Fireworks display in
Seaside.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM • COMPLIMENTARY COPY
OUR 111th YEAR • July 7, 2017
Patriotic pirates storm Seaside
Convention
center redo
drives high
city budget
Spending plan inches
near $75 million
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Beach Drive Buccaneers at the parade.
Sun shines on July
Fourth parade
New fi refi ghter,
health increases
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
aying “Arrrr ” in your fi nest pi-
rate voice is a signature of the
Beach Drive Buccaneers. Their
proudest moments come ev-
ery July Fourth as they anchor
the parade and lead the post-holiday
cleanup, too. Just look for the all-ter-
rain vehicle on the beach with the pi-
rate fl ag.
The statewide beach cleanup team,
SOLVE, provides the bags to the Buc-
caneers, who share it with Seaside’s
S
Boosted by $30 million in transfers for
upgrades to the Seaside Civic and Conven-
tion Center, the Seaside City Council on
Monday, June 26, approved a budget inching
near $75 million.
This fi scal year’s total, by comparison,
stood at $41.4 million. City Manager Mark
Winstanley said the new budget is the highest
he has seen in 32 years .
Bonds for the convention center renova-
tion will be sold for $15 million, then trans-
ferred to construction funds.
Capital improvements, designed to ac-
commodate larger groups, will add about
10,000 square feet to the 62,000-square-foot
convention center. To pay for the renovation,
city councilors raised the lodging tax from 8
percent to 10 percent in November. The ad-
ditional tourist revenue will be used to repay
construction bonds over a 20- to 30-year peri-
od. The $15 million renovation is planned to
begin March 2018,
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Miss Oregon Harley Emery.
See Parade, Page 7A
The new budget is for the fi scal year that
begins in July.
The city’s general fund, which covers the
mayor, council, city attorney, business offi ce,
library and community center, experienced a
bump from $5.8 million to $6.4 million, Win-
stanley said.
The city budget lists 30 funds overall,
among them, p ublic w orks, the d owntown
m aintenance d istrict and p ublic s afety, with a
budget of $5.7 million. Comprised of fi re, po-
lice, lifeguards and M unicipal C ourt, this year’s
public safety fund stood at $4.3 million.
Marijuana taxes, included for the fi rst time
as a p ublic s afety budget line, are expected to
reach $15,000. Liquor taxes are budgeted at
more than $100,000 in revenue.
Health, medical and dental costs are going
up across the board. The police department
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
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US POSTAGE
See Budget, Page 6A
Going ‘native’ in Seaside
Campus falling into place
Botanical artist
Dorota Haber-
Lehigh’s garden
celebrates
Northwest
beauty
Logging
makes way for
Seaside’s new
schools
By Nancy McCarthy
For Seaside Signal
At fi rst, Dorota Haber-
Lehigh and her husband,
David Lehigh, tried growing
grass in their shady, wetland
front yard just below Tilla-
mook Head. But after sever-
al years, they realized it was
a losing battle.
The grass didn’t get
enough sun, and they had
to reseed it every year. Wa-
ter fl ooded it in the winter,
and it would be ruined when
deer walked over it.
So, Dorota, a botanical
illustrator who is devoted
to preserving local native
plants, decided to recreate
a native forest surrounding
their home in the Seaside
Cove area.
Now, the half-acre yard is
a happy home to salal, skunk
cabbage, deer and sword
ferns, huckleberries — both
red and blue — vine maple,
and other native species.
“We stopped fi ghting the
grass and started allowing
whatever wanted to grow
there,” Dorota said.
Some of the plants are
“rescues” she collected,
with permission from Super-
intendent Sheila Roley, from
the hillside east of Seaside
See Garden, Page 7A
By Brenna Visser
Seaside Signal
The new Seaside School
District campus sits 200 to
300 feet above sea level with
a panoramic view of the Pacif-
ic Ocean.
The breathtaking beauty
is not only a reminder of life
on the coast, but the earth-
quake and tsunami danger
that prompted the move to
higher ground. “Yes, this
view is nice, but the nicest
thing about this is our schools
not being wiped out by a big
wave,” Seaside School Dis-
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA
The project to move Seaside schools to higher ground has
been in the works for nearly three decades.
trict Superintendent Sheila
Roley said. “We needed new
schools, but safety for all kids
was the catalyst.”
Forty-two acres of the
city’s largely wooded back-
drop have been logged and
cleared so far to make way for
See Logging, Page 6A