North Coast
Citizen Serving North Tillamook County since 1996
Thursday, March 21, 2024 | Vol. 31, Issue 6
www.northcoastcitizen.com
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Manzanita council approves city hall construction contract WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Manzanita’s city council unanimously approved a guaranteed maximum price contract for just under $4.6 million with Cove Built, LLC. to construct a new city hall and police station at Underhill Plaza on March 6. City Manager Leila Aman also updated the council on the city’s selection to receive $2.7 million from the state legislature to build infrastructure to enable housing development. The $2.7 million award is part of the state’s efforts to address the affordable housing crisis and will be used to construct water and stormwater infrastructure necessary to build the Manzanita Highlands project, according to Aman. That project aims to bring 128 apartments into Manzanita’s housing pool that would be available to renters for less than the market rate. Aman said that staff from State Representative David Gomberg’s office had approached the city in November to ask if they had any projects that were shovel ready. The request came with a four-day deadline and Aman said that the city had already identified the project and worked up a preliminary plan, allowing them to submit a proposal in the allotted time. At the council meeting, the award was so recent that Aman was unable to offer any specifics on the project’s timeline but she said that she was extremely excited about
Manzanita City Hall rendering
receiving the funding. Aman and Jesse Steiger, who is serving as project manager for the city hall and police station project, gave a presentation about the guaranteed maximum price contract. Aman began by giving a brief history of the project, which began in 1995 when the city council approved the formation of a city hall fund to pay for the eventual construction. Small contributions were made to the fund over the next 20 years but no further steps were taken until 2017 when the council
approved the purchase of the Underhill Plaza site. Following the purchase, the project’s progress sped up. In 2019 the city sought a bond from voters to pay for the construction of a new city hall at the site but did not receive approval. The setback led the city council to pass a resolution in 2020 confirming their intention to construct a new facility at the site and directed the city staff to find funding sources to support that decision. Following that decision, an extensive public feedback
process was conducted, yielding a preliminary plan in 2021, at which point the council approved the hiring of a project team. The team held more public outreach to help develop a schematic design, while concurrently identifying several potential funding sources for the project. By budget season in 2023, the team had completed the schematic design process and determined that applying for a loan from Business Oregon’s Special Public Works Fund would be the best funding mechanism. During the
budget process the council approved the loan application and greenlit the team to move into the final design phase before beginning construction. For the rest of 2023, the project team worked to finalize the designs for the project, which they presented to the council in November. The new city hall and police station will be housed in separate buildings, as the police station will serve as the city’s emergency operations center, requiring more expensive construction to ensure its survival in a Cas-
cadia subduction zone event. Councilors approved the design as well as the remediation of hazardous materials concerns at two buildings at the site to be followed by their demolition, which occurred in January. In December, council gave final approval to Aman to borrow up to $5.1 million from Business Oregon for the project. The loan will accrue interest at a 2% rate and funds will be issued on an as-needed basis during construction, with the total loan See MANZANITA, Page A3
Board of Forestry finalizes HCP WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
In a 4-3 vote on March 7, the Oregon Board of Forestry approved finalization of a habitat conservation plan for western Oregon state forests that will regulate management of those forests for the next 70 years. Serious cuts in projected harvest levels under the plan drew intense criticism from officials from counties and special districts that rely on revenues from the state forest and timber industry representatives. But following a recommendation of approval from State Forester Cal Mukumoto, four board members voted for approval of the plan, saying they did not believe higher harvests could be achieved in compliance with federal statute, while three voted against. At the beginning of the meeting, Mukumoto officially recommended that staff from the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) move forward on finalizing the habitat conservation plan (HCP) and obtaining incidental take permits associated with it. Mukumoto acknowledged the concerns about the plan’s economic impacts and noted that ODF has operated on limited budgets for many years. He said that staff at ODF would work to minimize
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the economic impacts in the forest management plans that will set harvest levels for ten-year periods during the HCP, using dynamic forest management techniques. He also said that the state forests division was looking at ways to reduce its budget by increasing efficiency to account for lower revenues. The HCP will govern around 640,000 acres of state forests west of the crest of the cascades that over the past two decades have averaged around 225 million board feet (mmbf) in annual harvests. The plan will establish habitat conservation areas to protect 17 species protected under the National Endangered Species Act (ESA) by establishing habitat conservation areas removed from harvest. Those restrictions are projected to lead to harvest levels between 165 mmbf and 182.5 mmbf. After Mukumoto finished his presentation, the board welcomed public comment, which was evenly split between support for and opposition to the plan. Opponents warned of financial ruin in the forest trust land counties, citing studies that showed that between 10 and 15 jobs are generated by each million board feet of timber harvested. Proponents said that the plan was a fair compromise between conservational efforts and the economic health of the counties, noting that they would have favored options with stronger protections for the endangered species. The board then began debate on whether to accept Mukumoto’s recommendation.
Board Member Carla Chambers kicked off the discussion and voiced her opposition to the plan, pointing to the potential impact on wildfire risk in the state. Chambers said that the history of reduced harvests on federal forest lands in Oregon dating back to the 1980s showed those reductions led to increases in fire risk. Chambers noted that the increase in fires has led to a concomitant rise in the price of electricity and insurance in recent years, discouraging new business activity across the state. It has also driven up the cost of fire fighting for ODF, which she said has spent $94.5 million on firefighting in the past five years. Adopting the new HCP would only further exacerbate the problem, while simultaneously reducing the department’s budget to fight fires, causing serious concern, Chambers said. Chambers also voiced her concerns about the economic impact of the plan, which she said would cause a $3.08 billion loss in revenues over its 70-year implementation period. “There is no financial plan for this HCP,” Chambers said. Chambers urged the board not to adopt the HCP and said that ODF could negotiate a minimum harvest level as part of a reworking of the plan. “It is time to do better for the people of Oregon on an HCP, I do not support this plan,” Chambers said. Board Member Liz Agpaoa concurred with Chambers and said that claims that reworking the HCP would lead to a multiyear delay in its implementation were unfounded. Agpaoa pointed to addi-
tional technical assistance that could be paid for with federal money under provisions of the 2018 farm bill and help to expedite a reworking of the plan. Other members of the board then chimed in to voice their disagreement, starting with Brenda McComb who said that she did not believe managing the forest would achieve conservation of endangered species. McComb said that she felt the HCP did a good job of providing the necessary protections for the species to persist and said that she planned to support its passage. Board Member Ben Deumling then said that he was sensitive to the financial concerns raised by the plan and committed to achieving a balance between financial and conservational goals, a stated goal of the process. However, Deumling said that after reviewing the plan and information provided by ODF staff he was convinced that a plan with higher harvest levels could not meet conservational requirements under federal law. “The problem is I don’t think more time will get us a better scenario,” Deumling said, “that’s hard for me to say because I wish at the bottom of my heart there was a scenario, but I don’t think the risk is worth it.” Board Member Chandra Ferrari echoed Deumling’s sentiment, saying that it was the board’s responsibility to make a decision based on common sense, which would comply with applicable laws, and that it was time to move forward. “I think we do everybody See FORESTRY, Page A3
Dr. Paul Jarrell, new Tillamook Bay Community College president
New TBCC president discusses past, programs, plans WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Tillamook Bay Community College welcomed Dr. Paul Jarrell as its new president on February 9, following the retirement of longtime leader Dr. Ross Tomlin. Jarrell brings more than 30 years of educational experience to the role and said that he is excited for
a forthcoming healthcare education building and to continue the college’s role as a strong partner for local businesses and the community. “I think simply put I just really feel at home here at TBCC and I feel very fortunate that the board of education here saw something in me and trusted me See TBCC, Page A3