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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2019)
OUR 112th Year December 27, 2019 SEASIDESIGNAL.COM $1.00 YEAR IN REVIEW CITY OF SEASIDE SEASIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT District looks to fall 2020 campus opening By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal city contract at a cosst of $5.64 million. Big changes are ahead in 2020 for the Seaside School District, and make that with a capital “C” for “Construction.” This is the last year for stu- dents in Gearhart Elementary, Broadway Middle and Seaside High school buildings. They’ll be heading to 89 acres in the Southeast Hills in Septem- ber for the opening of the new campus, along with additions to an expanded Heights Ele- mentary School, to be named Pacific Ridge. The new schools are part of the $99.7 million plan approved by voters in 2016 to move schools out of the tsu- nami zone. Two wings, connected by a corridor that will house a cafe- teria, library and administrative offices, will house middle and high school students. Along with work on the schools, work is underway to build a 5-million-gallon reser- voir to supply the campus and surrounding residential areas. Water lines will be built under a Seaside School Dis- trict contract. The reservoir and pump station will be under a The Seaside School District filled two interim vacancies in February. Shannon Swedenborg filled Zone 1, Position 1, after Pat- rick Nofield stepped down in Cannon Beach. Sondra Gomez replaced Steve Phillips in Seaside. At the polls in May, Gomez held onto the Zone 5, Position 1 board seat. Shannon Swedenborg ran unopposed for Cannon Beach’s New board members Jeff Ter Har Kevin Leahy of Clatsop Economic Development Resources; Joshua Heineman of the Seaside Visitors Bureau; Seaside Lodging Managing Director Masudur Khan; Andrew Stein and Brandy Stewart of the Seaside Chamber of Commerce; and Gretchen Darnell, representing the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. Hospitality, health and groceries are booming fields in Seaside By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal In January, the City Council set its goals: housing, the new school, vacation rentals and tsu- nami resiliency took the stage as Seaside’s upcoming concerns. And by year’s end they hit upon a number of those themes, with receipt of the countywide housing plan, a new water tank for the campus in the Southeast Hills, new vacation rental per- mit fees and enforcement plans, and the formation of a Citizen’s Emergency Response team. With the relocation of Seaside High School, Gearhart Elemen- tary School and Broadway Mid- dle School out of the tsunami zone to a new site in the South- east Hills, the city sought to dovetail efforts for a new water tank, roadwork and infrastruc- ture for completion by the cam- pus opening in the fall of 2020. See Year in Review, Page A6 R.J. Marx Construction at the middle school. R.J. Marx The Seaside Civic and Convention Center’s northwest entrance at completion in December. Alongside the city, the retail and visitor industries continued to hum. Convention Center, The Lodge In June 2018, kicked off its $15 million renovation and expansion project with a ground- breaking ceremony. Fifteen months later, the center’s gen- eral manager Russ Vandenberg welcomed residents, visitors and dignitaries to a ribbon-cutting and reopening celebration. The expansion, geared to See Year in Review, Page A6 Phil Broome of Hoffman Construction leads a tour of the new site. Rec district implements new code of conduct policies By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal No fighting, no alcohol or drugs, no touching or physical con- tact with other individuals. There were among 10 new rules presented at the Tuesday, Dec. 17, Sunset Empire Park and Recre- ation District board meeting. “We’ve had a number of chal- lenging incidents at the pool over the years,” executive director Skyler Archibald said after the meeting. He said the new policies will enable staff to “know how to han- dle these situations.” Policy changes seek to outline standards of conduct for patrons and staff with After meeting with outside counsel and the Special Districts Association of Oregon, the district worked to strengthen standards of conduct for patrons, Archibald said in announcing the terms of Ordinance 2019:11. “There are some situations where a behavior is repeated or it rises to the level of where we do have to involve the police or con- sider trespassing that person,” Archibald said. “This policy will give us clearer guidelines how to enforce the conduct policy.” The ordinance intends to pro- vide clearer notice of what conduct is prohibited, and clarification for the steps for staff when prohibited conduct is displayed by patrons. Persistent unwanted com- ments or threats, profane language, excessive noise, disruptive conduct or conduct that is found “to unrea- sonably interfere with the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of any other person” are listed. Violation of state, federal or local laws and partisan political activities beyond protected free speech are also specified as pro- hibited conduct. See Rec District, Page A3 How saving the land can help to transform lives Neal Maine, Betsy Johnson are among Oregonians profiled in new book, ‘A Generous Nature’ By NANCY MCCARTHY Seaside Signal As she studied raptors in Ore- gon’s Zumwalt Prairie, researched the vegetation in Portland’s For- est Park and worked for the Ore- gon State Parks Foundation, wild- life biologist Marcy Cottrell Houle realized Oregon’s natural areas have backstories about the people who sought to save the land. She realized that those stories were on the verge of being lost. They weren’t on the internet, not on Wikipedia, nowhere to be found. “They need to be told, they need to be heard because they really show the Oregon spirit,” said Houle, who introduced her book, “A Generous Nature: Lives Trans- formed by Oregon,” during a talk at Beach Books on Dec. 14. The Columbia River Gorge; 363 miles of public beach; the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area; Port- land’s Forest Park; and the Rogue, Metolious and Sandy rivers, are among Oregon’s great natural trea- sures, Houle said. “None of those places would be protected or here for us to enjoy if it hadn’t been for individuals’ vision and courage to give these things to us,” she added. Among the 21 conservationists and activists she honored in her Neal Maine and Marcy Cottrell Houle at Beach Books in Seaside. book was Neal Maine, co-founder and first director of the North Coast Land Conservancy, who also spoke at the event. “If we forget these stories — if we don’t have them — we run the risk of taking all we see around us for granted.” People “don’t realize the work it took to make this place the way it is,” Houle said. See Book, Page A6