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• Candy Cane Express, pg 4 • Santa coming to Wheeler, pg 5 • Gingerbread Party, pg 6 • Bay City, pg 8 • Festival of Trees, pg 9 • Tillamook County Special Events, pg 10-12 • Rockaway Beach events, pg 13 • Bay Ocean Community Chorus, pg 13 • Tillamook Air Museum Santa and The Grinch, pg 13 • Monday Musical Concert, pg 13 • Cannon Beach events, pg 14-15
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Friday, December 5, 2025 | Vol. 49, Issue 12
www.cannonbeachgazette.com
Haystack Holidays bring a month of light, tradition, and coastal cheer to Cannon Beach PIERCE BAUGH V for the Gazette
A sunny weekend for Stormy Weather STAFF REPORT
Beautiful weather drew throngs of visitors to Cannon Beach in the first weekend of November for the 38th Stormy Weather Arts Festival. Across three days, more than 50 events took place at more than a dozen participating galleries across the city, as live music, artists’ talks and kids’ activities See STORMY WEATHER, Page A6
See HAYSTACK, Page A3
Council approves reappraisal of Haystack Hill property WILL CHAPPELL Gazette Editor
Cannon Beach city council approved funding for a repeat appraisal for a property on Haystack Hill owned by the Holland Family Trust at their meeting on November 4, to facilitate that property’s donation to the city. The move comes after an appraisal earlier this year returned a lower value than two in previous years and threatened to derail plans for the donation. The seven-member Holland Family Trust owns the Haystack Hill property and has been working with the city and Oregon Coast Alliance (ORCA) to coordinate the property’s donation to the city to serve as a nature reserve. ORCA is working to raise funds to support the purchase and will then donate the property to the city. However, that plan hit a snag when a property appraisal conducted earlier this year returned an estimated value of just $2 million, less than half the value assigned to the property in appraisals in 2009 and 2017, which both estimated the property’s value at $4.8 million. That represented a problem for the original plan, as the trust has entered a sale agreement with ORCA for $4.8 million, and a representative from the association
Each winter, Cannon Beach leans fully into the holiday spirit, transforming into a coastal town lit by tradition, community gatherings, and festive creativity. Haystack Holidays — a monthlong celebration stretching from late November into December — brings together longtime locals, visitors, artists, businesses and families for events that feel uniquely Cannon Beach. The season opens at the Coaster Theatre Playhouse, where A Carol for Tiny Tim runs November 21– December 21. A sequel to Dickens’s classic, the production revisits Scrooge 15 years after his transformation, only to find that it’s Tiny Tim — now grown and spoiled — who needs intervention. Using his childhood infirmity to gain sympathy and money, Tim has lost his way. Jacob Marley assembles the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future for one more life-altering lesson. Warm and heartfelt, the show continues the theatre’s tradition of anchoring the holiday season. Details are available at coastertheatre.com or by calling 503-436-1242. Thanksgiving weekend welcomed the annual Wreath Making Workshops at Steidel Community Hall.
said that it would be challenging to raise money for a purchase at more than twice the appraised value. The ORCA representative said that members of the trust believed the appraised value had come in so low because a development feasibility study had indicated that only four lots on the property could be built upon and because the appraiser was from the Portland area and unfamiliar with luxury coastal properties. The ORCA representative said that the trust hoped the city would find a new appraiser more familiar with the area and who would involve its members in the appraisal process. While the trust could accept a lower sales price, it is not obligated to, according to the ORCA representative, who also said that time was of the essence, as trust members need to know if there is a reasonable shot of the deal moving forward by next May. City Manager Bruce St. Denis explained that while it was unusual for the city to pay for the appraisal of a property, it had done so for the earlier appraisal this year, as well as the one in 2009, because of the upside of the property’s potential donation. St. Denis said that the $32,000 to pay for the appraisal was available in the general fund, and councilors approved the expenditure.
Council set to seek Necus designer WILL CHAPPELL Gazette Editor
Following presentations from City Councilors Gary Hayes and Erik Ostrander on the future of the Cannon Beach Elementary School site in October, council discussed next steps at a meeting on November 13. Councilors agreed that it was time to prepare a request for proposals from experts in park design to create a detailed plan for the space and that the city should use a construction manager general contractor model on the project. City Manager Bruce St. Denis began the meeting by discussing council’s options for next steps on the project, after council reached a consensus last month that given residents’ concerns over costs and the elementary school property’s location in the tsunami inundation zone, the site would be best suited for a park. St. Denis said that the next step was for councilors to decide on whether they would use a hard date or construction manager general contractor (CMGC) approach on the project, explaining that a hard date approach would entail developing a set of plans to solicit bids for construction, while a CMGC would work with the project’s architect to develop plans and manage construction for a set fee. St. Denis said that in his experience, it took eight to 12 weeks to find a CMGC and put together a project team, and that he recommended that approach for its flexibility. Councilor Lisa Kerr interjected that she felt moving forward with assembling a team was premature because she did not feel there was a consensus among community members in support of turning the school into a park. Kerr said
that at October’s meeting where the property was discussed she had heard lots of voices speaking in favor of an indoor recreation center and that she felt the council should determine a budget for the project before hosting an open house at the gym to solicit community feedback and deciding based on that input. Councilor Deanna Hammond said that she felt there had been agreement at the October meeting not to pursue a big project at the site because of tsunami concerns. Hayes said that he felt the council had already done what Kerr was suggesting and that he had enough information to decide on the project. Hammond added that the council needed to keep in mind that a legal settlement with a group of citizens who challenged previous plans for renovating the school requires that any new project at the site be different in scope and lower in cost than the previous plans. Kerr said that she felt there was too much support for a recreation center for the council not to discuss the possibility. Hammond suggested that the council add an indoor recreation center to their vision plan for the city for the next five years, saying that if the council committed to finding a site to house one elsewhere, citizens might be more receptive to turning the Necus property into a park. Kerr then said that she did not think there was a mandate on the project’s budget and that she believed the council should determine a budget for the project and let that guide the scope. Hayes responded that he had proposed a $6.1 million budget at the previous meeting that would use funds already set aside for the project. Kerr said that she felt there had not been enough public discussion
of the proposed budget for the council to take a mandate from the citizenry and that any decision they made should not be framed in that way. Hayes responded that citizens might want a community center but that did not mean that council could build one, and Hammond added that the council needed to decide what to do with the property quickly as the city will be required to start paying taxes on money borrowed for the project in 18 months. Kerr ceded the point and council moved into a brief discussion of elements they would like to see at the property. All agreed that some parking needed to be part of the design, as did public art and an interpretative trail to honor the site’s native legacy, and that a small meeting space or classroom should be on the wish list, should the budget allow. Hayes said that he thought it would be important to involve the community, through the auspices of the Tourism and Arts Commission and Parks Committee, in the trail design process. St. Denis then asked if councilors were in favor of the CMGC or hard date approach. Councilors said they were in favor of a CMGC and St. Denis asked if they would like to use Cida, the firm serving as CMGC for the ongoing city hall and police station projects, for the Necus project as well. Hayes said that he felt many in the city had soured on Cida during the previous planning cycle for the school property and that it would make more sense for the city to work with a different firm with park-specific experience. Others concurred and council instructed St. Denis and staff to create a request for proposals for a designer for the project.