having fireworks and they

[32:58] discussion everyone a good job and they were helpful to us.

[33:02] » All right. Anything else? Thank you, Chad.

[33:05] » Uh Garrett, are you there?

[33:10] Do you have anything for your staff report before we get to your

[33:14] presentation today? >> Uh just really briefly, a heads up that

[33:18] we're we'll be having um a meeting in August, our regularly scheduled meeting,

[33:25] and um it looks like we'll be considering two subdivision applications

[33:31] in a hearing in August. Um, and I'm looking forward to going over

[33:38] those with you when the time comes. And that's it from my for my updates.

[33:42] » Okay. How about here? We'll be back in just a few minutes. Um, commissioners,

[33:48] does anyone have a report?

[33:52] » Yes. Great. >> Thank you. as fast as I've completed my

[33:55] require state meeting training as well as ethics training and I've been going

[34:00] through the land training they have online as well

[34:06] awesome

[34:10] okay I don't know I'm seeing required >> J

[34:15] I have a question >> yes um

[34:19] » you scheduled meeting in August it's the same day I'm going to be having cataract

[34:24] surgery. I'm going to ask to be excused now. I may be able to uh attend via

[34:31] Zoom, but I don't want to. >> Well, the best thing to do, Emerson, is

[34:34] to send an email to Angelina, we can excuse you. If you are here, we won't do

[34:41] excuse. >> That would be good.

[34:43] » Okay. So, so if you send a just send an email,

[34:47] » okay, >> and and then it will put on the agenda

[34:50] and we will ignore it. if you can see us or just listen to us.

[34:56] » One good eye pirate. A pirate. Okay. Um, are there

[35:02] any comments from our visitors tonight that are not related to the agenda?

[35:08] You have anyone? Chad, this is your job. >> Oh, thank you. All right. Uh,

[35:15] » I can't see. >> Okay. So, we have no public hearings. We

[35:20] have no unfinished business. We have no new business, but we have information

[35:26] discussion. And this is your time, Garrett. So, take it away.

[35:32] All right. Thank you. So, um I want to go over a proposal that staff has on a

[35:39] project that um we think that we should work on with you uh in the remainder of

[35:46] this year um following those subdivision hearings in August. And the project

[35:53] builds on a couple of discussions we've had in the last several months um to do

[36:00] some limited uh zoning ordinance updates that are aimed at um alignment with new

[36:08] state laws and rules and cleaning up some issues that

[36:15] um lead to like lack of clarity for property owners and staff. Um, so the

[36:23] project doesn't involve like creation of uh like new realms of policy. Um, we're

[36:30] we're envisioning this being a pretty limited scope uh project, although it it

[36:36] involves three distinct topics and I'll review those for you brief briefly.

[36:41] Um, before I forget, I wanted to mention that the report that goes along with

[36:46] this item, I meant to include some links uh

[36:51] hyperlinks that you could click on um to read more if you wanted to. And was I

[36:56] was trying to keep the report really brief. And I'm interested when we get to

[37:00] discussion if anyone tried to use those and if they worked and I think we'd be

[37:04] interested in in redistributing that in a way that works. if not the link that I

[37:09] was using off the planning commission packet had a dead link uh or two. But in

[37:15] any case, this project would essentially do zoning ordinance updates primarily

[37:20] focused on article 13 administrative provisions

[37:26] and also the article for the beach and dune overlay zone.

[37:32] Um there's two topics that would mostly

[37:35] center on article 13 uh our procedures and administrative

[37:40] provisions. The first one is in response to new state rules

[37:46] uh related to goal five cultural areas. And the second topic that would

[37:52] primarily center on article 13 is related to housing laws.

[37:57] Um and housing related rules that have been adopted by the state.

[38:03] We reviewed some of the housing related matters in April of this year uh at our

[38:10] April meeting. The goal five cultural areas topic is a

[38:15] new one for for us at the planning commission. So I'll start reviewing

[38:21] that. Um, in December of 2025, the Land

[38:26] Conservation and Development Commission adopted new rules that they had been

[38:31] working on in the prior year. And the rules

[38:35] essentially will require two sort of new broad areas of action for local

[38:41] governments. Um, one is that when an application

[38:48] comes to the city that it that will lead to ground

[38:52] disturbance and it's an application that already

[38:56] requires some form of public notice. Think conditional uses, variances,

[39:03] um, partitions, subdivisions, reszones.

[39:09] If we get an application like that and it's predictably going to lead to ground

[39:13] disturbance, the new state rules require us to provide a unique notice to

[39:20] selected uh Indian tribes that the application has been received

[39:26] uh and is complete. And then the rules require us to respond to any

[39:33] comments that we receive from those tribes in a specific manner and to

[39:37] include those comments and our responses in the record of the decision.

[39:41] It's really a procedural requirement. Um so there's not it doesn't introduce new

[39:47] approval criteria to any type of application.

[39:52] Um but the intent of it is for communication with tribes between tribes

[39:58] and local governments to uh improve and to offer tribes a meaningful opportunity

[40:03] to comment on land use applications uh and have those comments um considered in

[40:10] decisions. So that's the first one, the first part

[40:14] of the rule. Uh the second part that requires some different local action

[40:21] going forward is that um tribes will be able to propose that certain sites uh

[40:30] they they they're free to propose any site uh they want to uh that certain

[40:35] sites should be considered culturally uh significant sites under Oregon State

[40:40] goal five. And um when local governments receive an application

[40:47] uh for a site to be considered culturally significant

[40:51] um the local government will have to follow a uh goal five comprehensive plan

[40:58] amendment procedure um to complete certain analyses and

[41:03] consider uh an update to the comprehensive plan to officially

[41:08] designate that site as culturally significant.

[41:12] and along with that uh protect it protect the the culturally significant

[41:16] resources uh in some way or another. And so um again no new substantive

[41:26] requirement uh in terms of like these sites are already known and you have to

[41:32] protect them in this way like we do with flood planes for example.

[41:36] um just new procedures that we're going to have to follow. And the rules say

[41:41] that local governments can implement them directly from statute and don't

[41:46] have to uh amend their zoning ordinances or

[41:49] comprehensive plans to get ready uh for that. It goes into effect January 1st,

[41:55] 2027. Uh but DLCD staff uh including our north

[42:01] coast field representative Brett Estus um and the goal five specialists are

[42:07] recommending that local governments at least review their codes and probably

[42:12] need to make uh at least some kinds of updates.

[42:15] Um one to signal to staff to not forget to

[42:20] do the notices when there's a ground disturbing application that comes in.

[42:25] Um, and two, to make sure that we have some processes in place to handle

[42:33] a proposal for a new culturally significant site. Um, and along with

[42:39] that, having some way to charge a fee to make sure that we can recuperate the

[42:44] costs of that, you know, rather lengthy process of considering one of those

[42:50] proposals. So, um, that's the first topic that, you

[42:56] know, we think we want to, we're not sure if we're going to get applications

[43:00] or how often this is going to come into play, but, um, you know, we take DLCD

[43:05] staff's recommendations seriously. Um, I don't think we want to be caught

[43:10] surprised with a culturally significant uh, site application with no procedure

[43:18] fees in place. um or we have to handle a comprehensive plan amendment.

[43:24] And so that's something that we want to uh deal with proactively.

[43:29] And again, that'll be focused on article 13, our administrative provisions.

[43:34] Um the second topic outlined in the memo is

[43:40] related to the beach and dune overlay zone. And there's some points of clarity

[43:46] that we want to bring forward for your consideration that we think will make it

[43:51] um uh easier and clearer for staff to implement the overlay zone and easier

[43:57] for property owners to read it and know what they're allowed and not allowed to

[44:02] do. Um,

[44:07] and so that uh I'm I'm actually going to leave leave that one as relatively

[44:11] brief, but we'll we'll get more into that when we have our our workshop later

[44:17] uh in the year. And then the third topic is related to housing laws.

[44:23] And that again is we covered a variety of housing topics um in our April

[44:29] meeting, but the one that this zoning code update would focus on is related to

[44:36] procedures and the idea that there's certain kinds of land use applications

[44:41] that state law has said are are really supposed to be processed

[44:47] um with I guess you could say less process and fewer standards than we have

[44:54] been processing them with typically in gearart. So

[44:59] um partitions and subdivisions are really supposed to be type two

[45:06] uh administrative review decisions where staff issue a public notice and

[45:15] there's opportunities for the public and neighbors to provide written comments.

[45:21] and then a decision is made in a in a staff report notice of decision uh

[45:28] without a public hearing. Um and there there would still be appeal

[45:32] opportunities uh after the decision is made.

[45:36] But that's the I that that's the the area of housing law that we'd be

[45:42] focusing on in this update is aligning procedures

[45:47] um with state guidelines and laws and rules.

[45:52] Um and again that's related to article 13

[45:59] primarily. And so normally

[46:04] I wouldn't propose like a three topic zoning ordinance update covering that

[46:09] breadth the breadth of those issues but um

[46:14] we are going to be trying to to keep the changes relatively minimal and targeted

[46:20] and again they're intended to just implement uh

[46:25] state rules and provide clarity rather than create new policy direction. Um

[46:33] um and so we think that we can do this uh in a relatively efficient manner. Um,

[46:40] we're proposing to give city council a briefing on these topics in

[46:48] uh, August and then come back to you for a workshop in at your regular meeting in

[46:54] September where we would have the proposed ordinance changes drafted

[47:00] for your review and discussion. And depending on how that goes, um

[47:07] potentially having a hearing as soon as, uh October of 2026,

[47:13] um and and then moving into, you know, a

[47:18] city city council hearing and adoption, you know, later in the year in in the

[47:22] early new year. So, um that's the overview. There's

[47:27] there's a one other topic that we discussed earlier in the year. It was

[47:32] really sort of a catchall which was broad-based

[47:36] review and clarity updates for the whole zoning ordinance.

[47:41] And given um some of the issues we've experienced

[47:46] with the beach and dune overlay zone in the last year um the January 1st, 2027

[47:55] implementation date for goal five cultural areas

[47:59] and um that we're getting, you know, we're starting to get more partition and

[48:04] subdivision applications. These seem like three topics that will

[48:08] have um some like immediate relevance uh and impact on um how you work with the

[48:15] code, how staff works with it, and how Gearart citizens experience it. Um and

[48:21] so I think there there's going to be yet more work to do after this, but this

[48:26] seemed like an appropriate uh sort of project size package to work on together

[48:31] in 2026. So I'll leave it at that for now. and h happy to answer any

[48:37] questions. >> Does anyone have a question? Jennifer,

[48:40] » could you Gary, could you describe again what would prompt either a revision or

[48:45] addition to the to the comprehensive plan?

[48:49] » Sure. So DLCD uh has recommended that we review the comprehensive plan

[48:56] um related to the goal five cultural areas issues

[49:01] and um

[49:04] see if there's a need for some kind of supportive sort of broadly supportive

[49:10] policy statement uh that that backs up the zoning ordinance updates that that

[49:16] we'll do on that topic. Um,

[49:20] and also to review and see if there's any specific procedures that that

[49:26] contradict or are incomplete uh in relation to

[49:30] um to what's in the state rule. For example, I haven't done this yet, but

[49:37] perhaps the compre if the comprehensive plan said um had had policies on how it

[49:44] how it should be updated itself. Let's say the comprehensive plan says this is

[49:48] how we update the comprehensive plan and it only describes a procedure where um

[49:53] where staff and the city can propose updates but doesn't describe any

[49:58] procedure that includes third parties proposing updates.

[50:03] um you know that basically implies that only the city can propose updates and

[50:08] that's in contradiction with the new state rule that that tribes are supposed

[50:12] to be able to propose updates. Um to designate culturally significant sites.

[50:17] So we'd be taking a look from that perspective.

[50:20] Um, so I' I'd imagine like limited sort of

[50:26] broadly supportive policy statements uh in a new section and checking on the

[50:32] goal to uh procedural statements and and it would be limited to that

[50:39] topic. I don't think that um comprehensive plan policy changes would

[50:45] be needed for anything else that we're contemplating in the housing or beach

[50:50] and doing overlay realm. Although we of course have to, you know, that that is

[50:56] like one of the first steps is to is to inventory those and just make sure we're

[51:01] staying on the right side of them. And if there's an issue, we'll bring it up

[51:04] to you.

[51:08] What what is our what is our city's um requirement for does it have to be voted

[51:13] on if we change the comp plan? Does it have to be voted on by someone or the

[51:17] the public or how does that >> Yeah. So it's um we have uh a a planning

[51:26] commission hearing um and a a recommendation and then ultimately it's

[51:31] a city council uh hearing and then a city council decision. Um, and it's

[51:37] appealable under, you know, Oregon, Oregon's land use laws. Um,

[51:43] so but city council decision. It's not like

[51:48] a change to the city charter. It's not a a public vote or something. I don't I

[51:53] don't know what a change of the city charter would entail, but

[51:56] » it's a city council action. Yeah. >> So, we listen, we make a recommendation,

[52:03] » then it goes to city council. Yes, Eric. >> Uh Garrett, with regard, for example, to

[52:10] these two subdivisions you're going to be bringing forward, uh will our work on

[52:15] that be impacted by SB5 1537?

[52:20] Our procedures be any different than they would have been before that law was

[52:24] passed? >> Um, no. We're f we're following our

[52:30] zoning ordinances direction, which is that subdivisions

[52:37] require a planning commission hearing. And so is it is an important point of

[52:41] clarification. Um, there seems to be room within state law

[52:47] for us to keep having hearings before the planning commission on

[52:53] subdivisions and partitions and to have the planning commission be the

[52:57] decision-making authority. So, I don't think that we're

[53:03] violating state law by doing that. Um however

[53:10] the decisions at least in regards to housing

[53:16] on subdivisions and partitions um

[53:23] when when housing is involved the standards have to be clear and

[53:26] objective. We have to limit our decision- making to clear and objective

[53:29] standards. And that really undermines the whole purpose of having

[53:37] a planning commission um make the decision.

[53:42] Uh which is that, you know, there's decisions that there's enough discretion

[53:47] and judgment involved that it really shouldn't be up to staff for some

[53:51] decisions. Um,

[53:56] and it needs to and the decision needs to be needs to include like deliberation

[54:00] in a public hearing where evidence can be presented and

[54:08] um, you know, alternative evidence can be presented and and weighed all out in

[54:14] the open in that setting. And that's that's not how housing related

[54:19] subdivision and partition decisions are supposed to be made anymore.

[54:23] um we're just supposed to stick to the clear and objective

[54:26] facts. And um since that's the case, that is a

[54:33] matter that as sort of as a matter of principle you could argue is more

[54:38] appropriate for staff to handle.

[54:42] » Answer your question, Eric. You didn't like the answer. Not that I don't like

[54:46] it. I'm just confused though. um like are we supposed to deliberate or are we

[54:53] not supposed to anymore? >> Yeah, on a on a housing related

[54:59] subdivision application, um

[55:04] there there just isn't much room

[55:08] for deliberation.

[55:12] um like the staff report will you know increasingly look more like a checklist.

[55:20] Um and

[55:23] to the extent that there is something to deliberate over like and if and if you

[55:28] denied the application

[55:32] or imposed a condition of approval on the application that was the result of

[55:38] deliberation. um

[55:42] there's a decent chance that that deliberation was not on a matter that is

[55:48] clear and objective otherwise there'd be nothing to deliberate about.

[55:53] I know it's difficult to so I think I get the picture that you want to have

[55:57] the hearing, you want to have the whole thing discussed, but we don't really get

[56:02] to decide, so to speak, in the sense that it's already the the uh ordinances

[56:08] are already decided for us kind of. Yeah, the issues are already decided for

[56:16] us, but we get to hear about it.

[56:23] » Yeah. Yeah, we all do, right? But we're not really in a decision

[56:29] making position as much as we were, >> right? I mean, you you are you the the

[56:36] decision in August, the decisions in August will be yours on those

[56:39] subdivisions. Uh but increasingly like um

[56:45] if you exercise discretion and judgment um your decision is

[56:54] increasingly appealable these days. Yeah.

[56:56] » Yeah. Okay. I I understand. I I thank you for the clarification.

[57:01] » Yeah. >> Any other questions for carrot?

[57:06] » You know. Hey, you're all easy. So we will you will present to the city

[57:12] council in August then a planned workshop

[57:17] where we'll discuss what you have unless the city council has something you don't

[57:22] foresee at this point and then we will have the public hearing where we can

[57:27] hear from everyone all at the same time so everyone gets an equal chance uh in

[57:33] October. Is that correct? >> Yeah, as soon as October. We'll see how

[57:38] it goes with city council and we'll see how the workshop goes with y'all in

[57:42] September. But >> okay,

[57:45] » so that it's best to have public hearing for everyone at one time so everyone

[57:51] gets an equal chance. >> Okay, that that is fine.

[57:54] » Okay. All right. So, thank you, Garrett. What else do we have on agenda? Concerns

[58:02] of the commission. Are there concerns? Um, my concern, I just put down

[58:09] fireworks. That was my concern. >> Gearhart needs to do something about the

[58:17] fireworks. >> The interesting piece is that we did

[58:21] have a firework complaint one. That was it.

[58:27] » That's because we were all told unless they were shooting at you, do not call

[58:32] them. >> It was It was an interesting statistic.

[58:35] They are not shooting. We just keep awake at night. Okay. We have no

[58:39] questions for the land use because we don't have it. It is 7:57.

[58:44] No, it's 657. Sorry, Angelia. 657.

[58:50] Me. >> Thank you all. Thank you, Gary. I know

[58:54] people chat. What is the fine heart for illegal fireworks?

[59:01] first photos. >> I do not know what DRS is.

Jul 9 2026 PC MTG

Transcript