The North Coast News
Vol. 32, No. 27
Serving all the communities of the North Beach since 1987
www.northcoastnews.com 75 cents
Thursday, July 4, 2019
Sand & Sawdust fest a summer success story
Council approves boost to fees for permits to clear lots By Scott D. Johnston For The GH News Group
PHOTOS BY SCOTT D. JOHNSTON
Rowlyn Clark, left, of Seattle, and Stacey Leach, right, from Aberdeen, were part of the Flipside Team that won First Place at the Sandcastle Contest during the Five Star Dealerships Sand & Sawdust Festival Saturday in Ocean Shores. Their creation was called “Squid Castle.” Below: Chris Foltz of North Bend, Oregon, creates a fantasy winged creature.
By Scott D. Johnston For The GH News Group
If huge crowds at the Ocean Shores Convention Center and just down the street at the beach mean anything, the Five Star Dealerships Sand & Sawdust Festival last weekend was a sizzling summer success story. The return of sand castle building demonstrations and competitions created a memorable scene. Dozens of people were walking through the dunes as parked cars lined both sides of the Chance a la Mer beach approach. On the beach, rows upon rows of cars and trucks stretched into the distance to the north, while a sandy, pop-up parking lot to the south gave way to the contest area, where 12 teams of family and friends were hard at work creating structures sculpted out of sand. Each team was limited to five participants, and they had
three hours to shovel, stack, form, sculpt,and carve their “Creature Castle” themed creations. Master sand carving Team Form Finders from Olympia started off the event Friday with a large display sculpture of a castle and sleeping dragon. These four master carvers also taught a onehour lesson before the competition Saturday “to help inspire young minds with what is possible to make with sand,” said Amos Callender, one of the Team Form Finders master carvers. He termed the event “a great revival in the beach sand carving world at Ocean Shores” and added: “We look forward to an even bigger turnout next year, and hope all the young, budding artists had a great time and will be back next summer with even more imagination and ambition!” Judges announced the following See SAND, Page 4
By a 7-0 vote, the Ocean Shores City Council at its June 24 meeting approved raising the fee for issuing lot-clearing permits from $23.50 to $110.00, effective immediately. Even though that represents a 468% increase, the city will barely break even on its actual cost, new City Administrator Scott Andersen told the council. He said a fairly brief examination of the process produced an estimated average cost to the city of $106. And there’s a good chance costs and fees will go up. A huge increase in lot-clearing applications that started last year and exploded this spring saw the numbers leap from 124 permits in 2017 to 228 last year and a projected 330 this year. Several instances of lots being clear cut, some down to the waterline on local lakes and canals, in apparent violation of the state’s Shoreline Master Plan, prompted public outcries at the May 28 council meeting. Later that week, Mayor Crystal Dingler cited the skyrocketing application numbers when she announced that the city was slowing down lot-clearing permit approvals. She noted that 60 clearing permits were issued in the month of March and commented, “I don’t believe that any one person with multiple other responsibilities as well, could have issued 60 such permits with each receiving a thorough See LOT, Page 4
Agencies partner with coastal communities for Tsunami preparedness PACIFIC BEACH — In the moments following a massive Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake, many Washingtonians could find themselves isolated, trapped or closed off from the rest of the state due to congested roadways, down trees or broken
coast line to see what these towns and cities are up against,” said Col. Kevin McMahan, director of operations for Joint Force Headquarters. “At each stop Maximilian Dixon would give us a breakdown of the damage that could occur during a tsunami.” Guardsmen and first responders discussed potential evacuation time, assessing the population to include tourists and homeless populations, traffic management, mass care and public messaging. The Washington coast is an extremely popular getaway for many in the Pacific Northwest, with towns like Seabrook, Ocean Shores, Long Beach, Westport and Ocean Park drawing close to three
bridges. Coastal cities and towns could be the most at risk with a potential of a tsunami following a major earthquake. That is why soldiers and airmen from the Washington National Guard Joint Enterprise Staff and Washington Emergency Management Division professionals traveled to Seabrook for a two-day coast staff ride and tsunami workshop. Guardsmen and state emergency management professionals met with local first responders, county and local emergency managers, Washington State Parks, Washington State Patrol and tsunami experts from the University of Washington to discuss the critical issues specific to the coast. “We started at Cape Disappointment, then traveled up the
See COAST, Page 4
PHOTO BY JOSEPH SIEMANDEL
Scientist Carrie Garrison-Laney, the tsunami and coastal resilience liaison/ environmental outreach specialist at Washington Sea Grant, shows coastal sediment.
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