Council reverses Planning Commission In 3-2 vote, council allows care facility on Passley Road BY CLAUDIA ELLIOTT The Pilot
At the end of a marathon 4.5 hour meeting Monday, Aug. 24, the Brookings City Council voted 3-2 to overturn a planning commission denial and allow the development of a 14-unit residential care facility to proceed — with conditions to be finalized at a subsequent meeting. Councilors Brad Alcorn and John McKinney voted against the motion, with councilors Brad Alcorn, Ron Hedenskog and Mayor Jake Pieper voting in fa-
vor. The council may meet again as soon as Monday to consider conditions. Applicant Brett Kemp and his wife Aga Kemp spoke on behalf of the project they would like to build on property located at 17212 S. Passley Rd. Their .58 acre parcel is in the Dawson Tract area of Brookings, located just to the north of the West Cliff subdivision. According to city planning staff, development of a residential care facility is permitted on the lot, which is zoned R-1-6 (residential) if a Conditional Use Permit is granted. Neighbors objected to the development and on July 7 by a vote of 5-2 the city planning commission agreed with them that the project didn’t meet city standards. The applicants appealed to
the city council. In a staff report, the city council was told that the commission denied the application based on: • Size and shape of the “flag lot” — which can only be accessed off of Passley Road by way of a 140-foot long driveway. • Relation of streets — the planning commission did not believe the street met standards for commercial vehicles. However, staff reported that Fire Chief Jim Watson assured staff that the 15-foot driveway width would be adequate for emergency vehicles and also that the fire code allows a reduction in driveway width if the building is equipped with a fire suppression system (sprinklers), which staff said would be part of the design. More Facility on Page A3
Claudia Elliott, The Pilot
The homes on the left face narrow West Cliff Drive in the West Cliff subdivision of Brookings’ Dawson Tract. Across from property — on a “flag lot” to be accessed by a long driveway — Brett Kemp proposes to build a 14-unit residential care facility which many neighbors have opposed.
No new COVID cases in Curry THE PILOT
Photo courtesy of Ringer family
Ryan and Jocelyn Ringer and their boys Beckett, Easton and Finn with Tom and Steve Kerr. The former Kerr’s Ace Hardware in Brookings is now operated as Cascade Home Improvement Center by owner Ryan Ringer, who also owns Gold Beach Lumber. The Kerrs have retired.
Cascade Home Center is seventh store for Gold Beach based company
Former Kerr’s Ace Hardware
BY CLAUDIA ELLIOTT Editor
In January 2008, the recession hadn’t hit Curry County quite yet. Homes were being built and Gold Beach Lumber was making 40 deliveries a day — with 80% of them to Brookings, 27 miles south. Ryan Ringer was partners
with his father Reed. Not yet 30, he wanted to grow the business from the single store in Gold Beach founded by his great-grandparents. And when he saw the former Ford dealership in Harbor suddenly vacant, it seemed the perfect opportunity to expand. His father didn’t see it that way, Ryan Ringer said, but he agreed that his son could buy him out of the business. So, still a newlywed — Ryan and his
wife Jocelyn were married in 2007 — Ringer took over the business and opened Gold Beach Lumber in Harbor in June 2008. Soon thereafter, though, the recession did hit Curry County. As Ringer recalls, his business dropped off by 60% in the 10 days immediately following the Nov. 4, 2008, presidential election. There were two full years to follow, he said, when not a single building permit was issued in Curry County.
He credits creative ideas from his staff — and concessions they agreed to make — to allowing the company to stay afloat. And having the store in Harbor also allowed the company to capture more of the south county market. People weren’t building homes, but they were still painting, landscaping and doing other projects. Customers from Brookings and Harbor would not have gone More Store on Page A3
Curry County clerk reports no concern about mailed THE PILOT Concern about the United States Postal Service and the November election have been in the news lately, but Curry County Clerk Reneé Kolen said in a statement earlier this week that she is not concerned that the election will be disrupted. “The USPS has announced that there will be no postal service changes until after the November election,” Kolen said. “Oregon voters can be assured that their ballots will be mailed to them and they will have the same return options and timelines as they had in the May Primary when a record 1.3 million
Oregonians participated. Voters can cast their ballot just like they have in previous elections.” She said USPS partners here in Oregon continue to support elections and go above and beyond to make sure that ballots travel efficiently through the mail. “We understand voters are concerned whether their vote will be counted in the upcoming election,” Kolen said. “We want to personally reassure Oregonians that we continue to do everything within our power to guarantee the security and integrity of our vote by mail system, which has been a success for more than 20 years.”
Information for this weekly COVID-19 update for Curry and Del Norte counties is gathered just before the Thursday morning print deadline. Curry County’s case total case numbers remain the same as a week ago since no new cases have been reported since Wednesday, Aug. 19. But Del Norte County reported nine new cases between Aug. 21 and yesterday morning. These cases included two among employees of Castle Rock Charter School. According to the Del Norte Unified School District, both cases were confirmed Aug. 21, but were unrelated. “They are in two different segments of the school,” said Superintendent Jeff Harris in his weekly video presentation Monday, Aug. 24. “The two contacts may have come from two completely different areas.” He said Del Norte County Health Department is conducting contact tracing and has reached out to several other staff members as part of the process. Del Norte’s Public Health Officer Dr. Warren Rehwaldt commented on some of the positive cases reported during the week, noting that many were close contacts to known cases and had been directed to test. At least three of the new cases are travel-related. Some were symptomatic, while others were not. In comments to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors this week, Dr. Rehwaldt emphasized the importance of people avoiding get-togethers. Since last week’s print report Pelican Bay State Prison reported one additional staff testing positive, but continued to show no inmate cases as of the deadline for this edition. There were no COVID-19 related deaths or hospitalizations reported in the two counties during the past week. Both counties reported increases in total number tested for the virus during the week. In Curry County, total tested increased by 82 from 1197 to 1297 over the seven days covered by this report. In Del Norte County, total tested increased by 329 from 6,696 to 7,025 over the same period. Del Norte’s data includes testing for staff and inmates at PBSP. A daily (Monday through Friday) report on COVID-19 activity in Curry and Del Norte counties is published at 8 a.m. on currypilot.com and triplicate.com.