6A February 5, 2016 Seaside Signal seasidesignal.com
North Holladay repairs
get around the area easily.
Workmen will replace
By completion, it will be the existing sewer, wa-
completely rebuilt, from ter and force mains along
replacing utilities to laying North Holladay Drive be-
new sidewalks. The proj- fore reconnecting new and
ect has been a “long time existing water and sewer
coming,” Public Works services. Plans call for the
Director Dale McDowell installation of underground
said.
vaults and conduits for con-
The North Holladay version of the existing over-
Drive dig began Jan. 18 af- head utilities — including
ter pothole work the week electrical, telephone and
before.
cable — to underground
General
contractor XWLOLWLHV %\ SURMHFW ¿QLVK
Tapani Inc., of Battle the city will pave roads and
Ground, Washington, pre- sidewalks.
sented the lowest of three
Parts of North Holla-
bids at a little more than day Drive are open to lo-
$3.28 million. Seaside City FDO WUDI¿F RQO\ 0F'RZHOO
Council approved the bid in said. Certain intersections
December.
may be closed periodical-
Tapani and city staff ly throughout the day and
held a preconstruction evening.
meeting in early January to
Tapani has had two
discuss how the project will crews working on the proj-
impact bus routes, pedestri- ect since it started. They
DQ DQG YHKLFOH WUDI¿F DQG plan to add a third crew
public utilities, as North in the middle of February.
Holladay Drive is a main With 50-hour work weeks,
thoroughfare.
the goal is to complete the
Seaside School District project, or a bulk of it, be-
Transportation Supervisor fore Memorial Day, May
Anna Borges said it will be 30.
important for the contrac-
May 27 is the “key pav-
tor to keep the district in- ing date,” when all the as-
formed of plans and which phalt and curbs need to be
streets will be closed at laid, “so that road could
what time, so she can make be opened and used,” Mc-
the necessary adjustments. Dowell said. Tapani then
The construction crews will have additional time
will try to minimize the — about 30 days — to
time families are blocked complete the sidewalks,
from their homes, City En- landscaping and electrical
gineer Geoffrey Liljenwall hookups.
said.
The contractor has set
“They need to go home up staging areas for the
at night and be able to park project at Goodman Park
close to their homes,” he on the corner of Necanicum
Drive and 12th Avenue and
said.
In general, he added, near the city’s wastewater
³WKHUHLVDORWRIWUDI¿FWKDW treatment plant off North
can go east to west,” and Franklin Street.
Project from Page 1A
KATHERINE LACAZE/EO MEDIA GROUP
The owner of the Chevron gas station near the south entrance to Seaside is planning to demolish the existing convenience
store and build a new, larger one using the property directly north of the station. The project is anticipated to begin this spring.
Convenience store at Seaside
Chevron gets ‘major’ overhaul
Construction of new building to
take place in the spring
estimates the project will take about six
months to complete.
The plan is to construct the new
building and have it near completion
before demolishing the old building to
create “virtually no interruption to the
business whatsoever,” Vonada said. Full
services should continue throughout the
entire project, which is important since
it will take place throughout the sum-
mer months.
Landscaped areas are proposed on
the east and west sides of the building.
The site plan also proposes new side-
walks be built along Avenue M, adja-
cent to the back of the building, and a
By Katherine Lacaze
portion of Roosevelt Drive, to create a
EO Media Group
continuous public walkway along that
SEASIDE — The owner of the
URDG+RZHYHU9RQDGDVDLGWKH¿QDO
Chevron gas station in south Seaside
FRQ¿JXUDWLRQIRU$YHQXH0ZKLFKLV
is replacing the existing convenience
an unimproved right-of-way, is subject
store with a new, larger building using
to input from the Seaside Public Works
the empty lot north of the site.
Department.
The Seaside Planning Commission
A short-term bike parking rack is
‘It will be a major, major
at its January meeting conditionally
proposed near the northeast pedestrian
approved a request by applicant David
walkway between the building and the
improvement over what’s there.’
Vonada of Tolovana Architects, on be-
sidewalk fronting Roosevelt Drive. Not
Architect David Vonada
half of owner Marci Utti, to demolish
counting the pump island parking spac-
the convenience store associated with
es, a total of 12 off-street parking spaces
the Chevron gas station and construct a
in front of the building will be provided,
new two-story building.
The new building will be approx- according to a staff report from Plan-
“We think it’s important, for the gate- LPDWHO\ VTXDUH IHHW RQ WKH ¿UVW ning Director Kevin Cupples.
way to the community, to update things story, which will be used primarily for
“We don’t want to try to reinvent the
and keep things looking nice,” Utti said. retail sales. The second story, which will function of the site,” Vonada said.
The property is located at 1215 S. EHXVHGIRURI¿FHVSDFHDQGVWRUDJHZLOO
The design team and owner are in
Holladay Drive, off U.S. Highway 101, be approximately 1,290 square feet.
the process of pricing the project and
or Roosevelt Drive, and between ave-
“It will be a major, major improve- completing construction and bidding
nues M and N.
ment over what’s there,” Vonada said. documents; they will proceed with sub-
Construction is slated to start this “I think it’s going to be an attractive mitting applications for building per-
VSULQJ GHSHQGLQJ RQ ¿QDQFLQJ 8WWL building on all four sides.”
mits in the early spring.
Five Minutes With Reta Leithner
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
Seaside resident Reta
Leithner is retiring after 40
years of being a real estate
agent. Most recently she
worked at the John L. Scott
Real (state 2f¿ce in Seaside.
Where have you worked
over the years?
I have been with sever-
al companies. As they’ve
closed or the principal bro-
ker has retired or whatever,
then you go somewhere else.
Because I was not a principal
broker: I’m just a broker.
How long have you been
at John L. Scott Real Es-
tate?
Three years. I started at
Oregon Coast Realty. That
was probably the longest.
And then I was with Cold-
well Banker for a very long
time also. Forty years in
Clatsop County — in Sea-
side actually. I grew up in a
real estate family in Seaside.
My mother was the secretary
and my father was the bro-
ker. That was a very good
education.
You learned the busi-
ness from them?
Quite a bit. My father
would take me with him.
How soon did you real-
ize it was something you
wanted to do yourself?
When my ex-husband and
myself divorced and I came
back to Seaside, I looked for
a job, and there wasn’t any-
thing available that would
allow me to be with my chil-
dren when they were home
most of the time. In real es-
tate, you could name your
own hours. Every job I ap-
plied for, they told me I was
RYHUTXDOL¿HG RU WKH KRXUV
would be detrimental to be-
ing a single mom. I couldn’t
afford a full-time babysitter.
My mom could help me out
with the kids the two hours
I needed. They would get
home about 3 p.m., and she
would watch them for two
KATHERINE LACAZE/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Reta Leithner, of Seaside, is retiring after 40 years as a real
estate agent in the area. She looks forward to looking after
her own house for a change and taking classes through EN-
CORE, a member-run education organization sponsored by
Clatsop Community College.
KRXUV$QGWKDWZDV¿QH0\
parents were wonderful, they
really were.
What has been your fa-
vorite thing about the busi-
ness?
The people. Absolutely. It
all goes back to the people.
The Lord has sent me some
of the most fantastic clients
and some of the most fantas-
tic friends as peers in the real
estate industry. I mean, they
are outstanding people. Not
just outstanding Realtors.
Would you say that
is what you will miss the
most?
Oh, they’re not going to
get a chance to miss me.
How do you feel about
retiring?
It will be lovely. I will
be able to get a few projects
done, a whole lot of things I
would like to get done at my
house. You know, they’ve
always said the cobbler’s
kids have the worst shoes,
the hairdresser’s kid has the
worst haircut. Well, this Re-
altor has the worst-looking
house. She’s going to stay
home and clean it for a long
time, until it’s clean.
What other interests
and hobbies are you excit-
ed to pursue?
Oh lots of them. I like to
help people and I have sev-
eral people around town that
I look in on and help. I don’t
know if you’ve ever heard
of ENCORE, sponsored by
Clatsop Community Col-
lege? It’s education through
retirement. It is a whole
bunch of retired people that
still like to learn. How long
have you been involved in
that?
Just four years. I took a
class just to see what it was,
and I really liked it and I re-
ally believe in their program.
But because of my work
schedule, I couldn’t commit
to a term of classes. But now
I can, and I’m really excited
to sit in the classroom and
going back to school, so to
speak, to be participating.
Because that’s the kind of
format they have: you partic-
ipate. Are you sad to retire?
It’s my time to leave real
estate. And I don’t know
why. No angel has come to
me and said, ‘You’re going
to have to leave real estate.’
It just seems like the natural
progression. I’m “X” num-
ber of years old and I want
to be able to see my grand-
children and visit with them
in their environments. My
son is here in Seaside and
his daughter lives here, too.
My daughter lives in Salinas,
California. The kids go to
Seaside, California, schools,
DQG 3DFL¿F *URYH ² WKH
Monterey Bay-area.
powered by
JOSHUA BESSEX/EO MEDIA GROUP
Crews work on North North Holladay Drive in Seaside on
Monday near 12th Avenue.
BUSINESS
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34154 Hwy 26, Seaside, OR
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BUSINESS
DIRECTORY