A question with a long and contentious history in Cannon Beach is being asked again, and it’s causing a stir.
What, if anything, should the city do about dunes on the city’s north side?
Cannon Beach resident Tim Ramey and Tommy Thayer, lead guitarist for the rock band KISS, are pushing for an initiative that, if it advances to November’s general election, would require dune modifications on the north side of Cannon Beach.
The two men formed a political action committee, the Cannon Beach Sustainable Dunes Coalition, and argue that the dunes have grown too large and too steep. They say management actions including grading on the foredune areas are necessary to preserve access and ensure public safety.
But critics who worry about the environmental impacts of dune grading say the Dunes Coalition is mischaracterizing and overstating issues with the dunes. They note that Ramey, in particular, was closely involved in efforts in recent years to continue to allow dune grading for ocean views — an effort that went all the way to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals and failed.
Meanwhile a promotional video produced by the Dunes Coalition has had dramatic consequences for the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District.
Last week, two members of the fire district’s board — Board President Bob Heymann and Dave Pietka — resigned amid public consternation over the release of an earlier version of the video that featured district personnel and raised concerns about possible violations of election law.
At the fire district’s request, Ramey and Thayer edited the video to remove the fire district employee.
The video project first came up for the fire district in March. Heymann, referring to a request from Thayer, asked if the district should provide comments about safety and access in a video Thayer had proposed.
Fire Chief Marc Reckmann replied that the district would not engage in the matter. Deputy Chief of Operations Jason Smith added that the district already has access routes and no modifications to the dunes would make operations safer.
But participation in the video happened anyway.
Heymann, who resigned at a May 11 meeting, told his fellow board members that he believed the video was going to be an informational piece focused on public access and safety, not a promotional video advocating for a specific political effort.
“I understand how this looks,” Heymann said. “I am embarrassed by how it looks and I take responsibility for being an advocate for putting that safety message in that video.”
Ramey insists Heymann knew what he was signing on to.
“Shame on me, shame on Bob for not really understanding that any comment by the fire district would probably be problematic, whatever that comment was,” Ramey told KMUN. “But we felt … we’re kind of partners in access and safety.”
Foredune management
Cannon Beach updated its foredune management plan in 2020 to be consistent with Oregon’s statewide planning goal 18. The updated plan eliminated grading to preserve views — something that had previously been allowed — but allowed limited dune grading in certain emergency situations, to keep sand from inundating structures and to maintain public access.
In 2020, the city had a goal of adding height to the dunes to protect the community from climate change impacts like sea level rise.
Several groups were vehemently opposed to the plan, however, including the Breakers Point and Chapman Point Homeowners Associations, representing oceanfront developments and properties at the top of the dunes. Up until 2015, the city had granted a number of permits to grade the foredune area at Breakers Point. Ramey lives at Chapman Point.
Friends of the Dunes at Cannon Beach condemned the dune grading practice, saying it harmed surrounding wildlife and habitat — and they certainly do not support recent efforts around how the dunes are managed.
Dianna Turner, representing the Friends of the Dunes, was one of the people calling for Heymann’s resignation from the fire district board last week. She argued that Thayer and Ramey’s initiative would “place our dunes in a state of near perpetual construction under the guise of safety and access.”
“This community deserves honest, fact-based discussion,” she added at the May 11 meeting, “not fear-based messaging that could lead to ongoing dune disturbances affecting our coastal resilience and safety, wildlife habitat and public trust.”
‘I think this is about access and safety’
The city’s elections official received the ballot title for the Dune Coalition’s initiative last week. According to that document, the measure would amend the city charter to require management of foredunes within city limits.
If approved, the measure would require the city to take inventory all foredune areas, adopt a biennial plan to manage those areas, arrange with landowners for the city to conduct foredune management activities and then for the city to grade or revegetate the dunes at the city’s expense.
The measure does not come with a funding mechanism for this work.
The version of the Dune Coalition’s promotional video available online now no longer includes fire district personnel. It does continue to feature a photo of an incident at the end of April when a fire district duty truck became stuck in the surf at Ecola Creek while responding to an emergency call.
To Ramey and Thayer, that incident illustrates a key concern of theirs when it comes to the dunes. They say that the growing dune near Ecola Creek has impeded emergency access to the north end of Cannon Beach via an access road at Les Shirley Park.
The duty truck needed to cross the creek in that moment because crews were responding to an emergency, Ramey said, adding, “but the city needs to provide better access for emergency response to the north end of the beach.”
Chief Reckmann has disputed this. He said erosion and natural shifts to the creek have changed how emergency vehicles can navigate the area at the Les Shirley access point, but that the fire district relies on access roads elsewhere to reach the north end.
To KMUN, Reckmann declined to comment on the initiative and claims made by the Dunes Coalition.
‘We’re doing what’s allowed by the state’
Ramey said the current initiative is very different from past efforts to grade the dunes for ocean views.
“There’s always a tendency to re-litigate the past, but I don’t think this is about that,” he said. “I think this about access and safety.”
He said he supports the city’s 2020 dune management plan, but argues Cannon Beach’s leaders have failed to follow the plan.
Cannon Beach City Manager Bruce St. Denis pushed back.
He and others noted that the fire district has had to cross Ecola Creek multiple times during emergencies and the incident in April was the first time they’d gotten stuck and lost a vehicle.
When it comes to preserving access and other dune management: “We’re doing what’s allowed by the state,” he told KMUN. “And that is very limited.”
He said the fact that dune grading has gone all the way to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals in the recent past “supports the position of the city.”
“I don’t know how much change can be made unless you’re talking about changing state policy,” St. Denis said.
A notice of ballot title receipt is now available on the city website. Anyone who is dissatisfied with the ballot title has until May 21 to petition the Clatsop County Circuit Court for review.
If no one challenges the ballot title, it will go through a process to be finalized. Once it is finalized, Ramey and Thayer can start collecting signatures in an effort to get the initiative on the November ballot.
Ramey estimates they will need to collect just over 200 signatures.