Cheesemaker Tillamook County football takes remembers 9/11 tough road loss Page A2 Page A10
Headlight Herald
Tuesday, September 10 | Vol. 136, Issue 37
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www.TillamookHeadlightHerald.com
Cape Meares community conserves watershed WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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embers of the Cape Meares Community Association have come together over the past three years to coordinate the protection of 107 acres of forest, which was recently purchased by the Conservation Fund. Now, staff at the fund are working with officials at the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to coordinate the purchase of that parcel and another 106-acre parcel previously donated to the association for inclusion in the Cape Meares National Wildlife Refuge. Should the sale materialize, the forest will be protected in perpetuity, securing Cape Meares’ drinking water source and more than doubling the size of the wildlife refuge. Cape Meares Community Association President Bev Stein said that the project had been built on volunteer effort and that she hoped it would inspire other communities on the coast who are trying to protect their drinking water sources. “It’s a great example for other communities,” Stein said, “because a lot of communities on the coast now are struggling with these issues and the fact that we, a little community, can put this together, with you now practically nothing and just persistence is a great example for other communities.” Progress towards the purchase began in 2021, when a member of the community hiking near Coleman Creek, Cape Meares’ drinking water source, noticed that the waters were muddier than usual and alerted the Cape Meares Community Associa-
COURTESY PHOTO
Nick Troxel
Troxel talks priorities as chief WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
tion (CMCA). In turn, a CMCA representative reached out to the Grimm family, which owned the property, and learned that they were preparing to log it. The CMCA member asked the family about their interest in selling the property and was quoted an asking price of $2.2 million. The next step was a property appraisal, which estimated that the property was worth just $395,000. With this figure in hand, CMCA returned to the sellers and entered into an agreement that gave the association the right to purchase the
land and precluded the owners from logging it in the interim. After they had entered the agreement, the association began searching for organizations to help with the purchase, contacting more than 20, before discovering the Conservation Fund. Founded in 1985, the conservation fund is a nonprofit organization that has helped to protect 9 million acres of land across the country and over 100,000 acres in Oregon. The fund supports projects that help to promote conservation and economic benefits for communities. The fund
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usually deploys its capital to serve as a bridge buyer and facilitate projects like the one in Cape Meares and tries to avoid long-term ownership of projects. In recent years, the fund has worked with Port Orford and Toledo on similar projects that protected those communities’ watersheds. John Wros, a field specialist in the northwest region for the conservation fund, said that the Cape Meares project was a perfect fit for the Conservation Fund’s mission.
ince taking over as Tillamook’s chief of police at the beginning of July, Nick Troxel has been focused on supporting his officers’ mental health and renewing community trust. In a recent conversation with the Headlight Herald, Troxel said that the department was submitting itself to several outside reviews of its policies and practices and that he welcomed community members to check in themselves. “There’s a lot of static that goes on, as you see and hear, on the outside of this building,” Troxel said. “But I invite people to come and get to know us because if you come
See CAPE MEARES, Page A4
See TROXEL, Page A4
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A view from the recently purchased parcel over much of Cape Meares’ watershed that will be added to the Cape Meares National Wildlife Refuge.
Tillamook homeless shelter to open in November WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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PHOTO COURTESY OF TILLAMOOK PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
The temporary signal and retaining wall that are installed at Sandlake Road.
Sandlake Road repairs approved WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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illamook’s board of county commissioners approved a contract with the Oregon Department of Transportation to repair a landslide that temporarily closed Sandlake Road last December at their August 28 meeting. Repair work will cost just shy of $1.7 million and is expected to be complete between next August and October. The landslide occurred during a major winter storm in early December of 2023, wiping out both lanes of the road on a hillside that had seen slides previously. County commissioners quickly declared a state of emergency in response to the storm, which was matched declarations from Governor Tina Kotek in January and the Federal Highway Administration in February. County workers were able to reinforce and reopen one lane of traffic in February, with portable traffic signals purchased and installed to
manage traffic during the closure. Tillamook County Director of Public Works Chris Laity told the commissioners that county crews had been able to complete that work, which was paid for by the Federal Highway Administration, because it had occurred within 180 days of the disaster. By contrast, the larger scale project will require an outside partner, in this case the Oregon Department of Transportation, to receive the funds as the county is not certified to manage federal highway funds and the project is happening more than 180 days following the incident. The county will be responsible for a 10% match on the project, or just over $170,000, and Laity said that his department is proposing to contribute in-kind engineering work to account for $50,000 of that figure. Laity said that the work is planned for completion between August and October of 2025 and that he does not expect the work to require extended road closures.
IN THIS ISSUE News Opinion Obituaries Sports Classifieds
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fter numerous delays caused by necessary infrastructure upgrades, Community Action Resource Enterprises plans to open a new homeless shelter facility in downtown Tillamook by November. The new shelter will consist of a large, group shelter and seven micro shelters as well as restrooms and shower facilities and Community Action Resource Enterprises (CARE) Executive Director Jeff Blackford said that opening the shelters before winter weather arrives is critical. “I cannot stress how important it is for us to get this open,” Blackford said “If we have another winter like we did last year with the ice storms and the flooding I’m really worried about our population. We lost a couple people last year; I don’t want to lose any more.” The new shelters will be constructed on a piece of county property behind a county parking lot and adjacent to CARE’s headquarters. The project received $266,000 in funding from the state legislature in 2023, appropriated from Measure 110 behavioral health network funds, and was originally scheduled to open in December of last year. However, numerous problems and challenges were uncovered during construction, with each delaying the project further. “You know, every single one of these changes it causes another month of delays,” Blackford said. “It’s just one thing after another.” First, Blackford and the construction team discovered that the original schematics for the project did not include sufficient separation between the shelters to meet fire code, necessitating a reworking of those plans. Then, as rain pelted the site last winter, the team decided that installing a French drain to improve drainage would be prudent and added it to the project’s scope. Finally, when the team approached the Tillamook People’s
WILL CHAPPELL / CUNTRY MEDIA, INC.
Much of the groundwork for a new homeless shelter is complete on the plot of land adjacent to CARE’s Tillamook headquarters, with installation expected by November.
Utility District (TPUD) to discuss connecting the project to the electrical grid, they were informed that the current infrastructure at the site was insufficient to support the project’s needs. To remedy this shortcoming, CARE will pay to install a new electrical vault at the rear of their property, which will cost an estimated $60,000 to $90,000, and take two to nine months to complete, according to Blackford. Fortunately, the current infrastructure at the site can support the shelters’ lighting, so Blackford said that the shelters will open without climate control until the vault is complete. At this point, water infrastructure has been completely installed at the site and conduits for electrical power have been laid and will be wired from the existing power pole in the coming months. The 400 square foot congregate shelter at the new facility will replace CARE’s current warming shelter offerings and be open 365 nights a year, with the capability to house 14 people on foldable beds. The shelter will have no barriers to entry and be open to all and people
staying there will have access to separate toilet and shower buildings. During the day, the building will be used to provide services to those who stay there. The seven smaller shelters will be 120 square feet, with two designed to house four- to six-person families and the others designed for two people. Blackford said that people would live in those shelters for three to nine months as part of the progression from living on the street, to the congregate shelter and eventually into permanent housing. Blackford said that while other programs in the state had decided to make their micro shelters single occupancy, CARE was planning to move forward with double occupancy given the dearth of available shelter space in the county. Moving into the micro shelters will require an application. All the structures for the facility will come from Pallet and can be assembled in a matter of hours, and the facility will be ADA accessible. Even as they work to consumSee TILLAMOOK, Page A4
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