August 19, 2016 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 7A GearhartNews Lorain is ‘up to speed’ as she seeks re-election Dan Jesse seeks second term on City Council Rentals, fire hall on the horizon Councilor calls for greater emergency preparedness Lorain said she objects to the person- al tone injected into local politics. “What By R.J. Marx puzzles me is how issues don’t become Seaside Signal about the community and what’s good for the community, but they become person- Nearing the end of her irst four-year al issues against certain individuals,” she term, Gearhart City Councilor Sue Lorain said. “I’m running to make decisions for gathered enough signatures to qualify for a the good of the community, not for the re-election bid in November. good of an interest group, this person or “It feels like it takes two years to get up that, or even where I stand personally. I to speed,” she said. “Then you start partici- think this council position is about doing pating. To me, a second term what’s good for all of us in is important — to have the Gearhart.” background, be more pre- Lorain said the council’s pared and inish the things short-term rental solution we started in the irst term. “meets extremes on both It’s continuity.” sides.” Lorain and her partner As chairwoman of Gear- moved to Gearhart in 2004. hart’s Fire Hall Committee, A retired teacher — “I taught she said she hopes to devel- everything at some point,” op a community-involved she said — Lorain spent campaign for the new build- much of her career teach- ing, designed to replace the ing ifth- and sixth-graders irehouse on Paciic Way. in Washington’s Highline A proposal could go before School District. voters in 2017. Lorain serves on the Co- Sue Lorain If re-elected, Lorain said lumbia River Estuary Study she foresees a relatively Taskforce board and as vice-president of calmer council interaction. “What’s cool Seaside Scholarships, a nonproit provid- about this group now is we can disagree ing scholarships for local students. on issues, but at the end of the meeting we Looking back on her four years as can look at each other and say something councilor, she singled out short-term rent- funny and laugh, and be respectful of each als, legal actions at Neacoxie Creek Barn other as human beings. That hasn’t always and the attempted mayoral recall of May- happened. I like the group I’m working or Dianne Widdop as key issues. “I didn’t with, even though we’re not always on the see that coming,” Lorain said. “That was same page. We’re a good group, and diver- tough.” siied.” ers. “People knew each other and had a mutual re- spect and understanding, how to get along and play nice together.” Dan Jesse is making his second City Council With a vacation rental ordinance expected to bid in Gearhart, defeating his opponent in 2012. be passed in September, Jesse said the contentious Jesse’s career in public service began with the topic would likely spill into future council sessions. Seaside Convention Center and “I don’t think this is coming to an the Seaside Improvement Com- end,” he said. mission, before he and his wife Both a referendum or a lawsuit Julie moved to Gearhart, where in response to the ordinance are he served on the Planning Com- possibilities, Jesse said, “and I’ve mission before election to City heard rumblings of both. At least Council. with a referendum, people could Dan Jesse, raised in Silver- decide based on what the referen- ton, met his wife Julie, a lifelong dum is.” Gearhart resident, while a student He said he welcomed a vote in Seattle. The couple returned to on the ordinance or portions of the region after school. Trained as it, which could come in the form a commercial photographer, Jesse of a special election in 2017. “I’d is a builder by trade. like to hear what the people think, “When we moved here, com- and I hate to see tax dollars going mercial photography was not a vi- Dan Jesse into a lawsuit.” Jesse said. “I’m able way to make a living,” Jesse not convinced the people wanting said. “I love the ability in a small town to see a cli- short-term rentals would come out as well as they ent I’ve worked with in the grocery store, to have think it would if it was put to referendum.” smiling faces and people happy with what you’ve Jesse said he hopes the dispute with Neacoxie accomplished. I wish I could say the same about Creek Barn owner Shannon Smith will draw itself politics.” to a conclusion as the process moves to Circuit Jesse was referring to the last four years on Court. “I’m hoping we put that one behind us.” Gearhart’s City Council, which have seen a number One issue he’d like to see greater attention to is of contentious issues, from a mayoral recall vote emergency preparedness. and vigorous short-term rental debates to ongoing “I think we’re still missing the boat in dealing litigation at neighboring Neacoxie Creek Barn. with emergency preparedness,” he said. “We need The reason for city’s disquiet, he said, is a “gen- to be putting time and effort as well as money in erational shift,” in which many longtime residents trying to put ourselves in a better position when a are either leaving or being displaced by newcom- catastrophic event happens.” By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal Vacation rental owners make plea for compromise Survey says: take a fresh look at new regulations By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal Short-term rental property owners are seeking a compro- mise to new rules in Gearhart that were approved in a irst reading of an ordinance early this month. “Half the voters are against regulations or have no opin- ion,” vacation rental property owner Jim Whittemore said in a letter to the City Council. “The message is, the voters of the city want this process to take more time — that we need a compromise.” Homeowners in Gearhart, including Whittemore, hired a polling company to deter- mine local attitudes on short- term rental housing. The poll was conducted by Jim Moore Methods, af- EO MEDIA GROUP/FILE PHOTO Homeowner Laurie Whitte- more addressed the Plan- ning Commission at a May hearing in opposition to rental regulations. ter being contacted by part- time Gearhart resident David Townsend, founder and pres- ident of political consulting irm Townsend Raimundo Besler & Usher in Sacramen- to. Townsend said while he is the owner of a rental proper- ty in the Little Beach area of Gearhart, he would not be af- fected by the new rules. One-hundred people drawn from voter rolls were surveyed, six of whom said they had rented their home as a vacation rental and 94 who had not. All said they were familiar with the short-term rental issue. “These are decision-mak- ers,” Townsend said. “What they’re really saying is, ‘Can’t we compromise? Why do we have to jam this thing? Why don’t we step back, form a committee, sit down and see if we can do some compro- mise?’” But the results also show almost two-thirds of Gearhart residents said the city needs to adopt an ordinance to reg- ulate vacation rental units. And slightly more Gearhart residents favored moving for- ward with new rules — 41 to 38 percent — even if the “vast majority of vacation rental owners think the process has been unfair and incomplete.” City Administrator Chad Sweet said this week that the survey, which was creat- ed without city input, “pretty much says the Planning Com- mission and City Council are moving in the right direction. It reinforces what we’re do- ing.” The council approved new rules in a irst reading earlier this month and could bring them into law with a vote in September. The ordinance would go into effect a month later. If enacted, permit appli- cants would be required to complete forms, pay a $600 permit fee and provide proof of inspection. The ordinance requires a 24-hour proper- ty owner representative and permit display, which would list maximum occupancy, parking and the designated representative by the entry door. Each rental would need a $125 inspection and a post- ed tsunami evacuation map. Permit holders would need to pay city vacation rental taxes. Overall, a majority of res- idents polled supported these measures, however, seven out of 10 residents disagreed with a provision stating: “Any home currently used as a va- cation rental unit cannot be used as a vacation rental in the future unless it stays in the family.” “The voters acknowledge the need for ordinances, many of which are already on the books, but do not want to lose (their) rental homes,” Whittemore said. “The voters are really, ‘Let’s have some fair regula- tion,’” Townsend said. “Let’s not go overboard and deprive owners of their right to rent their property or sell their house so somebody else can rent their property out.” Opponents to the rules could ile an appeal with the state Land Use Board of Ap- peals or present a referendum challenging all or any part of the ordinance they want to change or remove, Sweet said. Townsend said a referen- dum could be iled within the next year. “We don’t want to do that,” Townsend said. “The council should do the right thing. There’s no reason not to look at what this poll says, not to dismiss it out of hand because you don’t agree with it. All the council has to do is step back, take a deep breath, pull some people together and say, ‘Where can we make some compromise to bring everybody together?’ I don’t know why the council and the mayor need to make this so divisive.” On Sept. 7, the council will vote again on the pro- posed ordinance. “I expect they will be unanimous again,” Sweet said. “But you never know. And they did have time to take this survey under consid- eration before the irst vote.” Former British soldier says he’s on a mission in America Goal is to raise awareness and money for veterans’ charities By Dave Fisher For Seaside Signal DAVE FISHER/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL On foot and traveling light, former British soldier Stuart Repon-Ness stopped at the Seaside Signal oice to share his story. A British veteran from Orford, England is running his way from Seattle to San Diego, 1,447 miles, to raise awareness and money for two charities close to his heart. Stuart Repon-Ness, 35, took a short break from his trek along U.S. 101 and stopped by the Seaside Signal ofice Aug. 5. His goal that day was to make it from Astoria to Arch Cape and he was well on his way as he arrived at the Signal ofice about 11 a.m. just to say “hi.” Repon-Ness plans to com- plete his West Coast journey on foot in just 45 days, which means he will be running on average more than 32 miles per day. “I left Seattle last Saturday (July 30) or at least I think it was last Saturday; it’s hard to keep track of the days,” he told the Signal. He served in the army as a physical training instruc- tor and was deployed in Iraq and Kosovo before he left the British military forces in 2008. Coming back from Iraq, Repon-Ness said he was “a wreck” and that the British charity Combat Stress really helped him with his post-ser- vice traumatic issues. The other nonproit organization he looks to help is an American one; Homes For Our Troops, that powered by builds mortgage-free, specially adapted homes for severely in- jured post 9-11 veterans to help rebuild their lives. Initially, the plan was to conduct his awareness run on the East Coast, but the sum- mertime weather on America’s “left coast” was more to his lik- ing, plus he has friends in Sac- ramento who can lend support. For the most part, the mar- ried father of four will be com- pleting his journey without a support crew, making his trek that much more challenging. A vegan, who eats mainly raw food, Repon-Ness says he is not worried about keeping his strength up along the way. “The west coast of America is like the vegan capital of the world so I won’t have any prob- lems with inding something to eat,” he said in an interview prior to his journey across the Atlantic. “The best thing about being vegan is the simplicity.” As for running, he loves it and it’s therapeutic. If all goes according to plan, Repon-Ness will arrive in San Diego Sept. 13. 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