September 16, 2016 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 7A
Wheel and Waves boasts more than 400 cars
Wheels from Page 1A
He’s owned it 17 years and
“it doesn’t get out too often.”
All the more than 400
cars at Wheels and Waves are
show-quality from 1965 or
older. Some are much, much
older.
Ford Model A
Carl and Melva Atkins,
from Gresham, sunned across
from their 1929 Ford Model
A. They say the car, which
sat in disrepair in a Califor-
nia barn for 30 years and in a
garage for another 25, brings
out their personality. They’ve
been winning prizes at shows
throughout the Northwest.
“The crowds just swarm
to come and see it,” Carl At-
kins said. “That’s what we
enjoy most: sharing the car
with people. We get a lot of
waves, a lot of thumbs up.
We like to take people for a
ride-along if the weather’s
right.
“Every car’s different,”
he added. “We enjoy all the
different kinds of cars here I
may not do it their way, but
they’re all great because they
have the personality of the
people who did the build.”
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Carl and Melva Atkins, from Gresham, in front of their 1929
Model A.
Bill Bennett of Tillamook in
front of his “rat rod,” a 1936
Dodge truck.
DANNY MILLER/EO MEDIA GROUP
The bright orange 1961
Nash Metropolitan of Jan
and Jeff Rich of Lakewood,
Washington, was inspired by
a family car, a yellow-and-
white car driven by Jan’s dad.
“He had a heart attack while
driving home from work,” Jan
Rich said. “The Metropolitan
hit a house and got totaled.
When we got married, Jeff
said, ‘What kind of car we are
buying?’ We found one in just
a few months.”
Rich is the club president
of the Paciic Northwest Met-
ropolitan Builders Club.
The Riches like to take
their show car on the road,
and they have a map on the
windshield detailing their
many routes. They upgraded
the car with a Toyota four-
speed transmission to give it
“zip, speed and reliability,”
Jeff Rich said.
Even then, he added, the
car could get up to 30 miles
per gallon, but with fuel at 19
cents a gallon, “that didn’t im-
press people.”
‘Rat rod’
Bill Bennett from Tilla-
mook deined the phrase “rat
rod” as follows:
“In the early days when a
guy couldn’t afford to buy a
new car he’d buy an old one
and hop it up and make all the
adjustments himself,” Bennett
said. “They called ’em a rat
Paul Schulte from Carmel, Indiana takes a look at a 1956
Chevy Nomad during the Wheels and Waves car show.
rod. They’re real big on the
East Coast, Midwest, Califor-
nia.”
Bennett’s is a contraption
ingeniously devised from a
1936 Dodge truck sitting on
air bags, with twin-turbo die-
sel engine, Chevy S-10 front
and rear ends.
The vehicle sits on air bags
and “just loats along, because
it’s on air,” Bennett said.
“I found it behind a guy’s
barn,” he said. “A tree had
fallen over it, the cab was all
mashed in.”
“What kind of reaction are
you getting?” we asked.
“The usual,” Bennett re-
plied with a smile.
“What’s that?”
“Awe!”
Gearhart owners threaten a Plan B
Alternative short-term rental rules
eliminate transfer restrictions
Gearhart passes
new rental rules
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
Just as Gearhart readied to pass short-
term rental rules, a group of homeowners
announced their intention to ile an initiative
to supersede the new ordinance. An informal
band of vacation homeowners are “waiting to
see” if Gearhart ratiies the ordinance at the
City Council meeting Wednesday night.
“The mayor and council are fairly en-
trenched, so we have taken the next step of
retaining counsel and drafting an initiative,”
Gearhart homeowner David Townsend, a com-
munications strategist, said Tuesday. “This
allows us to put our alternative ordinance to
the voters, which cancels theirs. Hopefully we
don’t have to do it, but we’re prepared to do it.”
Proponents of the initiative agree with the
need for a 24-hour emergency contact, neigh-
bor notiication and fees for permits — al-
though they would designate revenue from
the vacation rental permit fees to a special
fund for city ire and police services, rather
than enforcement costs, as City Administrator
Chad Sweet proposed in August.
Sweet said today he didn’t have any com-
ment to the initiative yet, but “tonight you’ll
get your answer from the City Council. For
me, it’s all just part of the process. It’s democ-
racy in action.”
He said all councilors had received copies
of the ordinance and it was included in to-
night’s meeting packet. “There’s been a few
discussions with individual councilors, but
I’m not sure what their opinions are.”
Does he anticipate the city’s ordinance will
pass as planned tonight?
“I do,” Sweet said.
A higher cap
Another difference from the city’s pro-
posed ordinance is a short-term rental cap
of 9 percent of homes licensed for vacation
rental use.
Right now there are about 82 rentals out of
1,500 homes in Gearhart, Townsend said. An
increase to 9 percent would equate to about
135 short-term rental properties, a “pretty low
number,” according to Townsend.
The rental homeowners’ initiative elim-
inates a 60-day limit on offering permits,
which would limit future permit opportuni-
ties. Under terms of the initiative, as long as
there is available stock, homeowners could
convert their homes to short-term rental.
STRs from Page 1A
R.J. MARX/EO MEDIA GROUP
homes with a rental permit will result
in gradual attrition of the total number
of dwellings with a vacation rental per-
mit,” the ordinance states.
Alternate proposal
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Opening text of a proposed initiative pre-
sented by short-term property owners in
Gearhart.
The initiative seeks to enable transfer of
permits regardless of home ownership — re-
stricted under the city ordinance to inheritance
only. “If my daughters decide to sell the prop-
erty someday, I don’t want to foreclose their
ability if they decide for whatever reason sell
it to someone who may want to rent it out,”
Townsend said.
Proposed parking rules are unnecessary,
he said, especially as the ordinance limits the
number of renters. “Why, if you have a nonva-
cation rental, can everybody can park on the
street, but by the mere fact that you’re renting
it out you can’t park on the street?”
The city’s rules restrict occupancy to two
people over age 2 per bedroom.
The initiative doesn’t count kids under 18
toward that occupancy.
At its August meeting, the Gearhart City
Council unanimously approved the irst read-
ing of two ordinances that would regulate
properties occupied for less than a 30-day pe-
riod.
If adopted, the regulations will go into ef-
fect in early October.
Property owner Jim Whittemore said he
and others are “more than willing to sit down
with city leaders and work out a compromise”
with oficials. Seventy-two percent of resi-
dents polled say the voters should decide the
issue, not City Council, he said.
“With this information and poll data in the
public domain, I am absolutely lummoxed as
to why the City Council may choose to ignore
That clause, among others, led
some short-term property owners early
this week to announce their intention
to bring an alternate proposal before
Gearhart voters in the form of an elec-
tion initiative.
While recognizing the need for reg-
istration, their plan enables transfer of
permits, increases the number of per-
mits issued and calls for changes in
parking and occupancy limits for short-
term rental properties.
According to City Attorney Peter
Watts, an initiative to send the measure
to voters would be too late for Novem-
ber’s election but could be on the ballot
next year.
Residents could also choose to ask
for a referendum to “erase what we
did,” Watts said, with 30 days to give
notice to the city and another 90 days to
gather signatures.
In public comment period Wednes-
day night, some audience members de-
cried the council’s vote.
Kathy Schroeder said the coun-
cil stymied the concerns of short-
term property owners “the whole way
through.”
Gearhart resident Shannon Smith, in
opposing the new rules, said the city’s
priorities were “out of whack.”
“We have to listen to our citizens,”
Smith said. “There seems to be some
disregard from that happening.”
“Everyone has had the opportuni-
ty to be heard,” Widdop said after the
meeting. “I don’t go for the ‘I didn’t
have the chance to be heard.’”
it and proceed full-speed ahead with the pas-
sage of an ordinance, which in all likelihood
will be replaced with a more conciliatory ini-
tiative we have proposed,” Whittemore said.
“Why not avoid that? I hope they do.”
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Homeowner Avrel Nudelman ields ques-
tions from the Seaside City Council.
Pearl neighbors
win their appeal
Pearl from Page 1A
Plans for the Pearl called for three stories,
a penthouse loor and tower roof. A two-level
parking garage on Beach Drive with 41 inside
spaces would have been supplemented with an
additional 10 outdoor spaces on Avenue A.
But minimum stall lengths, back-out and
lane widths required a variance from the Plan-
ning Commission. Simmons also requested a
height variance of 7 feet because of grade dif-
ferences on various parts of the property.
After several months of testimony, the Plan-
ning Commission granted both variances.
Their decision was appealed by the Calefs
and Nudelman.
“That’s my home,” Nudelman told city
councilors Monday. “I have a right to live in
my own home the same way you do, in the
comfort of my home that I love. And no one
has the right to force me to move.”
Councilors responded to his plea. “The need
for a side yard setback variance was based on
Mr. Simmons’s building design and not cir-
cumstances unique to the property,” Councilor
Jay Barber said in introducing the motion to
support the appeal.
Along with Barber, Councilors Don John-
son, Tita Montero, Randy Frank and Seth Mor-
risey voted to grant the appeal. Mayor Don
Larson voted against it.
Simmons now has the option of bringing re-
vised plans back to the Planning Commission
for approval.
“I’m happy that it’s going to go back to the
Planning Commission and then we’ll be able to
work with Antoine to get a building that won’t
overwhelm our house,” Dan Calef said after
the meeting. “We were civil as neighbors, but
we don’t have any interest in selling. The offer
to buy the place wasn’t of interest to us. “
“I’m happy with the process and happy with
the granting of my appeal,” Nudelman said.
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