NARRATIVE STATEMENT March 18, 2021 Applications for Goal 18 Exception and Amendment to Comprehensive Plan Submitted by: Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP Vial Fotheringham, LLP Dennis L. Bartoldus, Attorney at Law I. INTRODUCTION AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND This narrative is submitted in support of three applications to Lincoln County (the "County") for amendments to its comprehensive plan in order to adopt exceptions to Statewide Planning Goal 18 ("Goal 18"), Implementation Requirement 5, to allow for the construction of protective structures on three sites on Gleneden/Lincoln Beach1 (the "Applications").2 These protective structures are necessary to prevent the imminent loss of an 80-unit resort, 26 condominium homes (along with critical utility infrastructure for 54 more units), and four single- family homes due to the rapid erosion of shoreline bluffs under the buildings. This narrative and its supporting technical reports provide the legal analyses and evidentiary basis demonstrating that each of the Applications satisfy the applicable approval criteria, as set forth in the Oregon Statewide Planning Goals (the "Goals"), state statutes and administrative rules, the Lincoln County Zoning Code ("LCZC" or the "Code"), and the Lincoln County Comprehensive Plan (the "Plan"). Based on this narrative, the expert reports submitted herewith,3 and the other supporting documents, we respectfully request that the County approve the Applications. A. Overview of the applicants and properties. The Applications are being submitted on behalf of WorldMark, the Club; the SeaRidge Condominium Association; and the owners of the four adjacent single-family homes identified below (collectively, the "Applicants"). The properties at issue in the Applications are the WorldMark Gleneden Resort (the "Resort"), the SeaRidge Condominiums ("SeaRidge"), and the four adjacent single-family homes at 4755, 4805, 4815, and 4825 Lincoln Avenue (the "Lincoln Avenue Homes") (collectively, the "Properties"). 1 In scientific literature, including in the attached expert studies, Gleneden Beach and Lincoln Beach are generally referred to collectively as Gleneden Beach. Accordingly, this narrative does so as well. 2 The applicants request that the Applications be reviewed together as permitted in OAR 660-004-0020(3) because the "reasons and circumstances" justifying the Goal 18 exceptions for each area are primarily the same. To that end, for efficiency purposes, the applicants file this single narrative in support of all three Applications. The applicants, however, have filed three separate applications so that each area may, if necessary, be supplemented and considered on its own merits. 3 All expert reports are provided in Appendix A. - 1 - 4810-3813-6798.11 The Resort is one of the larger employers in the County. It is composed of 80 time-share units, with many on-site amenities, including swimming pools, hot tubs, tennis and basketball courts, fitness center, arcade, playground, beach access, and more. It is bordered by residential homes to the north and the Gleneden Beach State Wayside to the south. The Resort sits on approximately 430 feet of Pacific Ocean shoreline. SeaRidge consists of 80 privately owned condominium homes in 14 separate buildings. SeaRidge is located in southern Gleneden Beach, less than a mile north of Fogarty Creek State Recreation Area. SeaRidge's shore frontage is approximately 600 feet. The four adjacent Lincoln Avenue Homes are located between the Resort and SeaRidge. These oceanfront residences have been owned since the early 1990s by the Desylvia family, Kain family, Grant family, and Tanabe family. The collective shorefront of the Lincoln Avenue Homes is around 250 feet. The Properties are located within an approximately 1.7-mile stretch of Gleneden Beach and are each zoned Residential R-1, with a Coastal Shoreland overlay: All the oceanfront structures on the Properties were built decades ago. The SeaRidge buildings were constructed between 1985 and 1987. The development and construction of the Resort occurred during the years 1993 to 1996. For the Lincoln Avenue Homes, three were built in the early 1990s and one in 2002, with an average age of 25 years. B. The Properties' oceanfront structures are in imminent danger of collapse due to extensive and rapid erosion. The homes and other oceanfront structures on the Properties are in imminent danger of collapse because of the rapid erosion to the Properties' beachfront bluffs. As seen in the photos below, the immediate threat to both property and persons is self-evident: - 2 - 4810-3813-6798.11 WORLDMARK RESORT - 3 - 4810-3813-6798.11 SEARIDGE - 4 - 4810-3813-6798.11 LINCOLN AVENUE HOMES - 5 - 4810-3813-6798.11 The erosion of the Properties' shoreline bluffs is also readily apparent in satellite imagery: WorldMark Resort4 Lincoln Avenue Homes5 4 https://www.google.com/maps/@44.8773628,-124.0377286,470a,35y,3.25t/data=!3m1!1e3. 5 https://www.google.com/maps/@44.8586975,-124.0440058,397a,35y,3.25t/data=!3m1!1e3. - 6 - 4810-3813-6798.11 SeaRidge Condominiums6 The Properties' shoreline erosion and corresponding landslide risk have been documented by the State of Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries ("DOGAMI") in its state hazards database. The beachfront of all three Properties is designated in DOGAMI's hazard mapping system7 as having a landslide designation of "High – Landsliding Likely," and erosion designations of "High Hazard Zone" and "Very High (Active) Hazard Zone": DOGAMI – Hazard Designations WorldMark Resort WorldMark Resort 6 https://www.google.com/maps/@44.8525122,-124.0456501,469a,35y,3.25t/data=!3m1!1e3. 7 https://gis.dogami.oregon.gov/maps/hazvu/. - 7 - 4810-3813-6798.11 SeaRidge Condominiums SeaRidge Condominiums Lincoln Avenue Homes Lincoln Avenue Homes As outlined in the technical reports by coastal engineering expert Dr. Vladimir Shepsis of Mott MacDonald, submitted with this narrative,8 little to no distance remains between the Properties' oceanfront structures and the quickly receding shoreline bluffs.9 These narrow 8 Technical Memorandum, WorldMark Resort, Gleneden Beach, Geotechnical Reports Supporting Goal 18 Exception Application, Mott MacDonald, September 18, 2020 ("Mott MacDonald WorldMark Rep."); Technical Memorandum, SeaRidge Condominiums, Gleneden Beach, OR, Geotechnical Reports Supporting Goal 18 Exception Application, Mott MacDonald, January 25, 2021 ("Mott MacDonald SeaRidge Rep."); Technical Memorandum, Individual Oceanfront Homes, Gleneden Beach, OR, Geotechnical Reports Supporting Goal 18 Exception Application, Mott MacDonald, February 1, 2021 ("Mott MacDonald Lincoln Ave. Homes Rep."). 9 At the Resort, the distance from the steep bluff to the north lodging building is less than 30 feet; from the bluff to the pool is less than 20 feet; and there are only a few feet separating the Resort's oceanfront walkway from the sheer face of the 50-foot-high bluff. (See Mott MacDonald WorldMark Rep., at 5.) For SeaRidge, the distance from the oceanfront condominium buildings' foundations to the edge of the bluff was measured to be as little as 40 feet. (See Mott MacDonald SeaRidge Rep., at 5.) The distance from oceanfront bluff to the four Lincoln Avenue Homes is even less, with the foundation of the northern house already exposed. (Mott MacDonald Lincoln Ave. Homes Rep., at 2.) - 8 - 4810-3813-6798.11 buffers provide no protection to the Properties' oceanfront structures because the rapid erosion is unpredictable and volatile. Further, the erosion has been accelerating. As outlined by Dr. Shepsis, at around the time the Properties were developed, "the rate of erosion for this region of the Oregon coast was estimated at approximately 2 inches per year, on average[.]"10 The Properties, however, have experienced significantly more erosion since that time. Dr. Shepsis found that the retreat of the bluffs for both the Resort and the Lincoln Avenue Homes has been more than one foot per year since the early 2000s—more than six times the historical average estimated in 1991.11 And this rate is expected to stay the same or even increase. For example, Dr. Shepsis predicts that without a protective structure, the erosion of the Resort's shoreline bluff will continue or accelerate until it retreats a distance of 200 feet or more (swallowing the entire Resort).12 Accordingly, Dr. Shepsis concludes that the oceanfront structures on the Properties are in imminent danger and threatened by a high probability of total failure in the near future.13 C. The rapid erosion of the Properties' shorefront bluffs is the result of unforeseen natural forces and man-induced changes, compounded by uniquely vulnerable characteristics present on this stretch of beach. As outlined below, the rapid rate of erosion of the Properties' shoreline bluffs has been predominantly caused by the increasing effects of climate change and the proliferation of protective structures along the entire length of Gleneden Beach. The impact of these changes has been exacerbated by the fragile nature of this beach. 1. Gleneden Beach is uniquely susceptible to rapid erosion and extreme erosion events. As discussed in the Engineering Geologic Investigation report prepared by J. Douglas Gless of H.G. Schlicker & Associates,14 Gleneden Beach generally consists of bluff- backed beaches that are composed of Quaternary Marine terrace deposits locally overlain by colluvium, alluvium, beach sand, and fill soil, which are "highly susceptible to erosion[.]"15 Past research has also found that historical sand mining