Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
June 14, 2021 Lincoln County Planning Commission c/o Mr. Onno Husing, Planning and Development Director Lincoln County Department of Planning and Development Attn: 01-LUPC-21, 02-LUPC-21, 03-LUPC-21 Second Street Annex 210 SW Second Street Newport, OR 97365 Via Email to: [email protected], [email protected] Re: Lincoln County Applications 01-LUPC-21, 02-LUPC-21, 03-LUPC-21 Applicants: WorldMark, SeaRidge Condominiums, Lincoln Avenue Homes Goal 18, Implementation Requirement 5 Exception Comments of Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition Dear Planning Commission members: Please accept these comments from the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition and its members (collectively “Oregon Shores”) to be included in record for Lincoln County Land Use Applications 01-LUPC-21, 02-LUPC-21, 03-LUPC-21 (Public Hearing Date: June 14, 2021).1 Oregon Shores is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the natural communities, ecosystems, and landscapes of the Oregon coast while preserving the public’s access to these priceless treasures in an ecologically responsible manner. Our mission includes assisting people in land use matters and other regulatory processes affecting their coastal communities, and engaging Oregonians and visitors alike in a wide range of stewardship activities that serve to protect our state’s celebrated public coastal heritage. For half a century, we have been a key 1 Lincoln County Planning Commission, Pub. Notice, available at https://www.co.lincoln.or.us/pc/page/goal-18- exception-public-hearing Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition Public Hearing Comment for Lincoln County Files 01-LUPC-21, 02-LUPC-21, 03-LUPC-21 public interest participant in legal and policy matters related to land use and shoreline management at the local and state level. Oregon Shores has been an active public interest participant in legal processes and policy decisions related to coastal land use, shoreline management, and protection of coastal resources in the State of Oregon. Over the past several decades, we have offered testimony on numerous proposals involving shoreline protection structures (“SPS”)2 before the Lincoln County Planning Commission (“Planning Commission”) and other county and state bodies in order to express serious concerns about the known harmful impacts these structures have on shorelines, coastal ecosystems, the public’s access to the beach, and public safety. Oregon Shores’ members and the public we serve live, visit, and enjoy recreation opportunities on the beach fronting and in the near vicinity of the proposed project area. Oregon Shores’ CoastWatch volunteers, which include members and non-members alike, monitor the miles of shorefront directly before and in the near vicinity of the proposed project area.3 Hence, Oregon Shores will be impacted by the Department’s decision in this matter. Oregon Shores requests that the Planning Commission find that the applicants have failed to justify an exception to Goal 18 and deny these applications. Oregon Shores also requests that the record remain open for an additional seven (7) days so that additional material may be added to the record as appropriate. Please notify us of any further decisions, reports, or notices issued in relation to these concurrent applications. Oregon Shores will provide further comments as appropriate and allowed within the open record periods. I. Background of Applications and General Analysis The Applications fail to demonstrate compliance with applicable SPS criteria contained within Chapter 197 of the Oregon Revised Statutes (“ORS”), Chapter 660, Division 4 of the Oregon Administrative Rules (“OAR”), and the Oregon Statewide Planning Goals (“Goals”). As the Oregon Court of Appeals explained: “an exception must be just that—exceptional.”4 The Applicants’ proposal that Lincoln County set forth within the Lincoln County Comprehensive Plan (“LCCP”) and Lincoln County Zoning Ordinance (“LCZC”) (collectively, “Lincoln County Comprehensive Plan”) an amendment and justification for a Goal 18 exception at the proposed sites warrants careful consideration to assess consistency with this “exceptional” standard. Our comment supports the view that Applicants do not meet the required legal standard. A. Project Area, Location, and Description Lincoln-Gleneden Beach (hereinafter, “Gleneden Beach”) is located approximately five miles south of Lincoln City and is a prime example of how riprapped shores devastate the 2 Hardened shoreline protection structures (synonymous with “beachfront protective structures”) include riprap revetments, concrete seawalls, bulkheads, and the like. These structures are somewhat different, but the publicly available evidence indicates that the harmful impacts of each are substantially the same and should be considered as such for the purposes of review. 3 Tour of the Miles, Mile 235-236, link: https://oregonshores.org/mile/237 4 1000 Friends of Oregon v. LCDC, 69 Or App 717, 731 (1984). 2 Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition Public Hearing Comment for Lincoln County Files 01-LUPC-21, 02-LUPC-21, 03-LUPC-21 Oregon coast. By the 1990s, large sections of Gleneden Beach were hardened due to swiftly eroding sandstone and mudstone bluffs. In the words of the County, “the proliferation of riprap at Lincoln-Gleneden Beach has had profound negative impacts on that beach”5 that continue today. Today, a majority of the beach is currently riprapped—with the exception of the Applicants’ sites. Due to extreme erosion, safety concerns, and the tremendous proliferation of riprap on the shoreline, recreational opportunities and public access to the beach are extremely limited. The beach’s conditions and continual erosion have also resulted in diminished vegetation and degraded natural resources. The Applications request a Goal 18, Implementation Requirement 5 (“Goal 18, IR 5”) exception to allow a hardened shoreline protection for several oceanfront properties developed after January 1, 1977 in Gleneden Beach. Lincoln Avenue homes were previously denied building permits by the Planning Director, as well as emergency permits from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD).6 In total, the Applicants propose approximately 1,280 feet (“ft.”) of shoreline for hardening.7 The three sites at issue include the WorldMark Gleneden Resort (the “Resort”), SeaRidge Condominiums (“SeaRidge”), and four adjacent single-family vacation homes8 (collectively, the “Properties”) located on Gleneden Beach. The Resort is a neighboring property of Gleneden Beach State Recreation Site (also called “Gleneden Beach Wayside”) and is located 0.5 miles away the state recreation site’s beach access point on Wesler Street.9 The Resort was constructed from 1993 to 1996 and all four residential homes were built between the early 1990s and 2002. At the time they were under construction, erosion impacts on Gleneden Beach were well documented.10 SeaRidge was constructed between 1985 and 1987. Because all sites were 5 Staff Report on 01-LUPC-21, 02-LUPC-21, 03-LUPC-21 (“Staff Report”) at 6. 6 See Staff Report on 01-MISC-ADM-21 at 3–4 (“Based on the preceding facts and analysis set forth in this staff report, the Lincoln County Planning Division concludes that development did not exist on the subject property on January 1, 1977, and also that the subject property is not subject to an acknowledged exception to Statewide Planning Goal 18, implementation requirement 5 . the requested building permit authorization is denied based on failure to comply with the applicable requirements of LCC Chapter 1.”). 7 The Resort sits on approximately 430 ft. of shoreline, the SeaRidge sits on approximately 600 ft. of shoreline, and the four properties collectively sit on approximately 250 ft. of shoreline. 8 Located at 4755, 4805, 4815, and 4825 Lincoln Avenue. 9 Gleneden Beach currently has three numbered public access points, 51, 51A (Gleneden Beach State Recreation Site) and 51B. Additionally, the Salishan Spit has three numbered beach access points, 50, 50A, and 50B. All are contained within a gated community, and thus accessible to the public only by hiking north on the beach from Gleneden Beach. 10 See Paul D. Komar & Shyuer-Ming Shih, Cliff Erosion along the Oregon Coast: A Tectonic-Sea Level Imprint Plus Local Controls by Beach Processes, 9 J. Coastal Research 747, 747 (1993) (“The erosion of sea cliffs is a significant problem along many of the world’s coastlines, including the coast of Oregon in the Pacific Northwest of the United States . Examples of communities where cliff erosion is an important problem include Lincoln City, Gleneden Beach, and Newport[.]”); Shyuer-Ming Shih & Paul D. Komar, Sediments, Beach Morphology and Sea- Cliff Erosion within an Oregon Coast Littoral Cell, 10 J. Coastal Research 144, 154, 156–57 (1994) (“As a result, the rip embayments are a major factor in determining the occurrence of property erosion, whether the property is on sea cliffs as at Gleneden Beach or on foredunes as along Siletz Spit” and “Erosion is certainly more active along Gleneden Beach and Siletz Spit fronted by coarse-grained reflective beaches, than along coastal properties fronted by fine-grained dissipative beaches as in north Lincoln City. This implies that there is a long-term reorientation of the bluff line along the length of this littoral cell suggesting a continued disequilibrium in its overall geometry as well as the continued presence of the longshore variations in beach sediment grain size.”). (internal citations 3 Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition Public