May 12, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 7A
Gearhart dune management plan misses window
City to seek
more information
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
Earlier this year, the city
developed a plan to cut nox-
ious weeds on Gearhart’s
foredunes, with the goal of
maintaining public safety, pro-
tecting firefighters and beach
habitat.
But after concerns from
residents that a proposed
amendment to the city’s beach
and dunes overlay zone was
over-reaching, information
incomplete and ill-timed, city
councilors agreed to postpone
the Wednesday, May 3, public
hearing.
“The city finds the opportu-
nity to address the fire hazard
and noxious weed growth in
the subject area has passed un-
til later this year,” City Plan-
ner Carole Connell wrote in a
report delivered to councilors.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
The invasive plant Scotch broom proliferates in the Gearhart foredunes.
Safety, habitat
at issue
In January, residents filled
the Gearhart Fire Station for
an education forum and town
hall meeting on an amend-
ment permitting the removal
of noxious weeds.
The panel of city officials,
state parks representatives
and other experts was orga-
nized by Margaret Marino, a
resident who had expressed
concerns about the vegetation
at city meetings and reached
out to state departments and
ecologists for assistance.
The amendment would
have permitted the “removal,
destruction or uprooting” of
vegetation in areas of Gear-
hart’s foredunes. The amend-
ment would have required re-
vegetation of native plants or
grasses after removal. Letters
on behalf of the amendment
stressed the risk of fire from
overgrown vegetation.
“As a child in the 1980s,
I witnessed the power and
speed of a large dune fire that
started close to the north-
ern end of Ocean Avenue
and spread down the dune to
nearly in front of our home,”
Gearhart property owner Joe
Gregoire wrote. “Had there
been the high fuel-load cur-
rently in place in the dunes
with the added height … I be-
lieve the outcome would have
been much worse.”
“I am in support of clearing
and cleaning the safety lane
for fire and police access to
Little Beach,” Gearhart’s Ted
Amato wrote in late-April.
Fire Chief Bill Eddy pro-
vided testimony that a wild-
land fire in the area would be
left to burn itself out because
of the amount of flammable
fuel load.
“As the dune area now ex-
ists, there is a real public safety
concern, with the limited ac-
cess for emergency vehicles,”
Police Chief Jeff Bowman
wrote in March. “We have re-
sponded to incidents such as
unattended campfires, unlaw-
ful lodging, illegal fireworks,
minors in possession, parties
and other minor disturbances.”
Threatened species
Future council decisions
will also be driven by not only
public safety but on impacts
to threatened or endangered
wildlife.
Any proposed land use ac-
tion may negatively impact
bird habitat in the area, Con-
nell said in her staff report.
Five bird species — mar-
bled murrelets, northern spot-
ted owl, short-tailed albatross,
streaked horned lark and west-
ern snowy plover are threat-
ened or endangered species
nesting in critical Gearhart
foredune habitat, according to
correspondence from the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
Leatherback, olive rid-
ley and loggerhead sea tur-
tles may also be found in the
Gearhart dunes.
Gearhart fire station proposal causes clash
Students seek to
Alternatives
spread joy, happiness Gearhart
from Page 1A
Sprinklers from Page 1A
“It’s always easy to be
quiet and not say a word,”
he said. “You’re just passing
by or you’re busy.”
Yet, he added, while at
first it may seem difficult to
approach those people, talk
to them and ask what’s go-
ing on, doing so can make a
significant difference.
“Just asking someone
if they’re okay can save a
life,” agreed fellow student
Kodie Stark.
Hence, Breaking the Si-
lence was deemed a fitting
description and title for
what the students hope to
accomplish by uniting with
one another. Bullying has
affected each of the mem-
bers in one way or anoth-
er. Some are the victims
of bullying, some former
perpetrators, and others
were witnesses. A few had
taken each role at one point
or another. They have seen
the negative ramifications
of bullying, including self-
harm and suicide, and want
to make a difference.
“In order for a change to
happen, everyone has to do
something about it,” group
member Autumn Benthien
said. “That’s kind of what
we’re doing. We’re trying
to make that change and
get everyone to not only
see what they’re doing, but
also help people with their
struggles.”
When a tragedy occurs
as a result of bullying,
people often are shaken up
and willing to change, but
“that’s not how it should
be,” Kiser said, adding
people should be kind to
one another “every single
day without something like
that happening.”
“It should never have to
come to that,” he said.
Fellow student Lola
Paser-Johnson echoed that
sentiment.
“It’s sad to think that
someone has to take their
life in order for people to
see that it’s a big thing, that
someone has to kill them-
selves in order for people
to realize, ‘Wow, bullying
is a big deal,’” she said.
Planting seeds
of change
While the students were
unable to get the group
established as an official
club at the high school this
school year, they hope to
do so during the 2017-18
school year. Members, how-
ever, were unwilling to wait
for a club designation to get
to work.
They are each focusing
on ways they can person-
ally promote awareness,
compassion and kindness at
school and home.
“Not a lot of people know
of all the different forms of
bullying and how impact-
ful it is to people in gener-
al,” student Gage Cain said.
“You have to start some-
where, and by simply letting
someone that it’s happening,
it’s a start to changing.”
Desiring to create an even
greater impact, Breaking the
Silence also put together the
Happiness Sprinkling and
have made it into a school-
wide event, encouraging all
students to take part. The
objective is “focusing on the
kindness part, focusing on
the positive, rather than the
negative,” by disseminating
uplifting, motivational mes-
sages throughout Seaside,
Kerr said.
On May 2, the students
left the school and marched
downtown. At the memorial
for fallen Seaside police Sgt.
Jason Goodding, which sits
outside the Pig ‘N Pancake
on Broadway, the marchers
lingered and conducted a
moment of silence. Then,
they moved on to the Turn-
around and headed back to
the high school. The Silence
Breakers are inviting com-
munity members and stu-
dents from other schools to
participate in the Happiness
Sprinkling and march with
them. They request that all
participants wear yellow.
For more information,
contact Yates at 503-738-
5586.
two-year process that evaluat-
ed the merits and downfalls of
nine different locations to re-
place the deteriorating station
on Pacific Way.
After a series of geologic
and economic evaluations,
the fire station committee nar-
rowed down the choices to ei-
ther rebuilding at the current
location or in the east half of
the oceanfront park between
Pacific Way and First Street.
Building a new fire station
in the park means the station
would be much less vulnera-
ble to a tsunami, but residents
are concerned about losing a
community landmark.
The current fire station was
built to the standards of the
late-1950s, many years before
anyone understood the extent
or potential consequences of
a Cascadia Subduction Zone
event. In the event of a tsuna-
mi the station, already riddled
with stress fractures, could be
inundated by 10 feet of water,
according to the geologic re-
port commissioned last year.
Local geologist Tom
Horning said that an earth-
quake and tsunami are due
sometime in the next five to
50 years, and according to
modeling done by the state,
waves could rise from 40 to
60 feet.
But this wasn’t a part of
the equation back in 2006,
when the city failed to pass a
$3.75 million bond to build a
new fire station. In 2015, the
City Council reopened dis-
cussions about renovating or
replacing the station, making
it one of the city’s top prior-
ities.
With the park sitting at 48
feet above sea level compared
with the 27 feet the fir station
currently stands, City Admin-
istrator Chad Sweet said the
park was the only centrally
located space that wouldn’t
be inundated by water that the
city could afford.
Other locations that met
the first two criteria are either
owned privately or prohibi-
tively expensive.
Locations to the east were
vulnerable to flooding from
the Neacoxie. And if the
fire station were on the hills
all those services would be
cut off from the town below
without some form of bridge,
Sweet said.
Sweet said if the plan were
accepted it would cost the
city between $5 million to $7
million, which would cover
the cost of a new building, re-
placing a fire engine and ren-
ovations at City Hall to retro-
fit what would be the former
offices of the fire and police
chiefs.
The lot including the
building and parking would
be about 54,500 square feet.
Park enhancements could be
part of the plan, Sweet said.
“We know there’s some
taking, but there would be
giving back, too,” he said.
Many residents expressed
their discontent with the park
even being considered as an
option.
The land has a deed re-
striction that allows it only to
be a park, and the city would
have to ask Clatsop County’s
permission to lift the restric-
tion before starting any proj-
ects.
But for some neighbors, it
wasn’t about just losing some
land — it was about losing
part of the character of the
town.
City Councilor Dan Jesse
warned that almost any other
site would require the com-
munity to raise a considerable
amount of money.
“I’m not convinced that if
we put out a larger bond mea-
sure the community would
support it,” Jesse said.
Sweet said the public fo-
rum on Thursday was just one
of many forums the city in-
tends to hold about the issue.
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