It was a rather divided room of well over 100 people at Oregon Coast Community College Tuesday night who came to give their support or voice their opposition to a log export operation at the soon to be completed International Terminal, owned by the Port of Newport.

The crowd spilled over into two rooms full of folks some of whom view the new terminal as a job-creating Godsend, while opponents claimed it’ll pollute the bay, the air, and pose a big safety threat to motorists, pedestrians and school children who use SE Moore and Bay Roads.

Newport Port Commissioners, Newport City Councilors and the Logging Truck Task Force gave a comprehensive description of the log export operation which is expected to begin in late Fall. It involves 50 logging truck trips a day using SE Moore and the Bay Road, trips clumped mainly in the morning and early afternoon.

To better accommodate the trucks, the intersection at Moore and Bay will be re-aligned to improve traffic visibility, protected turning movements and a raised elevation for downhill traffic making a left on the Bay Road. A new storm drain system will also be installed under the intersection. Further down the Bay Road, the turn-in at the terminal wil be cleared out of unnecessary vegetation in an effort to increase visibility.

Eric Teevin said hours of operation will be from 7am to 4pm for truck traffic and until 8pm for other terminal operations which include log debarking. The debarker will be electric so it will be quieter than earlier versions. The city will be in charge of ensuring that the municipal noise ordinance is not violated by the logging operations at the terminal.

Log transport ships are expected to follow the rules about when to dump their ballast and when to take in new ballast so as to minimize the threat of invasive species coming ashore and jarring the local marine ecology. An Oregon Department of Environmental Quality staffer said they inspect ballast management records of most ships coming into Oregon waters and are boarding upwards to 16% of all ships that call on Oregon ports. Teevin Brothers has said in the past that they will be working with a small number of ships for their Asian runs, all crews which they know very well and are confident are following the rules.

The logs are going to be coming from nearby forests owned by Hancock Forest Management (HFM) with over 200,000 acres of timber ready to be harvested. HFM spokesman Jeff Vermillion said they run sustainable forests which are cut on scheduled intervals. He said log shipments out of the Port of Newport are good for their firm as well as for Newport’s economy which is anxious to grow new family wage jobs. Teevin’s new port operation is expected to create at least 20 such full time positions. They’d like to begin shipping logs later this year.

Port officials also reminded the crowd that Newport voters in 2006 approved a $15 million dollar bond which will be combined with other grants and loans to rehabilitate the International Terminal. It was falling apart and threatening to pollute Yaquina Bay at a time that commercial fishermen were clamoring for more industrial space to store their gear and to work on their vessels. The voters were told at the time that cargo shipping would play a big role in generating enough income to retire the bond, pay off the loans and create new jobs.

However, opponents claimed that big log trucks don’t mix well with residential neighborhoods. Critics like Mike Peterson and others of the anti-log truck group Save Our Newport, said log truck operations in their quiet neighborhoods would be disruptive, harm their quality of life and pose a severe danger along Moore Road’s long downhill grade and on the Bay Road. Others said tourist accommodations at the bottom of Moore Road such as the Embarcadero and The Landing will suffer reduced income as tourists seek lodging elsewhere, away from the noisy grind of logging trucks going by outside their windows. Community Activist Rio Davidson called the log shipment operations a harbinger of toxic contamination in Yaquina Bay and furthering the spread of invasive species into the environment. He called the 2006 bond a subsidy for a multi-billion dollar corporation that should process their logs in America creating jobs here rather than shipping them to China and creating jobs there. Another long term resident said it is critical that if the log truck and shipment operations become a mainstay of the eastern Bayfront area, every effort should be made to build an alternate access road from Highway 20 down to the Bay Road so the Moore Road area could resume its quiet and scenic lifestyle. Several members in the audience challenged Hancock Forest Management’s Jeff Vermillion whether the company felt any obligation to help fund such an alternate road. Vermillion replied that they hadn’t thought about it but that there may be an opportunity to review the idea.

City Councilor David Allen urged the crowd to continue their involvement with the process so that their voices can be heard and their positions made clear when an expected appeal of the project’s Traffic Impact Assessment is presented to the city council for its review. City staff has determined the assessment is accurate but many in the audience contended Tuesday night that it isn’t.

Stay tuned.

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Save Our Newport meeting
The Landing, Bay Blvd @ Moore Road

A packed room full of folks mostly opposed to logging trucks going up and down Moore Road made it quite clear recently that they don’t want what they called the danger, the noise and the drop in their property values caused by the commotion the trucks create. Many said they bought their homes long after the heyday of Newport log export operations stopped by the 1990′s. Nobody told them that someday the trucks would return. “It’s just not fair,” one neighbor exclaimed, loudly.

A number of neighbors said they’re all for good paying jobs but not at the expense of their neighborhood and the commercial businesses at the bottom of Moore Road whose operating environment will be unavoidably changed by logging trucks at six minute intervals or less coming down the road, dropping off their loads, and then noisily climbing back up to Highway 20. Others mentioned the dangers of invasive species coming ashore from the logging ships that will tie up at the Port of Newport’s new International Terminal. Others feared more pollution in Yaquina Bay. Others decried the shipment of raw logs to China rather than processing them into finished wood products here in the U.S.

Neighbor Mike Peterson said property values will drop “a good 10%” if the trucks roll as some expect they will in late Spring, when the terminal is finished and all of Teevin Brothers permits are issued and the terminal is officially open for business. Teevin Brothers is a log export company based out of Rainier, OR, on the Columbia River and are said to be close to signing an operations contract with the Port of Newport. Peterson said those concerned about the re-emergence of logging trucks on Moore Road should plan to attend a Newport City Council meeting January 22nd, at city hall – that is if the city has received the Traffic Impact Analysis on the logging truck issue on Moore Road. The study is not yet officially scheduled on the agenda pending receipt of the study. There could be a postponement of the public comment opportunity until there has been enough time for people to find out about it and then make plans to attend a city council meeting possibly in early February. We may know more about the exact date within a week or so.

Tracy Burchett, ILWU
Longshoreman

International Longshore and Warehouse Union member, and life long resident of Newport, Tracy Bruchett told the gathering that he understands the concerns of the neighbors and area businesses but also pointed out that in all the years of logging trucks driving up and down Moore Road there were no serious crashes or loss of life associated with them. Burchett said logging truck drivers are among the most experienced on the roads today and that “navigating the roads in the woods are far more of a challenge than a designated truck route in a city, which Moore Road is,” he said. Burchett also pointed out that the 40+ jobs that are to be created with the logging operation are family wage jobs which means workers are going to be contributing to the local economy, not taking from it. “Besides,” he added, “the voters in and around Newport passed the bond that helped built the terminal as an economic booster for the community.”

Other audience comments ranged from concerns about dusty debarking operations at the terminal, possible contaminated storm water run off into Yaquina Bay and other pollution threats. The city is currently reviewing a storm water management program from Teevin Brothers.

Oly Olson
Member of Joint City-Port Moore Road Task Force

Oly Olson, local community activist who is a member of the City-Port Joint Task Force on the Moore Road project, which will widen the intersection and enhance visibilities, said he understands the concerns of the neighborhood and the businesses at the bottom of the hill. He said safety modifications to the intersection of Moore and Bay Boulevard will help make the intersection more efficiently accommodate the increased traffic. But he also acknowledged the importance of the Port and the City to support an alternate route that would let logging trucks access the port terminal farther to the east, thereby leaving Moore Road alone. Olson said there are ongoing discussions with a trust that owns a considerable amount of timber just east of the terminal that stretches east and west and reaches up to Highway 20. Olson said the trust may be interested in harvesting their timber while accommodating an alternate road for the logging trucks to access the terminal. Olson says talks are very preliminary but that the idea is worth pursuing. Several neighbors indicated they could temporarily put up with the logging trucks knowing that an alternate route is in the near future. Olson said the key element is funding for the road. Olson says there are sources for such funds but competition is fierce.

With that the meeting began to wind up. Everyone acknowledged the need for a strong public relations campaign throughout Newport to drive home the point that the benefits of an economic proposal should not cost more than it provides, in this case jobs versus lower property values, traffic issues, possible drop in tourism counts by those who don’t want to get caught up in a busy logging town, etc. There was talk of hiring an experienced environmental advocacy attorney to help in their cause.

Stay tuned.

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Moving ahead on a more welcoming Safe Haven Hill

Newport City Councilors Monday night decided to spend no more than $20,000 making Safe Haven Hill more capable of holding lots of tsunami refugees should the big one hit Newport in the near future. Workers at Rogue Brewery, NOAA, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon Coast Aquarium and many South Beach businesses and residents are relying on the big hill, just off the south end of the Yaquina Bay Bridge, to be their life saver in the event of a big earthquake.

The city has applied for a half million dollar FEMA grant to clear the hilltop and to stockpile emergency food supplies for those at South Beach who manage to get up Safe Haven Hill before a Cascadia Earthquake sends a thirty to fifty foot wall of water onto Oregon beaches and up the bays. City councilors gave the green light to city staff to begin further clearing, grading and improving a large pathway running up the south side of the hill so folks can move more quickly to safety. Community Development Director Derrick Tokos said they are still waiting to hear back from FEMA on whether the city got the grant that will enable Newport to get the whole project done.

Asking Newport voters on whether to ban plastic bags

The Newport City Council decided to launch a May ballot issue asking Newport voters if they would like to ban single-use plastic shopping bags. City Manager Jim Voetberg said if they want to get it on the May ballot they’ll have to adopt a resolution by their February 19th city council meeting and then send the ballot proposal to the city attorney in Eugene for formal approval on the wording, ballot statement and other information. The ballot issue mirrors a bag ban adopted in Corvallis where the council there outlawed plastic bags except for meats, produce and other raw foods. The Corvallis City Council also slapped a five cent fee on paper bags – all in an effort to drive the public to use reusable cloth bags.

Planning for a bigger and better Newport Library

Newport Public Library Board Chair Carol Ruggeri asked for the City Council’s support in helping the library apply for grants to figure out how the library is doing at serving the community and how it might do a better job in the future. She said the library wants to take a fearless look at itself from the standpoint of how the community views the library, whether it’s offering sufficient technological services like internet other high-tech services, and whether the facility as a whole is meeting the needs of the community. Ruggeri said a comprehensive assessment of the library’s strengths and weaknesses can be done in a very comprehensive way for about $70,000, most of which they hope will be covered by grants. However, in order to win the grants Ruggeri said the city would have to show its support by pledging money of its own – like $30,000. “And the sooner we get the money pledged, the better,” she said.

Mayor Mark McConnell and the rest of the council expressed support for the idea but reminded Ruggeri that the city has a formal budget planning process that doesn’t get into full swing until January and February and that the budget isn’t formally adopted until spring. Ruggeri said she and her board fully appreciates the situation but asked that the council go on record as wanting the city’s budget committee, of which city councilors are members, to commit to considering the proposal. Ruggeri got a unanimous vote of approval for her request that they talk about it in committe – a manuver that was widely interpreted as “somehow we’ll get you the money.”

Walgreens finally moving forward?

The city council, getting a little anxious about just when Walgreens intends to build their new drug store at Highway 101 at 20, agreed to help them move things along a little faster. Walgreens ran into some state Department of Environmental Quality issues centered around soils that were under what used to be a gas station there on the corner. Lately, Walgreens’ financing source made a last minute demand that the city abandon a block of NE 1st in order to accomodate the construction of the new store. The council last night did just. But the council also granted another request that if the store was not built, the city would take that block of NE 1st back. So, the net effect is that Walgreens can now expeditiously move ahead on building their new facility that has been hanging fire for the better part of a year at a very prominent spot in town. Some residents have speculated that Walgreens hit a fatal snag and won’t be built it. But city officials continue to say “not to worry, they’re moving ahead on construction as everyone one will soon see.”

Click on photos to enlarge

Planning for those logging trucks coming down Moore Drive

A joint Newport-Port of Newport task force, charged with making safety improvements to accommodate fully-loaded logging trucks bound for the soon-to-open International Terminal on Bay Boulevard, gave a detailed report on how they’re accomplishing that. They said they’re recommending changes on Highway 20, SE Moore Drive and on Bay Boulevard.

Task force members said they are recommending to ODOT that traffic is slowed down on westbound Highway 20 at the top of the hill just east of Newport from 55 mph to 45 mph. And then quickly after that, slow traffic down further to 30 mph so trucks loaded with logs can actually decelerate fast enough to comfortably make their southerly turn onto SE Moore Drive.

They also reported that the left turn lane off of Highway 20 to SE Moore needs to be longer, so more trucks can fit in the que to turn left and to widen the turning radius so trucks can make the southerly turn more safely.

They also want all parking removed from SE Moore from not only near 20 but clear down to the driveway entrances to the Elks Club. They also want youth sports parents to park their vehicles on Yaquina View School property, not on Moore Drive.

Further down the hill, they want a left turn lane created so traffic headed for Oregon Coast Bank can make a safe turn into the bank. And another left turn off of Bay Boulevard into the bank.

At the bottom of the hill where Moore intersects with Bay Boulevard, logging trucks headed down Moore would make a free left turn onto Bay Boulevard and Pacific Fish Company trucks would make a free right turn onto Bay Boulevard heading for the Bayfront. Regular traffic headed east on Bay Boulevard would be stopping at Moore Road, but at an angle fro which they can see uphill toward oncoming traffic. Their stop sign would be brightly lit with LED’s with a sign underneath that says “Downhill traffic does not stop.” Traffic headed west on Bay Boulevard would stop at the intersection but traffic headed west on Bay headed heading north would turn uphill onto Moore without stopping.

Task force members cautioned that ODOT has to approve of some of these suggested changes but that they are optimistic that ODOT will accommodate their requests. They said that fully-loaded logging trucks are expected to start rolling down
Moore Road sometime this late spring or summer. Some time after the first of the year the task force will begin working on their goial of trying to establish a more direct route to the International Terminal that doesn’t use SE Moore Drive. They say that’s going to take a few years.

City creates new park north of the pool

Newport City Councilors formally established Newport’s newest addition to its list of city parks – “Forest Park” that runs north from the city swimming pool to near Big Creek Road and east to the city water tanks. It’s nearly 100 acres of fairly mature coastal woods with a wide variety of coastal plants and animals – even occasional spawning salmon. Forest Park was first envisioned by former City Manager Don Davis who made it possible by setting it aside from development.

Mark Saelens and Chuck Willer from the Oregon Coast Community Forest Association praised the city’s move to create such a magnificent addition to Newport’s park portfolio. Saelens said that although the area already has a few trails winding through it, the park is so large that other trails would be a welcomed addition. He suggested a shelter be built for those times when hikers or families get caught in a coastal downpour. Interpretive signs could be installed revealing the complexities of Oregon’s coastal rainforest ecology. Saelens said his organization looks forward to working with the city to make Forest Park a truly enjoyable addition to Newport’s parks and recreation system. Other conservation organizations are expected to join in as well to enumerate the park’s assets and to establish uses that promote and celebrates Forest Park’s ecological and recreation values to the community and to its visitors.

City employee labor contracts ratified

And the city council finally wrapped up all it’s employee labor contracts for the next two to three years. Raises for public works, police and fire fighters will come only in the form of cost of living increases, or COLA’s as their called. The council gave firefighters a six percent cola raise through January of 2014. Public Works workers got an eight percent cola raise through the end of 2014. And police officers received a seven percent cola raise through July of 2014.

However, some councilors expressed disappointment that the police officers turned down a plan agreed to by all other city workers for higher health insurance deductibles in return for city-provided health savings accounts that the city pays in to. The officers reportedly would have nothing of it. City Councilor David Allen expressed his disappointment that everyone but the police department has joined the effort to help reduce health care costs for the city. He asked City Manager Jim Voetberg to try to convince the officers next year after they’ve seen how the new arrangement works for the rest of the city work force.

Non-union workers received roughly the same pay and benefit enhancements as union members.

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