All of Gearhart faces threat from the most severe tsunami events.

After receiving a state grant from the Department of Land Conservation and Development to prepare for big events, the city is working on ways to improve resiliency in the aftermath of a Cascadia Subduction Zone event.

The commission considered model language provided by the state to update the comprehensive plan and land use regulations. Maps from the Department of Geology and Mineral Industries will be the basis for policies and regulations.

Goals are to improve readiness and make Gearhart more resilient after a tsunami by establishing standards to be applied in the review and authorization of land use in areas subject to tsunami hazards, City Planner Carole Connell said at the Feb. 14 Planning Commission meeting.

Unless an exception is granted, 95 percent of Gearhart will be vulnerable to inundation from a “L” magnitude local tsunami event. The entire city would be impacted by an “XXL” event.

While buildings like schools, fire and police stations are included in the list, Gearhart’s lack of suitable land for the fire station will likely win an exemption, which could be delivered if “there are no reasonable lower-risk alternative sites available for the proposed use.”

While the standards discussed at the meeting have yet to be adopted, commissioners expect that they will be passed by the city prior to the construction of a proposed fire station.

“The city is well aware of this as far as the fire station goes,” she said. “The city needs an exception because there is no other place.”

Gearhart is one of six cities considering adopting similar language.

A public hearing will present rewritten code language to the public.

“If we stay on schedule for the grant, it will be adopted by June 30,” Connell said.