6A • May 12, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
Recreation district looks to possible building plan
SEPRD from Page 1A
The project could keep the
pool out of service for about
six weeks, he said.
Formed in 1969, the SE-
PRD boundary follows Sea-
side School District #10
boundary, excluding Gearhart
and Cannon Beach.
“We’re basically a re-
source available to the entire
county,” board of directors
chairman Michael Hinton said
Monday.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Chart displays the district’s expenditures.
Expansion?
Hinton said the district is
looking at the possibility of
“some kind of expansion,” ei-
ther funded through a bond or
system development charges
— the fees paid by builders
to the city for essential infra-
structure. “That would give
us a means of keeping abreast
of urban growth and develop-
ment,” Hinton said. “It would
help set aside money for capi-
tal improvements.”
Among a wide variety of
programs for all ages, the dis-
trict offers aquatics, early edu-
cation, the farmers market and
events at the Bob Chisholm
Community Center, including
Meals on Wheels.
“We’re considering some
renovation or development
project that would allow us
to build or redesign the youth
center and basketball court
adjacent to the pool to devel-
op a gym or indoor track,”
Hinton said.
The board is also keeping
an eye on the Seaside School
District expansion and pos-
sible utilization of former
school buildings. “That’s
valuable property,” Hinton
said.
“The school district will
probably need to take every
advantage of a potential sale
and gain from that to manage
expenses,” he said.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Chart indicates Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District
revenue sources.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Sign at the Sunset Empire pool in Seaside. The pool will be closed for renovations for six
weeks this fall.
Pool programs are drawing
visitors from Astoria as a re-
sult of their lower cost and fa-
cilities. “A lot of them like our
city parks, too,” Hinton said,
including an Americans with
Disabilities Act accessible
boat lot on the Wahanna River
on the east side of Broadway
Park. “Our programs seem to
be thriving.”
Budget
The district is in the mid-
dle of budget discussions,
Hinton said. The board is on
the same fiscal schedule as the
city, with a year end of June
30.
Archibald and Finance
Manager Jennifer Stephens
presented a preliminary bud-
get at the district’s April board
meeting.
“We’re still going through
the details,” Hinton said. “We
have a major overhaul of our
swimming pool. We’re going
to shut it down and replace the
plaster around the pool.
This shutdown will extend
from September to November.
The district’s general
fund shows total revenues of
$2,794,247 for 2017-18, an
increase from last year’s rev-
enues of $2,777,606, almost
a 10 percent increase. Along
with recreational programs,
the district’s special events
include the spring egg hunt,
Halloween Thriller, the daddy
and daughter dance and more.
Recreation departments of-
fer softball, basketball, runs,
yoga and community out-
reach, among other programs.
The budget is divided in six
departments, with the larg-
est being aquatics, including
three bodies of water, the
main pool, the learner pool
and the spa.
District revenues derive
from property taxes, grants,
timber tax and an ending fund
balance, Archibald said.
“We’ve been fortunate to
get some sizable grants, some
really sizable in the past,”
Archibald said. “Today we
have some really valuable
smaller ones. “They help us
kick-start some of the projects
we’ve been working on but
didn’t have the funds for.”
Of the roughly $1.3 mil-
lion of non-property tax reve-
nues, the district generates 20
percent in fees from services
provided throughout the year.
Current and back taxes gener-
‘Bullying’ email stirs rec district race
Candidate
steps aside
after opponent
harassed
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
A candidate for the Sunset
Empire Park and Recreation
District has stepped aside from
the May special district elec-
tion after her opponent was
subjected to harassing mes-
sages.
Kindwyn Hoge, a disabled
stay-at-home mother, is asking
voters to choose Veronica Rus-
sell, a development specialist
and special events coordina-
Kindwyn
Hoge
Veronica
Russell
tor, for the recreation district’s
board, since the deadline to
officially withdraw from the
ballot was in March. Hoge
said she would step down from
the position if she were to win
Tuesday.
Russell said in an email
that she had “received a piece
of hateful/bullying mail at my
home (referencing my running
for a position on this board),
and a couple of subsequent
hateful messages from a sup-
porter of hers that were not
endorsed by Kindwyn.
“I prefer not to comment
further on the content, how-
ever I did receive a very nice
voicemail from Kindwyn let-
ting me know that she was
not responsible for the mail I
received and that she is upset
that someone who supports her
could do something like that.”
Hoge, who describes her-
self as legally blind, said her
campaign should have been
“something special.”
“You want to make a pos-
itive contribution,” she said.
“To me it’s not that important
to be on any board — what
they did to her, they did to me.
I feel like they violated me as
well.”
Russell said she chose to
look at the incident as a teach-
able moment.
“It is this kind of behavior
that I am working to protect
kids from through my ‘bul-
ly-free zone’ work with Sea-
side Rotary’s Peace Builders
committee,” Russell said.
“In diffusing bullying, I have
learned it’s best to give it no
unnecessary attention, and in-
stead focus on more positive
and productive things.”
The Position 1 race be-
tween Russell and Hoge is the
recreation district’s only con-
tested campaign. Other candi-
dates are running unopposed.
ate 55 percent, with an ending
fund balance at 25 percent.
The board is scheduled
to meet Tuesday, May 16, at
4 p.m. at the Bob Chisholm
Community Center at 1225
Avenue A. The budget com-
mittee will meet immediately
after the meeting at 5 p.m.
“Hopefully, if we don’t
need any further meetings, the
budget committee will recom-
mend the budget be adopted
by the board, and it will come
before the board in June for us
to vote on,” he said.
As for future building
plans, discussion will begin
“depending on how our com-
munity feels,” Archibald said.
“This is going to need to be
a community-driven project.
We hope to engage our com-
munity and then get the help
of some experts to see what’s
possible, what’s feasible and
what would be the best solu-
tion moving forward.”
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Plans for urban renewal offer possibilites
Laurelwood Farm
Renewal from Page 1A
contributing fully to the econ-
omy, according to a handout
provided by Elaine Howard
Consulting.
Funds from previous Sea-
side urban renewal projects
have been used to bring im-
provements to the Prom, the
Downing pocket park, re-
movals of overhead utilities,
downtown lighting, the city’s
sewage plant and the fire sta-
tion among others.
Funding comes through
increases in assessed values
of local properties, consul-
tant Scott Vanden Bos said.
As new development arrives
and existing properties are
improved, assessments rise
and see matching property tax
increases.
Property taxes on the
growth in assessed value in
the urban renewal area — in
the model used, about 25
years — are allocated to the
city’s Urban Renewal Agency
and not the taxing districts.
“We get the money from
the taxpayer,” City Manager
Mark Winstanley said. “The
taxing districts stand on the
side. The amount of money
they can tax against in the
urban renewal district gets
frozen.”
In Clatsop County, neigh-
boring taxing districts in-
34154 HIGHWAY 26
SEASIDE, OR
L ANDSCAPING
B oB M c E wan c onstruction , inc .
E xcavation • u ndErground u tiitiEs
r oad w ork • F ill M atErial
s itE P rEParation • r ock
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Scott Vanden Bos of Elaine
Howard Consulting.
clude the Port of Astoria,
4H, Seaside Road, Union
Health, Sunset Park, Sunset
Transportation, Clatsop Com-
munity College, Northwest
Regional Education Service
District and Seaside School
District 10. The county must
review the plan before its ap-
proval.
City upgrades can lead to
higher home values and in
turn higher assessments, ul-
timately adding to funds for
the urban renewal district.
The city’s last urban renewal
district helped fund improve-
ments on North Holladay
Drive.
“This is where urban re-
newal has its impact,” Win-
stanley said. “That’s what
we’re seeing on North Hol-
laday. The neighborhood’s
getting better and better and
better. That’s what it’s all
about. That’s what we hope to
do with a new urban renewal
district.”
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M ike and C eline M C e wan
503-738-3569
34154 Hwy 26, Seaside, OR
P.O. Box 2845, Gearhart, OR
S erving the p aCifiC n orthweSt S inCe 1956 • CC48302
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Members of the public were invited to list their priorities for
projects in an urban renewal district.
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