6A • June 2, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Budget gets thumbs-up Arch Cape
committee
is
from committee
denied again
District to add
staff, meet new
science rules
By Jack Heffernan
EO Media Group
By R.J. Marx
Cannon Beach Gazette
With a building project
ready to launch and the state
boosting coffers, the Seaside
School District’s budget com-
mittee has approved a $20.6
million operating budget.
With an improving state
economy, timber revenue and
“excellent management,” the
district plans to move forward
without reductions in staffing
or programs, Superintendent
Sheila Roley said in a budget
message.
The school district plans
to hire an elementary school
guidance counselor and a new
high school science and math
teacher, among other per-
sonnel additions. The budget
addresses rising student tech-
nology costs, with districtwide
licenses for math and science
software. A new science cur-
riculum will be implemented
in the fall to meet new science
and technology standards.
A full-time licensed staff
member will be hired to pro-
vide management support to
students, staff, parents and the
community at both elementary
schools. An elementary teach-
er will also be added to reduce
class size, allow more time to
focus on student achievement
and narrow the achievement
gap, Roley said in her budget
message.
A full-time social studies
teacher will be added at Broad-
way Middle School, among
other personnel additions.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The firm Day CPM submitted a target budget of more than $112 million at the Tuesday,
May 16, budget meeting.
School bond
An additional $112 million
capital budget for construction
of the new K-12 campus was
also presented for review Tues-
day, May 16. That number grew
from the original $99.7 million
bond approved by voters in No-
vember with the addition of $4
million from the state, along
with favorable bond sales and
rates.
The district anticipates pay-
ing out $22.5 million next year
toward the project, endorsed by
voters in November, Business
Manager Justine Hill said in
April.
Representatives of Day
CPM and Dull Olson Weekes
— IBI Architects provided
an update on the construction
project’s progress. The district
is soliciting comment while
interviewing contractor candi-
dates to work with architects to
design the building.
Justine Hill
Sheila Roley
During construction, facil-
ities repair and maintenance
will continue to be addressed
at all buildings. The average
useful life of the buildings is 45
years, yet the average age of the
high school, middle school and
Gearhart Elementary School is
about 65 years, Roley said.
The budget calls for new
flooring at Gearhart Elemen-
tary School; a new roof pack
at Broadway Middle School;
playground safety measures
at Seaside Heights Elementary
School and improvements at
the high school.
The budget was approved
unanimously without addition-
al comment from the public,
members of the board or the
budget committee.
A public hearing on the
budget will be conducted at
the school district’s June 20
meeting. The budget must be
adopted prior to the end of the
fiscal year in June.
New parking rules go into effect
Parking from Page 1A
“We are interested in ed-
ucating business owners and
moving into this gradually.
We’ve never had timed park-
ing, and when we put up signs,
behavior isn’t going to change
overnight,” Kucera said.
Police Chief Jason Scher-
merhorn is also adding two
new public information offi-
cers to help enforce the new
time limit between 8 a.m.
and 6 p.m., as well as the
ordinance passed in April
that says a driver moving a
car within the same block or
parking lot does not count as
starting over with a new time
limit.
Each officer will be full
time and paid around $14 an
hour. After the summer trial
period, the city will decide
whether or not to retain the
two new additions or cut back
in the next fiscal year.
“We’ve been needing to
add positions anyway because
of an increase in tourists,”
Schermerhorn said.
Schermerhorn said he ex-
pects the added enforcement
duties will mean an uptick in
paperwork to process, but is
approaching the pilot as “by
trial and error.”
“A lot will depend on how
traffic is coming and going,
but it will be effective to relo-
cate parking from employees
so they aren’t taking it away
from customers,” he said.
Business concerns
Timed parking has re-
ceived mixed reaction from
some downtown business
owners. Some see having
downtown parking available
for employees as a necessity,
and others as a luxury.
Jeff Ter Har, the owner of
Ter Har’s clothing store on
Hemlock Street, wrote a let-
ter to the Cannon Beach Ga-
zette that asserted the city did
not involve business owners
enough in a public process
when making this decision.
“Love government that
thinks it knows better about
what to do than the businesses
that rely on that parking for
their survival,” wrote Ter Har,
a photographer who contrib-
utes to The Daily Astorian.
Jean Gogueu, who co-
owns Josephine’s on Hem-
lock, said the issue isn’t so
much about timed parking as
it is about appropriate parking
for employees. He takes issue
with employees’ use of street
parking instead of public
lots on Spruce because those
could be used for customers,
he said.
“Timed parking would
help turnover, but in the long
run people need direction on
where to go,” he said. “When
time’s up, where is (the driv-
er) to go? It will be musical
cars.”
Gogueu also said most
of his business comes from
foot traffic, so shortening the
amount of time one can park
there won’t necessarily in-
crease business.
Melisa Colvin is the gal-
lery manager at Bronze Coast
Gallery on Hemlock, and she
also expressed that high turn-
over wouldn’t necessarily
bring in more customers be-
cause most business is driven
by foot traffic.
Nevertheless, she believes
timed parking is worth a try.
“I would like to see how
it goes. I don’t know if it will
solve the problem, but maybe
it could be seasonal,” Colvin
said. “It would break the ten-
dency of people who work
down here to park and leave
their car all day.”
The consultant hired by the
city will monitor the situation
throughout the summer and
present his findings to the City
Council in the fall.
Despite significant oppo-
sition from numerous Arch
Cape residents, Clatsop
County has dissolved the
unincorporated communi-
ty’s Design Review Com-
mittee for the third time.
The Board of Commis-
sioners, minus the absent
Commissioner Lisa Clem-
ent, approved an ordinance
3-1 Wednesday, May 24,
that nixed the committee.
Commissioners previously
voted twice to approve the
ordinance, and twice oppo-
nents challenged the ordi-
nance with state Land Use
Board of Appeals. In the
most recent appeal, the state
found that the county failed
to provide public notice in a
newspaper of general circu-
lation.
The state then sent the
decision back to the Board,
which held a public hearing
earlier this month. Follow-
ing the contentious public
hearing,
commissioners
called for an emergency
vote and decided 4-1 to dis-
solve the committee once
again. But since the emer-
gency vote was not unan-
imous — Commissioner
Kathleen Sullivan voted
against it — the Board
held another public hear-
ing Wednesday, needing a
simple majority to pass the
ordinance.
Officials have argued the
committee is redundant, as
no other part of the county
has its own design review
committee. Instead, resi-
dents present proposals di-
rectly to the County Plan-
ning Department.
County counsel Chris
Crean pointed out Wednes-
day that, while the commit-
tee will no longer serve as a
quasi-judicial board through
the county, its independence
will allow members to ad-
vocated more openly for or
against projects as residents
of Arch Cape.
Staff and commissioners
also have accused members
of the committee of not fol-
lowing procedural or public
meetings rules and intimi-
dating residents with whom
they disagree.
Opponents of the ordi-
nance, meanwhile, have
rebuked the accusations and
voiced concerns about Arch
Cape residents’ loss of pow-
er to review lands in their
own community. Residents
who support the committee,
which was formed in the
1970s, presented a petition
with 216 signatures and
94 comments at the public
hearing earlier this month.
“We lost a good relation-
ship between the commis-
sioners and the residents
because of the way this was
handled,” said Jim Jens-
vold, an Arch Cape resident.
“I think the county could’ve
gotten pretty much every-
thing they wanted if they
were to come to us respect-
fully and said, ‘Let’s work
this out together.’ I think
you wasted a lot of good
will with our community.”
Committee member Tod
Lundy said after the hear-
ing that the decision is final,
though Michael Manzulli, a
former committee member
who has been actively in-
volved in trying to save it,
added they will look into all
available options.
239 N. Hemlock • Cannon Beach • 503.436.0208
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Cars are parked where the city plans to implement timed
parking on Hemlock Street between Second and Third
streets.
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