6A • July 8, 2016 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
City budget approved
Budget from Page 1A
SUBMITTED GRAPHIC
Steele Architects rendering of the Seaside Civic and Convention Center’s southeast corner.
Room tax hike could pay for
convention center upgrades
Councilors don’t want
to compete with school
bond vote
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
With a Seaside School Dis-
trict bond vote likely in No-
vember, city oficials steered
away from bringing another
capital project to the voters.
At a June City Council and
Seaside Civic and Convention
Center Commission work-
shop, City Manager Mark
Winstanley provided options
to bring a nearly $15 million
convention center upgrade to
fruition. By the end of the eve-
ning, councilors recognized
the need and appeared to be
leaning for an increase in hotel
room tax to fund it.
“If 1 or 2 percent would
cover it, and we think the hotel
properties are on board with
that, why would we go with
anything else?” Councilor
Randy Frank asked.
With a land gift of 80 acres
from Weyerhaeuser Co., the
school district is planning a
bond referendum to create
a new high school campus
east of South Wahanna Road
in Seaside. While a previous
bond vote of $128.8 million
failed with voters in 2013, the
district is considering a proj-
ect on the donated land. Costs
have not been presented.
Center needs
more space
At this week’s convention
center workshop, the center’s
General Manager Russell Van-
denberg said without center
expansion the city risked los-
SUBMITTED GRAPHIC
Steele Architects rendering of the convention center’s site.
ing convention trafic. “It’s not
so much about bringing larger,
bigger groups, as it is about
keeping the groups we have,”
he said.
The No. 1 reason a group
does not return to Seaside’s con-
vention center, Vandenberg said,
is because of insuficient space.
He said there are groups now us-
ing the facility — including the
Oregon Chess Federation, Sec-
tional Bridge Tournament, and
American Fisheries — requir-
ing more convention space. The
expansion, he said, will meet
the needs of 60 percent of the
organizations within a 300-mile
radius of Seaside.“By building
this renovation, we’ll increase
our market penetration by 20
percent,” Vandenberg said.
The Steele Associates Archi-
tects’ plan seeks to bump out the
existing Necanicum Ballroom
and support larger, more diverse
events. Drawings also call for
mid-size meeting room size
increases and quality improve-
ments. The renovation would
be conined to the existing prop-
erty. The center would remain
open during construction.
The project would be done in
phases, Vandenberg said, to al-
low operation of the facility with
“the least amount of impact” to
visiting groups.
The ultimate price tag is
$14.6 million, he said. “That
would be the out-the-door facili-
ty renovation.”
Who will pay?
Funding of the project is
not only inancial, Winstanley
said. “It’s also political.”
Winstanley provided op-
tions including a bond sale,
formation of an urban renewal
district, a voter referendum to
raise property taxes or room tax.
“There are downsides to this,”
he said. “You’re telling people
you’re going to raise their tax-
es.” Convention center costs
could raise taxes $195 per year
on the cost of a $250,000 home.
“You have a school dis-
trict that’s going out on the
ballot in November to build a
new school,” Winstanley said.
“You’re going to be compet-
ing for tax dollars with them. It
probably won’t be very popular
with the school district, and you
may be having some impact on
the psyche of the voter at that
time also. Some voters may
look at that and say, ‘Jeez, ev-
erybody’s looking for money
for something,’ or others might
say, ‘This one’s a lot cheaper
than that one.’ Voters make de-
cisions for all kinds of reasons.”
The convention’s last expan-
sion in 1991 was funded by an
increase in the room tax from
5 to 6 percent, and later, 6 to 7
percent, Winstanley said. “Part
of that was for the cost of ex-
pansion,” he said. “Room tax is
also an integral part of the con-
vention center.”
“I don’t see why we
wouldn’t want to use an in-
crease in room tax,” Councilor
Dana Phillips said. “Those are
people coming to use the con-
vention center. Then we are not
competing with the schools.
Why wouldn’t it be a win-win
to go after the room tax?”
“I would not want to be on
the ballot with the school dis-
trict,” Councilor Jay Barber
added. “I would be in favor of
a combination of revenue bonds
and a room tax increase.”
A 2-percent increase would
be “about the most” hotel own-
ers could afford, Vandenberg
said, perhaps phased in incre-
mentally.
A future workshop will
determine the council’s inal
direction. The council will re-
turn in a workshop “to narrow
this down,” Winstanley said. “I
need you to say, ‘I like this,’ or
‘we don’t need this at all.’ I’m
not sure there are many people
who would say, ‘By golly, I’m
not staying in Seaside because
of a 2 percent room tax in-
crease.’”
Don’t touch the seals
NOAA reminds people not
to touch or pick up seal pups
By PHUONG LE
Associated Press
SEATTLE — As harbor seals are be-
ing born in the Paciic Northwest, ma-
rine mammal advocates up and down the
West Coast are urging people not to touch
or pick up pups that come up on beaches
and shorelines to rest.
At least ive times this season,
well-meaning people have illegally
picked up seal pups in Oregon and Wash-
ington thinking they were abandoned or
needed help, but that interference ulti-
mately resulted in two deaths, said Mi-
chael Milstein, a spokesman with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration Fisheries.
It’s an ongoing issue along the entire
West Coast, from Alaska to California,
when people who think they’re doing the
right thing end up stressing or harming
the animals instead, oficials say.
State wildlife oficials had to eutha-
nize one harbor seal pup last month after
a woman picked it up on a beach in West-
port, Washington, and apparently carried
it back to a house in a shopping tote. The
animal was unresponsive and lethargic,
Milstein said.
Another couple found a seal pup on
the beach in Garibaldi, Oregon, and fear-
ing the animal was abandoned, wrapped
the seal in a beach towel, put it in their
car and placed it in their shower at home,
ROBERT CAIN LD,
“We have very good de-
partment heads,” Winstan-
ley told councilors. “They
all do an excellent job and
we’re very lucky to have
them.”
“Organizations really ex-
cel when all the right people
are on the right seats in the
bus and it’s really running
smoothly,” Councilor Jay
Barber added. “I give large
credit to Mark for hiring the
right people and supporting
them, so good job.”
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MARC MYRSELL/WESTPORT AQUARIUM VIA AP
In this May 21, 2016, photo provided
by the Westport Aquarium, a baby seal
is seen laying across a shopping tote
used to carry it of a beach in Westport,
Wash. State wildlife oicials had to
euthanize the harbor seal pup.
said Kristin Wilkinson, a NOAA Fish-
eries regional stranding coordinator.
People’s impulse is to rush in and help,
but it’s better to let nature run its course,
Wilkinson said.
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schools, the city would need
to provide water and sewer
systems on the new site, pro-
posed for an 80-acre parcel
on a hillside immediately
south of Seaside Heights El-
ementary School.
“We’re not to that point,”
Winstanley said. “The
school district needs to see if
they can get out and get their
levy passed, and if they do
we will certainly be happy to
work with them.”
Because the city’s reve-
nue sources were good, he
said, ending fund balances
are up, “which is a good
thing. We’re not running
quite as tight as we have in
past years.”
City personnel act as a
team, councilors and staff
said, in which everyone ills
a particular role.
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