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Siuslaw NewsWednesday, June 26, 2024 Florence, Oregon

One of two seaplanes landed on Waohink Lake as part of the ODART training June 15.

Number 26 • 133 years

City annexes small county property By TONY REED Siuslaw News

PHOTO BY ALICIA ORY DENICOLA

ODART disaster exercise a success liquefaction, landslides, tsunami, releases of hazardous materials, and Seaplanes flying over Florence on seismic aftershocks.” As part of the simulation, two Saturday June 15 were part of the seaplanes landed on Woahink Lake Oregon Disaster Airlift Response Team’s (ODART) role-playing disas- around 1 pm and a final seaplane landed on Siltcoos Lake a little over ter relief exercise. Known as the an hour later. “Whale Run 2024 Exercise Plan,” Mike Hancock and Jay Guettler the process helps homeland security were in charge of communications at and ODART evaluate current disasthe Siltcoos Lake site. Both showed ter protocols for possible natural up the site with a portable antenna disasters. It’s meant to focus on the outcome of a fault-line rupture along and a truck full of radio equipment at 8 am that morning. They monithe coast. According to ODART, “An abrupt shift of the earth’s crusts tored the airwaves with VHF and HF along the Cascadia Subduction Zone radio for hours, but ran into problems just as the planes were schedin the Pacific Ocean may result in uled to arrive in Florence. One of the a full-length ‘megathrust’ rupture” from Northern California into British tricky issues with communications is that during an actual emergency, Columbia. Residents up to 100 miles off the coastline would expeSee ODART, Page A4 rience “severe shaking, subsidence, By ALICIA ORY DENICOLA The Siuslaw News

PHOTO ALICIA ORY DENICOLA

The City Council approved the annexation of 2.88 acres of Park Way and Beach Drive rights of way into the City of Florence to allow the county to replace a vault toilet on the site with one that connects to city water and sewer. The annexed area is just north and east of Driftwood Shores. It is surrounded, for the most part, by medium density residential housing. According to staff reports, “The property being annexed into the City is the Heceta Beach Park which is a Lane County park that includes parking facilities, restrooms, and beach access just north of the Driftwood Shores Resort located on 1st Ave. Mayor Rob Ward said the area was historically known as “chicken point” because salmon fishermen would go to the area to see if waves were too big to fish on a given day. “If the waves were too big, they’d ‘chicken out,’” he said. City Associate Planner Claire Kurth said that previous public testimony expressed concerns about connecting 2nd Avenue connecting to become a through street when it’s currently a dead end, and other access concerns. “2nd Avenue is not currently proposed to go through,” Kurth said, “if at some point it does, there is private property to the south so it wouldn’t go straight through, it would have to make a jog to the left or right to connect with Arch Street or 1rst Avenue.” “This is not an application for development,” said staff reports. “At the time of this annexation request there is no nexus to upgrade streets in the immediate area that may not meet current City standards or develop currently undeveloped street Rights of Way.” Kurth said the existing park is zoned high intensity residential and an annexation of property for that use would require a conditional use permit and land use approval through the planning commission.

Mike Hancock and Jay Guettler operate portable radios.

See ANNEXES, Page A5

Affordable housing arrives in Florence By TONY REED Siuslaw News

Officials and members of the public got a chance to visit the recently-completed Oak Manor affordable housing complex on Oak Street June 13 and hear from its developer. The 24-unit complex contains a variety of room configurations. According to Submitted by Layne Morrill, President of Our Coastal Village, Inc., “Six units are set

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Obituaries — A2 Sports & Lifestyle — B1

aside for households at or under 30% of the area median income at rents of $407 (1-bedroom) and $487 (2-bedroom). Sixteen units are set aside for households at or under 60% of the area median income with the rents prescribed for that cohort. Our Coastal Village has reduced those rents by an additional five percent due to its MUPTE property tax exemption, yielding rents for the sixteen units of $820

Opinion — A3 Classifieds — B7-B8

(1-bedroom), $984 (2-bedroom), and $1,137 (3-bedroom.) For comparison, in April 2021, Florence market rents were $950 (1-bedroom), $1,100 (2-bedroom), and $1,250 (3-bedroom).” At the open house event, Morrill explained that “many, many” organizations came together to make the See CODE, Page A5

Andrea Bell

Layne Morrill

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