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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (May 26, 2017)
May 26, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A Housing crunch in mind, Seaside OKs zone change Property could yield 40 units By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal Citing a lack of affordable housing, the Seaside City Council has granted approval of a zone change on a 3.75- acre property located between North Wahanna Road and the wetlands along Stanley Lake for a housing project. “We, as a council, spent two days of public goal-set- ting, and we need additional housing in this community,” City Councilor Dana Phillips said at a meeting Monday. City Coun- cilor Seth Mor- risey said there were similar apartment com- plexes on Wah- anna already, James Folk and attempts to expand the city’s urban growth boundary had been pushed back. “Anytime we can expand any- where we try to increase den- sity or place housing there’s going to be people who aren’t going to like where it’s at,” he said. Property owner James Folk pointed to the lack of rentals in Clatsop County. “There is a huge, significant need for housing, and this will definite- ly accommodate a lot of that,” he said after the meeting. Wetlands protected During public hearings, neighbors expressed concern about discrepancies in the property survey, traffic on Wa- hanna Road, affordability and impacts on the environment. Neighbors said the units would be priced too high for those in low- or minimum-wage jobs to fill the need for affordable housing. Donna Lyons of Warrenton, whose mother’s property borders the property, questioned the feasibility of providing workforce housing at the prevailing wages in the community. At a February Planning Commission meeting, Folk said units would rent for between $800 and $1,300 a month. A to- tal of 104 residents could live in the five-building complex. Folk said he is permitted 20 housing units per acre, and would abide by whatever num- bers a survey would determine. The last survey, prepared in 1990, is under revision. Folk said he expected a new survey will show 1.9 acres of build- able land. The traffic impacts, even in the worst-case scenario, would be so minimal, he said, that impacts would not even require a state Department of Transportation study. Eagles nesting At April’s City Council public hearing, neighbor Dawn Miller sought protections for eagles on nearby Stanley Lake, a concern seconded by City Councilor Tom Horning. Folk said neighbors are “trying to make it something it’s not.” “Whenever you have trees there might be bird,” Folk said last week. “If the trees are in the wetlands and are part of the buildable property, they are never going to be touched. To me, it’s off-limits to every- body.” Monday he repeated that commitment. “We couldn’t touch them (the wetlands) if we wanted, and we don’t want to,” Folk said. Plans are still in the pre- liminary stages, Folk said af- ter Monday’s vote, and could include 10 duplexes. “I’ll do whatever I can do make sure it’s a beautiful project, affordable and people will be proud to live there,” he added. “Now that we are where we are, we have to get to the grindstone. I’m excited to get started and have some great houses for people to live in.” An ordinance annexing the property into the city also passed unanimously. Wright named COO of EO Media Group EO Media Group SALEM — Heidi Wright has been named chief operating officer of EO Media Group, which owns The Daily Astorian. Wright succeeds John S. Perry, who is re- tiring after 44 years in the newspaper industry, including the last 12 with EO Media Group. Wr i g h t comes to EO Media Group from Western Communica- tions, owner of the Bend Bul- letin and other newspapers in Oregon and California. She is Wescom’s Heidi Wright chief financial officer and human resources director. She will join EO Media Group in June. Steve Forrester, the president and CEO of EO Media Group, announced Wright’s hiring: “Our executive committee — composed of Kathryn Brown, Susan Forrester Rana and me — is pleased to find a successor to Perry with the leadership capabilities to help our company prosper in the digital age. Her prior experience with family-owned companies in our region is especially relevant.” Prior to joining Wescom, Wright was publish- er of the Klamath Falls Herald and News, owned by Pioneer News Group. She also worked as a publisher in Montana for Lee Enterprises. She has an undergraduate degree and a master’s in business administration from the University of Montana. “Heidi has a lifetime of experience in the West,” noted Brown. “Her experience at news- papers in Butte, Klamath Falls and Bend make her well-suited to understand the communities that EO Media Group serves in rural Oregon and Washington — as well as the extraordinary reach of the Capital Press, our agricultural weekly.” As chief operating officer, Wright will direct the business operations of EO Media Group and supervise publishers and corporate staff. The company’s headquarters are in Salem. “It’s an honor and privilege to be joining EO Media Group,” said Wright. “While I will miss my friends and colleagues at Western Commu- nications, I am excited to become a part of the EO Media Group family. My husband, Richard Schuurman, and I are looking forward to calling Salem home in the near future.” EO Media Group publications include: Sea- side Signal, Cannon Beach Gazette, The Daily Astorian, Oregon Coast Today, Coast River Business Journal, Chinook Observer, Capital Press, The Blue Mountain Eagle of John Day, East Oregonian, Hermiston Herald and Wallowa County Chieftain. SUBMITTED PHOTO Todd Davidson, Travel Oregon CEO; Jon Rahl, Seaside Visitors Bureau; Ryan Snyder, incoming chair for the Oregon Tourism Commission and President/CEO Martin Hospitality. In 2016, the Seaside Visitors Bureau received the award for the Outstand- ing Oregon Website. Visitors Bureau wins ‘outstanding’ award The City of Seaside Visitors Bureau was honored with the “Outstanding Over- all Oregon Marketing Program Award” at the 2017 Oregon Governor’s Conference on Tourism earlier this month in Salem. The award recognized the collective achievements of the visitors bureau for its rebranding and marketing efforts. Scholarship Awards Night at Seaside High School Friends and family will gather to watch students in the Seaside High School Class of 2017 receive scholarship awards in the tens of thousands of dollars at the Seaside High School Awards Night on Tuesday, June 6, at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria. Scholarships from com- munity organizations, colleges, universities, private individuals, and Seaside Scholarships will be presented. The non-profit Seaside Scholarships, organized six years ago, is responsible for managing and awarding numerous memorial scholarships, Achievement Awards, and In- vestment Grants in varying amounts to wor- thy seniors. A common application, developed by Seaside Scholarships to make applying for scholarships more efficient, is accessed on- Managing Hip & Knee Arthritis JOIN US FOR A SEMINAR line in the winter through the Seaside HS counseling office. Interviews by Seaside Scholarships Board members are conducted with each applicant who meets the spring deadline. Each of the managed monetary awards has criteria determined by the donor or do- nor’s loved ones and used to match recipients with scholarships. The newest of the schol- arships awarded by Seaside Scholarships include Coastal Family Health, Sou’wester Garden Club, the Jason Gooding Memorial Scholarship, and the Wendy Richardson Me- morial Scholarship. In addition to the memorials, general scholarship funds raised specifically by Sea- side Scholarships are distributed to seniors including the valedictorians, salutatorian, and students worthy of recognition. Last year these included the Centennial Scholarships. With the mission, “Opening doors for education,” Seaside Scholarships continues its on-going effort to raise funds in order to award scholarships to Seaside School Dis- trict students with financial need, as well as academic excellence. Hoping to continue to grow a substan- tial endowment to provide funds for future graduating seniors, the organization gladly accepts contributions year round. All tax de- ductible donations or bequests may be sent in care of Seaside Scholarships, P.O. Box 332, Seaside, OR 97138. Visit the website at www.seasidescholarships.com for further in- formation or contact board president Celine McEwan at info@seasidescholarships.com. Presentation by Dr. Michael Vessely Orthopaedic Surgeon WEDWESDAY, JUWE 28 th 5:30pm to 6:30pm Holiday Inn Express 34 W. Holladay Drive. Seaside, OR Light appetizers served ADMISSION IS FREE The Joint Replacement Institute MCMIWWVILLE OREGOW Please RSVP bd contacting Natalie.Reed@capellahealth.com or (503) 435-6571
