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Headlight Herald
Headlight Herald
Citizen North Coast
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 | Vol. 137, Issue 51
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www.TillamookHeadlightHerald.com
Wind damage closes Hangar B Rockway
Beach council raises sewer rates R
A windstorm caused a hole in the roof of Hangar B at the port of Tillamook Bay. Hangar B is closed indefinitely as a fix is determined. Photos courtesy Port of Tillamook Bay
WILL CHAPPELL
A
Headlight Editor
n intense windstorm with gusts above 50 miles an hour ripped a 200-foot-long section from the roof of Hangar B at the Port of Tillamook Bay on December 16, forcing the closure of the Tillamook Air Museum and other businesses located in the hangar. Officials from the port are now working to determine the best way to address the issue, though with no insurance on the structure and a six-figure price tag solely to rent scaffolding to address the situation, finding a solution may be challenging. Roofer Rick Lofton appeared at the port’s board of commissioners meeting on December 17, to discuss the damage to the hangar and pos-
sible steps forward. Lofton said that he believed the hole on the southeast end of the hangar had been caused by water intrusion creating weakness in the structure, leading to a rip when the high winds caught a saturated piece of material. The hole is just below the transition point between the convex portion of the hangar and the morevertical portion of the wall, and Lofton said that led him to believe intrusion occurred at the transition point where different water barriers were joined. Lofton said that there was still debris hanging from the hole and that the port needed to secure the hole to prevent future storms from bringing the entire structure down, adding that any temporary fix would require a rigid cover for the hole.
Port of Tillamook Bay General Manager Michele Bradley said that the incident had caused a tent owned by the port to fill with water and collapse, but that none of the planes underneath had been damaged. Bradley also said vehicles, including RVs, boats and cars, that are usually stored in the area where the damage occurred have been relocated. Lofton said that he recommended the port find a crane to allow him to better evaluate the damage, remove the hanging debris and devise a temporary measure to repair the hole and minimize further damage. In the long run, Lofton said that he believed the correct approach was to erect scaffolding around the hole to work on a permanent repair. The scaffolding would need to reach 180 feet into the air, span
the entirety of the 200-foot hole and stand 80-feet wide, which Lofton said would cost at least $178,000 based on an initial quote. Lofton said that the hole was too high for most cranes in the region to access and that there were no anchor points on the roof, making scaffolding the best option for accessing the damage. Port commissioners instructed Lofton and port staff to continue fleshing out the possible solutions and set an emergency meeting for December 22, to discuss next steps for both the short- and long-term repairs. With the risk of additional debris falling posing a risk, commissioners also decided to close the hangar until further notice for the Tillamook Air Museum and its other tenants.
ockaway Beach’s city council voted to raise water rates in each of the next five years at their meeting on December 10, with the first increase of $3.65 scheduled for January 1. The following increases will be around $5 annually and by 2030, residents will pay a rate of $75.45 monthly for sewer service, as compared to $50.80 now. The increase came following a rate study conducted by HDR Engineers, which was presented to council by Josiah Close of HDR at the meeting. Close told council that the city’s sewer rate had last been updated in 2009, since which prices have risen more than 50%. Close said that this left the city’s sewer utility in a position where the utility would not be able to cover costs into the future, with revenues for this year projected at $1.149 million against costs of $1.198 million. The utility’s reserve fund has around $200,000 to cover the gap between costs and revenues but would be depleted by fiscal year 2027 absent rate increases. The reserve fund will be used to smooth the rate of increases over the next several years before See RATES, Page A3
New pedestrian signs in Adventist surgery expansion progressing installed Tillamook WILL CHAPPELL
A
Headlight Editor
dventist Health Tillamook’s surgery suite expansion progress is dried in, and crews are working to install utilities in the new space, putting the new building on track for a March 2026 opening. Once the 4,500 square-foot addition’s four operating rooms are open, Skanska USA Building will shift focus to renovating the current surgery suite into pre- and post-operative areas, with that work expected to be complete by next September.
A recent tour with the hospital’s civic advisory board showed that walls in the new building have been framed and sheet rock hung, and work on installing other utilities was well underway. The $18 million project broke ground in fall 2024 and was initiated to meet expanding needs and fix a foundation issue with the existing operating rooms, which were built in 1995. The project received $1 million in funding from the federal government, with the remainder of its budget being supported by Adventist Health’s capital management fund.
WILL CHAPPELL
A
Coffin Butte landfill expansion approval buys Tillamook County time WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
B
enton County commissioners approved an expansion of the Coffin Butte landfill located north of Corvallis on November 17, giving the facility capacity to operate for an estimated additional six
years. That was welcome news for the Tillamook County Solid Waste Program, which transports all 30,000 tons of waste generated in the county annually to the landfill, though Solid Waste Program Manager Justin Weiss said it was still important to continue explor-
ing alternatives to the site. “It’s still a short, stopgap measure,” Weiss said, “we’ve got to really look towards the future and what we’re going to do beyond that six years, it could be shorter. Maybe there’s another expansion in the future, but eventually we are going to have to find
IN THIS ISSUE News Opinion Obituaries Sports Classifieds
A2-4 A5-6 A7 B1-2 B3-8
another resource.” The approval for the expansion of the 178-acre landfill in Adair Village operated by Republic Services came after a July denial of the request by Benton County’s planning commission and despite the objections of neighboring property owners concerned
about odor, traffic and pollution. A group of those residents have submitted a notice of their intent to appeal the approval to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. Tillamook County has used the Coffin Butte Landfill to dispose of the See COUNTY, Page A3
Headlight Editor
s part of a long-term wayfinding plan, 16 directional signs for pedestrians were recently installed around downtown Tillamook to guide residents and visitors to local businesses and attractions. The signs were funded by a $100,000 grant from the Tillamook Coast Visitors Association and several, especially one at the intersection of Laurel Avenue and Third Street, have caused concern among residents about potential confusion for drivers over apparent conflict with one-way streets. Tillamook City Manager Sean Lewis said that city staff have not observed any drivers going the wrong way down one-way streets and that they were monitoring the situation, though he noted that he thought the signs were unlikely to be a problem as people become accustomed to them. “How much is this just new and people are seeing it and noticing it because it’s new, but once it’s been there for six or eight months and it’s not new anymore, is that really going to be a problem,” Lewis wondered. See SIGNS, Page A2
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