CANNON BEACH VOTERS: MEASURE 4-243 CREATES MASSIVE TAXPAYER EXPOSURE
Short on time? Here’s the bottom line: Measure 4-243 could impose substantial, ongoing costs on Cannon Beach taxpayers without a clear funding plan. It would require extensive dune inspections, planning, grading, and restoration, while potentially exposing the city to costly legal disputes. Before these obligations become law, voters deserve to understand the financial and legal risks, and be aware that the city already has an excellent Foredune Management Plan.
Here are six reasons for concern:
1. Where is the fiscal impact statement?
Oregon law (ORS 250.125) provides for a financial estimate committee to assess a city initiative’s direct and indirect financial impacts. No fiscal impact statement was completed for Measure 4-243. Had one been completed, the ballot would need to include the warning: “MEASURE SPENDS MONEY WITHOUT IDENTIFYING A FUNDING SOURCE.”
2. Who will pay?
NOAA estimates that large-scale beach projects can cost $1 million to $10 million per mile. Smaller-scale foredune restoration can cost $2,000–$5,000 per linear foot, and ongoing maintenance averages $100–$500 per foot. These figures illustrate why we need a credible, project-specific cost estimate and funding plan. And when those costs do hit, as they will, how will the city budget and services be affected?
3. Cannon Beach already has a Foredune Management Plan (FMP).
Our FMP is recognized as one of the most thorough foredune plans in the state. It addresses sand volume, strengthening weak points, habitat protection, dune preservation, public access, facilities, and utilities. If Measure 4-243 passes, the city would need to reconcile the existing plan with the measure’s new, conflicting requirements, and would require significant revisions. The financial and practical consequences remain unclear.
4. Measure 4-243 goes well beyond maintaining public beach access.
This proposed charter amendment would require the city to:
Inventory beaches and dunes by next December, and every two years thereafter
Obtain permission from non-city foredune property owners for grading.
Plan, permit, grade, revegetate and maintain dunes identified in the inventory.
Publish biennial reports documenting identified areas, completed work, and unfinished work.
These would be recurring obligations requiring staff time, public money, permits, and cooperation from multiple state agencies and property owners.
5. The measure could expose taxpayers to costly litigation.
Disputes could arise over whether inspections, plans, grading, restoration, or reports were adequate or timely. Property owners or others claiming an interest - practically anyone - could challenge the city’s actions or inaction. Taxpayers could ultimately bear the costs of defending lawsuits and paying any resulting judgments.
6. No city can control the ocean, wind, or shifting sand.
Oregon’s Statewide Planning Goal 18 recognizes that the job of local governments is “reducing exposure to hazards in this ever-changing environment.”. Measure 4-243 would greatly expand that job. Cannon Beach cannot be the guarantor against naturally occurring activities by the Pacific Ocean.
BEFORE YOU VOTE: Please read the full text of Measure 4-243 and our current Foredune Management Plan: Foredune Management Plan Consider how the city could perform this new work, pay for it, and still meet its other obligations. The city should not be required to take on the legal and financial responsibility for any possible damage to its beaches and dunes.
KNOW THIS: If Measure 4-243 passes, the city will be legally obligated to carry out its requirements—even if funding, staffing, permitting, or practical limitations make compliance difficult. Our beaches and dunes deserve the thoughtful, science-based management it already has, thanks to our FMP. And our taxpayers deserve financial transparency about the current measure.
If, after considering these concerns, you share my worries about its potential effects on Cannon Beach, our taxpayers, residents, and visitors, please join your neighbors in voting NO on Measure 4-243.
—Valerie McNaughton, retired attorney and Cannon Beach resident