Citizens voice concerns about elementary school project

During a November 28th Cannon Beach city council work session scheduled to gather public feedback on city projects, members of the community voiced their concerns about the proposed $12 million elementary school rejuvenation project.

Members of the business community led the opposition to the project, saying that they were concerned about saddling the city with the project’s debt load and believed that the facility would compete with their businesses.

The meeting started with brief presentations on the elementary school and city hall and police station projects, which are all currently underway. Justin Johnson, the architect from CIDA who is leading the elementary school project, said that the current designs had been developed with community feedback and that the project was ready to finish up its development stage.

Several members of the Clatsop-Nehalem tribe appeared at the meeting to voice their support for the proposed project. The tribe members said that they had been involved in trying to build a cultural site of some sort at the site dating back to 2014. They said that honoring their ancestors who had lived in the village at the site and educating people about their way of life was important to the current members of the tribe and they supported the project in its full scope.

The first couple public commenters said that while they appreciated the sentiment behind the project, they were concerned about its budget, the debt load it would create and potential tax implications.

Another commenter clarified that the project was being paid for by transient lodging tax (TLT) dollars, 70% of which have to go to tourism related projects and expenses. He said that the city had little choice but to spend the funds on a project like the elementary school and that he was in favor of the proposal. A handful of other commenters also spoke in favor of the project as proposed.

It quickly became clear that this was a minority viewpoint though, as even many commenters voicing general support for the project said they favored reconsidering its budget and scope.

One of the first commenters from this group said that while he appreciated the restrictions on TLT funds, he believed that taking on the proposed debt load could pose problems if the tourism in Cannon Beach declined. He also noted that the 30-year term on the loans associated with the project would lock the city into the project even if the TLT funding formula were to change with state legislative action.

Another, larger group comprised of local business owners and employees went even further, calling the entire project into question and taking its team to task over a lack of outreach.

A business owner said that the group had tried to raise their concerns about the project in May of this year but that it did not seem the city council had listened to their feedback. She argued that the new project would compete with other event venues in town, negatively impacting local businesses, and that it would exacerbate parking shortages in the summer months.

The business owner raised concerns over City Manager Bruce St. Denis’s financial interest in the project, noting the bonus he is set to receive for serving as project manager of the elementary school project.

She argued that the project would mark another square on the “gentrification bingo” card in Cannon Beach, as it prioritized a flashy facility over addressing serious issues facing those who wished to work and live in the city.

A group of some half dozen working-age residents who were attending the meeting virtually from a nearby residence with the city hall at capacity, echoed those concerns. They said that while they loved living in Cannon Beach, the dearth of affordable housing had forced them to move repeatedly and driven friends and acquaintances out of the city.

They said that they were troubled to see so much money dedicated to a project that would not address those issues and asked the council to reconsider its support for the project as budgeted.

Another business owner said that before moving forward on the project, he would like to see the council solicit more feedback and try to win the buy-in of himself and other local business owners. He said that they should bring in consultants to evaluate what businesses would support in the project and asked that the plans be evaluated for their impact on local businesses.

The council did not discuss the comments offered but were scheduled to consider approving the project’s design at their regular meeting on December 5, after the city’s design review denied the request in November.