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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021
Parking: The idea of paid parking in Seaside is not new
Continued from Page A1
Enforcement, conducted by Seaside Park
‘n’ Pay, would be 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“I thought this might be something that
might help the town,” Israel said. “We
wouldn’t even have had this conversation 15
years ago, because the technology really didn’t
exist and we’d be looking at putting in meters,
and that wouldn’t be very cost effective.”
Benefi ts, Israel said, include an easy pay-
ment method, an ability to refi ll the meter
remotely and alerts when a session is about to
end. Users would download the app, create an
account, park anywhere there is a Park ‘n’ Pay
sign and pay for parking sessions by phone.
Management would receive a fee of 20%.
Seaside Park ‘n’ Pay would donate up to 5%
of that income back to the community for
improvements. Israel said he estimated annual
gross revenue of $853,000 and net revenue to
Seaside of more than $600,000.
Seaside Park ‘n’ Pay would do staffi ng,
enforcement, signage, user interaction and
other management tasks, he said.
Israel would test the concept in a 26-week
pilot program from May to October.
The idea of paid parking in Seaside is not
new .
“According to my research, the city center
parking lot was an idea proposed and pursued
by the merchants in the late ’80s, early ’90s
because they needed more parking to pro-
vide customer convenience hoping to result
in increased business in the downtown core,”
City Councilor Tita Montero said. “Since that
time, merchants have repeatedly indicated the
need for increased parking in the downtown
core.”
In 2002, the City Council opted to use a
shuttle service through the Sunset Empire
Transportation District rather than institute
paid parking downtown.
When the convention center discussed its
$15 million expansion plan in 2015, a parking
structure was among the items proposed, at an
additional cost of $6 million. The lot would
have cost the city $200,000 for 30 years. The
expansion, completed in 2019, did not include
the parking structure component.
Before Israel’s presentation, Montero
sought a City C ouncil discussion on whether
such an initiative should be considered.
“If the decision were to turn the lot into paid
parking, the city would then consider whether
to self-manage or put out an RFP (request for
proposal) for management,” Montero said. “It
is inappropriate for the council to now listen to
a sales pitch business proposal that infers that
such a decision has been made or that such
action is being considered.”
She asked that the item be removed from
the agenda until the council followed “appro-
priate and due process that determines whether
such a proposal is in order.”
While Montero’s suggestion to table the
presentation was unsuccessful, city councilors
reserved comment on the paid parking plan.
“At this point we have your presentation
and proposal,” Mayor Jay Barber told Israel .
“We’ll make sure we bring that to our goals
group when we meet.”
Reserve: City Council will decide how protection will be addressed
Continued from Page A1
then watched and waited over the Labor Day
weekend, wondering if the winds would drive
fi re toward the Coast Range.
Two fi res that burned near Arch Cape in
2018 generated the same kinds of concerns
Cannon Beach leaders face now. Those fi res
had a human root, sparked by timber slash
fi res, and were fanned by east winds. The
fi res — how fast they moved, how fi ercely
they burned — unnerved many in emergency
response roles.
And last year’s fi res carry a warning for
the North Coast. Farther south, in Lincoln
County, the Echo Mountain fi re affected
some 2,500 acres, a tiny amount compared to
what was burning elsewhere.
Still, it’s a fi re that stands out, and one
other coastal communities should consider
as they think about wildfi re risk and the steps
they can take to mitigate that risk, said Aaron
Groth, an Astoria-based regional fi re special-
ist with Oregon State University’s forestry
and natural resources extension fi re program.
New to the job, he plans to begin reach-
ing out to both small and large timber owners
and managers to better understand some of
the gaps that exist on the coast when it comes
to fi re protection.
“I think that (the Echo Mountain fi re) is
something that should be on people’s minds,”
he said. “It’s something that had great impact
on Lincoln County.”
The Ecola Creek Forest Reserve is
bounded on three sides by commercial tim-
berland owned by GreenWood Resources. A
network of roads maintained by the timber
company provides access across this land to
the reserve. GreenWood requires any recre-
ational users on its timberland to register for a
free pass to get beyond entrance gates. Access
to the city lands is not monitored in this way.
The rest of the reserve faces U.S. Highway
101 and the city .
Mark Morgans, of GreenWood Resources,
is in the early stages of discussing a possi-
ble memorandum of understanding between
the timber company and the city. The agree-
ment could formalize things the two entities
already collaborate on, such as closing down
public access to the forest during wildfi re
scares.
Morgans noted that Cannon Beach has
already planned extensively for other natural
disasters, such as earthquakes and tsunamis,
and hopes they will plan for wildfi res, too.
“As a neighbor, I do want to encourage
them so that our forest doesn’t burn up if they
haven’t developed a response to theirs,” he
said.
‘Secret forest’
Fire danger and a wildfi re strategy were
not emphasized in the original management
Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
TOP: The Ecola Creek Forest Reserve east of
Cannon Beach. RIGHT: Clovers and tiny ferns
grow amid the big ferns.
plan for the Ecola Creek Forest Reserve.
Now, this potential danger has been included
in the recent update, though city staff wish to
go one step further and open up the possibil-
ity of future access improvements.
The purchase of the land, a process that
spanned years and involved complicated
acquisitions and land swaps, did not have
unanimous support in the community. A
bond to help the city acquire the 800-acre
state-owned tract that now forms the bulk
of the reserve passed by a mere 12 votes in
2009.
T he reserve has since become an import-
ant part of the community — it’s a “secret for-
est,” City Councilor Nancy McCarthy said.
In it grow cedar trees estimated at 500 years
and older, and the creek and streams provide
key habitat for salmon. Importantly for resi-
dents, the reserve also helps shelter the city’s
primary source of drinking water.
Given the public involvement and support
in creating the reserve and the need to pro-
tect both the forest and municipal water sup-
ply while also giving people a place to wan-
der, the city must maintain a tricky balance.
Hudson plans to conduct more meetings
with parks committee members and other
stakeholders and fi re experts. The manage-
ment plan and the question of road improve-
ments will come in front of the City Council
again in March .
Ultimately, the City Council will decide
on how protection of the reserve will be
addressed.
But it will be hard to serve both sides,
City Manager Bruce St. Denis cautioned city
councilors in early February. In fact, he said,
“I don’t see a way to resolve it by meeting in
the middle.”
He said it comes down to different ideas
of protection: Is it limited access to the public
or is it the ability to bring emergency vehicles
into the reserve?
McCarthy and others don’t want to see
new major roads built in the reserve. City
Councilor Robin Risley, a former parks com-
mittee member who has been involved with
planning around the reserve, continues to
have concerns about what improved access
might mean for the city’s other goals tied to
the reserve’s protection.
But, McCarthy said, “I do think we need
fi re protection up there and we need access
to it.”
Wildfi re has been on her mind more and
more since she moved to a house that is close
to both the reserve and the fi re station. She
hears the clang of the engine sirens and she
sits in her backyard and sees the forest rise
up in front of her. Sometimes, in the sum-
mer, she sits and wonders, “When’s the fi re
coming?”
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