A rendering shows the proposed redevelopment of the former Cannon Beach Elementary School.

CANNON BEACH — Critics of a $12 million design plan for the redevelopment of the former elementary school and NeCus’ Park site filled City Hall on Jan. 9 to urge the City Council to reconsider the project.

The work session was punctuated with back-and-forth exchanges between residents and city councilors over the cost, scope and intended market.

The school redevelopment project is one of two significant infrastructure investments before the city. The City Council is also moving forward with a $25 million plan to rebuild City Hall over the existing location on E. Gower Avenue and construct a new police station at the city’s Tolovana cache site east of U.S. Highway 101.

The work session on Jan. 9 was called to give residents another opportunity for feedback. Residents were also expected to share their concerns at a City Council work session on Jan. 10.

“How can you operate tourism-related facilities without adequate housing?” asked Laurel Hood, a former mayor. “A lot of people in this community are struggling right now, either with their housing or with their businesses and with the additional burden, and so adding another venue that will take away from those is a challenge.”

City councilors stressed that while the project is financed by the lodging tax and prepared food tax, which are primarily applied to visitors, the complex would be a community asset.

“It’s certainly no question that it qualifies as a tourist facility under the law as written,” City Councilor Gary Hayes said. “But it’s got so many great benefits for this community that it’s really an opportunity I can’t see us missing.”

“I want to emphasize that it’s for everybody, not just the tourists,” added City Councilor Nancy McCarthy. “Residents can enjoy this building as much or more than the tourists. It might be an activity, as Gary says, for tourists, but it will be there for use by residents when they want to use it.”

Some residents questioned whether it is wise for the city to make such a large investment given that the former elementary school is located within the tsunami inundation zone.

While many residents supported scaling back the scope and expense of the project, a few said they would prefer to see the former school torn down rather than the proposed design.

“When the city bought that property, I was excited,” Anita Dueber, a resident, said. “I thought, you know, let’s put some new life into the school.

“Over time, this project has morphed into something unrecognizable, other than the footprint and the shape of the gym … I think after all this time, that some of us, losing that sentimental value of it, would just as soon see it demolished and a park put there. There could be some parking, you could put a longhouse, you could put some bathrooms.”

Watt Childress, the owner of Jupiter’s Books, was also open to a park. “They don’t want to see it not done, I certainly don’t,” he said of the proposed project. “But when it’s a choice between doing something that’s not recognizable as a renovated school or a park, I start to entertain the idea of a park.”

City councilors indicated they could consider reducing the scope of the project by simplifying the landscape plan for the garden. On Jan. 16, the City Council unanimously approved a motion at a special meeting that would push to scale back the landscape design once landscaping plans take shape.

“I was chairman of a couple committees in Cannon Beach,” Leon Graver, a resident, said. “And I’d love to have a 100% response to anything that we brought up … The skateboard park, when kids were going up and down the street on skateboards, we decided to build that. And all the response back was, ‘You’re going to build a big stone brick thing there, it’s ugly, it’s not going to be part of the park.’

“I’m sure all of you notice how popular that is. And we’ve had no dissension from that after we built it. So stay with the course. I think you guys are doing a great job. I don’t know when you’ll ever get 100%. But I think you’re going to be on target. Once this is built, I think we’ll all fall in line.”