School district seeks permit for 64‑foot tsunami evacuation tower at Ocean Shores Elementary; hearing examiner to rule

Yoshi Kumar, hearing examiner with Laminar Law, conducted a July 8 hearing on a conditional‑use permit application (CUP 25‑00004) from the North Beach School District to construct a vertical tsunami evacuation tower at Ocean Shores (North Beach) Elementary School, 300 Mount Olympus Avenue Southeast.

Marshall Reed, lead city planner for the City of Ocean Shores, said staff had admitted the applicant's materials and the staff report. Reed described the proposal as a 64‑foot tower to be sited on the northwest side of the school campus. Reed noted the school property is in an R‑1 (single‑family) zone where public and semi‑public uses — including schools — may be allowed by conditional use.

Richard Zimmerman, superintendent of the North Beach School District, testified for the applicant. Zimmerman said the tower is intended primarily as an evacuation refuge for students and staff during a tsunami but also would be available to area residents outside school hours. Addressing concerns about vandalism and access, Zimmerman said security fencing would be installed but that gates could be opened in an emergency: "Not a problem. You open the gate, and if the power is still on, a siren will go off, but people will still have access to it." Zimmerman said the district is designing the tower to be aesthetically compatible with the school.

Christian Buckley, a professional engineer with SCJ Alliance and the project's civil engineer, said the structure is designed so waves can pass through or around its supporting elements to limit forces on the tower: "...there'll be an ability for the waves to pass through the tower and not have the tower obstruct things," he said. Reed told the record the vertical evacuation tower is not anticipated to cause disruption to the school or adjacent residential lots and that associated site improvements would be limited to a new sidewalk and fencing.

The record includes a SEPA checklist and a staff SEPA determination; Reed confirmed there was no appeal of the Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance (MDNS). The Washington State Department of Ecology submitted a comment letter on the project; the applicant agreed to incorporate Ecology's conditions into the CUP conditions and the city indicated it had no objection to doing so.

If approved, Reed said the city would require the project to meet building and fire code requirements, provide adequate parking (OSMC 17.54.060), submit an approved storm drain design before permits issue, and satisfy applicable water and utility requirements under Title 13. No members of the public testified for or against the application at the hearing.

Kumar said he would issue a written decision within 10 business days of the record closing. The decision will be based on the admitted exhibits, testimony, applicable code sections cited by staff, and any conditions incorporated into the CUP.