[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.