6A • March 17, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
Seaside, developers squabble over sidewalks
Requirement
could undermine
affordable
housing
By Jack Heffernan
EO Media Group
The Seaside Planning
Commission and local devel-
opers are still at odds over a
sidewalk requirement for a
proposed affordable housing
project.
Owners of a 15-acre plot
of land on the corner of South
Wahanna Road and Avenue
S called Blue Heron Pointe
plan to build 45 homes priced
under $300,000. But the de-
velopers — Ritchie Develop-
ment Corp. — have said the
city’s request to have a section
of sidewalk built along Ave-
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Aerial view of the proposed Blue Heron Pointe development.
nue S in the first phase of the
project would not be feasible.
Commissioners discussed
the issue at a meeting Tuesday,
March 7. Concerns voiced by
the commissioners and mem-
bers of the public included a
2009 street system plan that
calls for sidewalks, bike lanes
and foot travel lanes along
Avenue S. Drainage concerns
from culverts on the property
and traffic caused by the lot’s
proximity to Seaside Heights
Elementary School and a fu-
ture construction site were
also mentioned.
Developers presented an
adjusted version of phase one
of the three-phase plan Tues-
day. The plan would call for a
wider passageway inside Blue
Heron Pointe that would al-
low more access from Avenue
S to Wahanna Road until the
exterior sidewalks eventually
would be built in phase three.
Meeting attendees ex-
pressed concern, though, that
developers may delay build-
ing the sidewalks if they don’t
collect the necessary funds af-
ter selling lots built in the first
two phases of the project.
Pearl public hearing to be continued
A number of commis-
sioners proposed including
a deadline to have the side-
walks built as part of any fu-
ture approval. Commissioner
Richard Ridout suggested the
deadline could parallel the
opening of a new high school
in the city’s East Hills in fall
2020.
“We’ve got no timeline
here for how soon anything
is going to happen, so I’d like
them to put the sidewalk next
to the property,” Ridout said.
But Max Ritchie, one of
the owners of the property,
said the earliest his compa-
ny could afford to build the
sidewalks would be in phase
three. While he doesn’t know
exactly when that phase
would begin, it almost cer-
tainly will not be within four
years, he said.
Should developers miss
the proposed deadline, the
city could halt other construc-
tion on the property until the
sidewalks are built, Commis-
sion Chairman Ray Romine
said.
Sandra K. Gee, who lives
on Cooper Street east of the
property, expressed her sup-
port for the sidewalk require-
ment Tuesday night.
“This is a multimillion dol-
lar project,” she said. “I don’t
think the cost of that sidewalk
on that curve will make or
break it, but it gives the own-
ers an out not to build it if they
don’t sell all of their houses.”
Commissioners will dis-
cuss the issue further before
voting on it at a public meet-
ing on March 21.
Ritchie said he is not sure
yet how the proposed require-
ment will affect the future of
the project.
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SEASIDE
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R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Owner Antoine Simmons points to the site of the proposed
Pearl Oceanfront Resort.
Pearl from Page 1A
change, but also the varianc-
es that have been granted to
the adjacent property,” Pearl
architect David Vonada said
Monday night.
Dan Calef told councilors
the proposed building would
cast a “permanent afternoon
shadow” on his house.
“We would be perfectly
willing to accept a slight-
ly smaller unit that doesn’t
completely overpower our
house,” Calef said. “We just
don’t want this huge thing that
would shade and block our
house.”
“Once again we ask you
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
The height variance was essential due to the uneven drive-
way grade, owner Simmons said.
to vote ‘no’ for the height,”
Susan Calef said. “It’s very
distressing. I’m not opposed
to the building. We just ask
that it be built to the specifi-
cations.”
Without a height variance,
the building would lose two
floors and be limited to 30
rooms, owner Antoine Sim-
mons said after the meeting.
“That wouldn’t work,” he
said.
A continuance of the pub-
lic hearing was granted at the
recommendation of the city’s
legal counsel Dan Thiele.
The hearing will resume at
the city’s April 10 council
meeting.
Cannon Beach charter school gets a boost
Academy wins
$100,000 grant
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
The Cannon Beach Acade-
my received good news. The
charter school, set to open
its doors in September, re-
ceived a recommendation for
a $100,000 award through the
Oregon Charter School Pro-
gram.
Funds will be allocated
to curriculum costs, teacher
training, classroom equipment
and marketing costs, Phil
Simmons, director of startup
operations for the academy,
said Tuesday, March 7.
“The planning grant is ad-
ministered by the Oregon De-
partment of Education and the
funds came from the federal
government,” Simmons said.
“The purpose is to help defer
the startup costs for charter
schools. We applied for the
maximum grant amount of
$100,000, and they awarded
the grant.”
The Seaside School Dis-
trict participated in the grant
process by verifying that the
academy had been granted a
charter to operate in the dis-
trict and supported their re-
ceiving the grant to provide
startup funds, Superintendent
Sheila Roley said.
“The members of the Can-
non Beach Academy board
have worked very hard to
make this a reality and we
were happy that they received
some resources to help them
in the process,” Roley said.
Charter schools
The state was awarded
$8.7 million for charter school
planning, implementation and
dissemination grants in Octo-
ber 2015, charter school grant
specialist Jennifer Donovan
said. “We will award up to 15,
$100,000 planning grants over
the three-year term of our fed-
eral charter schools program
grant,” Donovan said.
So far, four planning grants
have been awarded, she add-
ed.
Simmons said the grant ap-
plication detailed the school’s
five-year planning efforts,
provided budget details and
indicated where funds would
be allocated. All costs in the
application were approved.
“It’s just a matter of us ex-
ecuting the plan and getting
reimbursed,” Simmons said.
“They were quite impressed
with our grant, so much so
they’re making our applica-
tion a model for future appli-
cations.”
Where the money
will be allocated
The largest portion of the
grant funds are slated to be
used for training educators in
the school’s curriculum. An-
other $10,000 will go to three
months of salaries for the di-
rector and English as a Sec-
ond Language teacher. “This
will really allow those two
individuals to really iron out
any issues with our program
and prepare our program for
implementation,” Simmons
said.
As much as $30,000 will
go to classroom equipment
and curriculum expenses.
The academy applied for
the grant with the assistance
of the Seaside School District,
a cooperation “which is not
always common,” Simmons
said. “Oftentimes there can
be friction between a charter
school and a district, because
the district sees the char-
ter school as taking away a
source of revenue. My expe-
rience is the district, particu-
larly within the past year, has
been incredibly supportive.
They’re really trying to help
us pull this off.”
Something ‘unique’
Enrollment at Cannon
Beach Academy is limited
to 22 students. “It’s offering
something a bit unique,” Sim-
mons said.
Families not only in Can-
non Beach but in Seaside,
Gearhart and other portions of
Clatsop County in the Seaside
School District will benefit
from the school’s Spanish lan-
guage component and direct
instruction curriculum design,
he said. “If they want this cur-
riculum, it’s open to them,”
Simmons said. “It’s great for
the district. It will encourage
folks to move here because of
this choice, I believe.”
With enrollment under-
way, the academy’s lease
agreement at 171 Sunset Bou-
levard is nearly complete.
Renovations
include
“moving a few walls and
putting some paint in there,”
Simmons said, as well as
meeting compliance with the
Americans with Disabilities
Act. Improvements will begin
after the lease is complete.
“We’ve got a budget for it
and we don’t anticipate any
significant problems,” Sim-
mons said.
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