SEASIDESIGNAL.COM • COMPLIMENTARY COPY
OUR 109th YEAR • August 21, 2015
Seaside
factors
tsunami
threat into
boundary
expansion
Weighing multiple
factors proves to
complicate city’s
planning process
By Katherine Lacaze
Tsunami
preparedness,
public transportation, af-
fordable housing and en-
vironmental protection are
just some of the competing
concerns the city of Seaside
is taking into consideration
during the process of expand-
ing its Urban Growth Bound-
ary.
The Planning Commission
heard a second round of pub-
lic testimony Tuesday, Aug. 4,
on its proposal to amend the
city’s Comprehensive Plan
and pull approximately 200
acres of new land, located to
the south and east of Seaside
near Wahanna Road known
as Southeast Hills, into the
Urban Growth Boundary.
City of¿ cials and consul-
tants favor Southeast Hills
as the most suitable for de-
velopment site over the next
20 years because of slope
conditions, emergency vehi-
cle access and infrastructure,
among other factors.
While a Seaside School Dis-
trict 10 campus is not planned
for the site, at earlier meetings
commission members said a
potential new school campus
could be readily accessible to
Southeast Hills.
Of the proposed 200.8
acres of Southeast Hills, the
city is proposing to designate
61.3 acres as residential low
density; 54.5 acres as resi-
dential medium density; 33.5
acres as residential high den-
sity; 5.3 acres as resort resi-
dential; 16.1 acres as industri-
al; 19.5 acres as institutional;
and 10.6 acres as park.
See Planning, Page 7A
JOHN DUDLEY/SUBMITTED PHOTO
Seaside Signal
Biplane activity sparks conversation
Some residents say plane’s low overfl ight altitude is safety concern, intrudes on wildlife
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
Jim Grant’s biplane offers
residents and visitors alike the
chance to survey the surround-
ing scenic area from a rare,
bird’s-eye view in an open cock-
pit. During the summer, Grant,
of Portland, provides custom
scenic À ights from the publicly
owned Seaside Municipal Air-
port, located on Seaside prop-
erty surrounded by the city of
Gearhart off U.S. Highway 101.
Two passengers — he will take
anyone age “4 to 94” — can ride
the biplane at one time.
“I’ve had a lot of people come
who like having it here,” Grant
said. “It’s a summertime activity
that’s been traditional since the
1920s.”
%ut Grant’s À yovers are ril-
ing local residents who feel the
operation is too noisy, interferes
with wildlife habitat and creates
a safety hazard, especially in
‘I’ve had a lot of people come who like having it here. It’s a
summertime activity that’s been traditional since the 1920s.’
Jim Grant, biplane owner and pilot
light of a 2008 Gearhart crash
of a small plane that killed ¿ ve
people.
Mayor Dianne Widdop ad-
dressed the topic at a Gearhart
City Council meeting Aug. 5.
Widdop, who sits on Seaside’s
Airport Committee, said resi-
dents whose neighborhoods he
À ies over are concerned about
safety, wildlife intrusion and
especially the noise level.
“I’ve heard from people
on my street where he À ies
over, the estuary front on Lit-
tle Beach, on Nita and Ocean
Avenue,” Widdop said. “The
complaints have been with the
noise, and it’s annoying to ev-
eryone.”
Wildlife, air safety
are concerns
Grant’s routes vary. The “Sea-
side Intro” tour covers Seaside,
the Cove, the mouth of the Ne-
canicum River, Gearhart and the
golf courses. Another, the “Seaside
Plus,” climbs to a higher altitude
for a more panoramic view of the
Columbia River, Astoria and more.
Other À ights, Grant said, go further
up the coast and get cheaper by the
minute. They hit landmarks such
as Fort Stevens, the south shore of
the Columbia River and two light-
houses by Ilwaco, Wash. Some
of Grant’s routes also À y over the
Gearhart Ocean State Park.
The Necanicum Estuary is a
wildlife reserve the Audubon So-
ciety of Portland has designated
an important bird area. It provides
habitat for western snowy plovers,
bald eagles, Calidris sandpipers,
semipalmated plovers, small num-
bers of whimbrel and occasionally
long-billed curlews.
Gearhart resident John Dudley,
who lives on Little Beach Drive,
said À ights over the wildlife re-
serve are “the major concern.”
“It is frightening to think of those
birds colliding with the plane,” he
said.
In September 2004, the Feder-
al Aviation Administration issued
an advisory that encouraged pilots
making À ights near noise-sensitive
areas to À y at altitudes higher than
those permitted by regulation to re-
duce aircraft noise in those areas.
See Biplane, Page 6A
Helping Hands drops plan to acquire Gearhart’s city leaders
Hyak Building, lines up new facility rectify century-old
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
A plan to use the Hyak
Building for rehabilitating
the homeless is no longer
an option in Seaside. But
representatives of Helping
Hands Reentry Outreach
Centers see a new prospec-
tive site for its re-entry pro-
gram.
The Northwest Oregon
Housing Authority gave
Helping Hands permission
to build a relief facility on a
piece of its property off U.S.
Highway 101 north of Ava-
mere at Seaside, formerly
Necanicum Village Senior
Living.
The property south of Sea-
side off U.S. Highway 101
“seemed like a much better
¿ t than that location we were
trying for,” Helping Hands
Executive Director Alan Ev-
ans said.
Originally Helping Hands
hoped to use the Hyak Build-
ing, a multi-unit dwelling
on the corner of Edgewood
Street and Avenue S owned
by the Clatsop County Hous-
ing Authority. The social-ser-
vice group planned to use
part of the building to house
men in the last phase of their
re-entry program.
Multiple obstacles
During the past couple of
years, that plan ran into mul-
tiple obstacles: a lack of fund-
ing, resistance from some
neighbors and, most recently,
See Hyak, Page 7A
Phillips Candies to transfer to new owner
Steve Phillips plans to help ease
transition for his family’s business
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
Steve Phillips is enjoying sweet success —
with a cherry on top.
After spending years of long hours in the
kitchen making sweets for the well-known
Phillips Candies shop on Broadway, he sold
the shop to Mark and Marci Utti. Although
ownership will change, the shop will retain its
name as well as many of the products patrons
know and love.
Discussions between Phillips and the Uttis
began in spring 201. Phillips hoped to ¿ nd
someone who wanted to keep Phillips Candies
relatively the same, name and all.
While the Uttis will purchase the business
itself, TDM Enterprises — of which Mark Utti
is a partner — is going to purchase the build-
ing. TDM Enterprises also owns the nearby
Funland Arcade and the Seaside Fultano’s
Pizza on Broadway. The plan is for the trans-
action to close Oct. 1.
KATHERINE LACAZE/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Steve Phillips, the owner and operator of Phil-
lips Candies of Seaside, is preparing to retire
and pass on his candy shop, which has operat-
ed since 1897, to new owners in October.
The goal, Phillips said, is a seamless transition
for employees, suppliers and customers, with op-
erations and product quality remaining stable.
All in the family
Phillips’s connection to the candy shop
started in 1926, long before he was born, when
See Phillips, Page 7A
surveying error
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
GEARHART — A sur-
veyor’s 10-foot error in 1906
led to a big-time snafu for the
estate of Maynard and Helen
Kern at their 402 Ocean Ave.
property in Gearhart.
Because a surveyor erred
in drawing property lines
almost 110 years ago, heirs
to the Kern family sought to
untangle the legal limbo to
facilitate a potential sale of
the beachfront property as re-
quired by mortgage and title
companies.
“For our family, it’s heart-
breaking because we’re
forced to sell our property,”
Margaret Chapman said, in
her application.
The Kern family came to
the Planning Commission
and City Council to request a
street vacation to clear up the
error, which designated a 30-
foot setback rather than a 40-
foot setback, as should have
been identi¿ ed.
They also sought a waiver
of a compensation fee nor-
mally required for vacation
of the land, in this case about
$86,000.
“What we want to do is try
to resolve the whole block,”
said Dale Barrett of Otak, a
consulting ¿ rm representing
the estate and several neigh-
bors. “I’ve talked to each of
the owners, and hopefully we
can do boundary -line agree-
ments between all parties. The
attempt to do the street vaca-
tion is the ¿ rst step in that.”
Premised on error
“It’s all premised on a
surveyor’s error,” said City
Planner Carole Connell.
“That had a domino effect of
causing this house to be put
into the right-of-way ; the next
house’s fence to be put in the
applicant’s property ; the next
house in their neighbor’s
property. It goes both sides of
the street, and it goes all the
way back to the birth of Gear-
hart. We’re looking to remove
that possible claim of owner-
ship of that extra 10 feet, the
questionable area.”
“They want to get their
house back legally on their
property,” Connell said.
“They believe it was a sur-
veyor’s error and nothing
more than that. This piece
would be the beginning to
correct the rest of the prop-
erties on Ocean Avenue be-
tween D and E and get every-
body squared.”
A similar street vacation
occurred in 1999, when the
city vacated a 10-foot por-
tion of D Street east of South
Ocean Avenue for one block,
Connell said.
See Error, Page 6A