6A • July 21, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
Gearhart transportation plan vital for grant funding
Revisions
address tsunami
concerns
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
The city could be on the
road to applying for more than
$28 million in grant funds for
projects as diverse as bike
lanes, trail connections, public
transit and tsunami evacuation
routes.
The Planning Commission
voted 6-1 Thursday, July 13,
to forward the Gearhart Trans-
portation System plan to the
City Council.
If the council adopts the
plan, Gearhart would be con-
sidered more competitive for
grant money to fund “aspira-
tional” projects.
“One of the requirements
for most of those grant ap-
plications is it has to be in an
adopted plan for the city,” Carl
Springer, of DKS Associates,
said. “Now they can actually
check that box, assuming it
gets adopted (by City Council).
Without it you can still apply,
but you’re less competitive.”
Wish list
After the city applied for
and won a grant to fund the
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Carl Springer of DSK Associates addresses the Gearhart Plan-
ning Commission.
‘One of the requirements for most of
those grant applications is it has to
be in an adopted plan for the city.’
Carl Springer, DSK Associates
plan in 2015, the Oregon De-
partment of Transportation
selected and hired DKS to
prepare the document.
Over the last year and a
half, DKS and members of
Gearhart’s
Transportation
System Plan Advisory Com-
mittee held a series of public
hearings in which residents
presented their goal and wish
lists. Among them were a saf-
er U.S. Highway 101, region-
al bike trails and neighbor-
hood connections.
DKS prioritized invest-
ments with four tiers, from
the $1.2 million likely to be
available through existing
funding sources to a more
than $20 million wish list that
exceeds the likely level of
city and state funding through
2040.
At the lower figure, the
city could provide traffic
calming devices, tsunami
evacuation route identifica-
tion, bike parking and way-
finding signage, among other
enhancements.
Higher cost “aspirational”
projects include sidewalk re-
placement, road extensions
and Highway 101 reconfigu-
ration. Bridge improvements
over Neacoxie Creek could
exceed $2 million.
Seventy-five
potential
projects are listed in the plan,
which outlines policies and
projects considered important
to protecting and enhancing
the quality of life in Gearhart.
Adoption of the plan does
not commit the city to the
projects, Springer said.
None are funded or
planned, City Planner Carole
Connell said, but adoption of
Gearhart gives OK for lottery machines
recommendation to approve
or deny the appeal, Watts said
state law had “never been test-
ed.”
“This is a difficult decision,
because you’re not only look-
ing at city code, you’re look-
ing at state statutes,” Watts
said. “This language is pretty
strong.”
The state could preempt lo-
cal codes, including the city’s
comprehensive plan, Watts
said, which limits uses in the
city’s downtown area.
State lottery
law sways City
Council
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
City councilors decided
not to roll the dice in a state
appeals board and granted
Terry Lowenberg a condition-
al use permit to install lottery
machines at the Gearhart
Crossing Pub and Deli.
The move overrides a year
and a half of testimony, along
with Planning Commission
and City Council denials, and
allows video gambling ma-
chines to be placed in a walled
area behind the main dining
room. Up to six machines are
permitted.
Councilors decided not
to test state law preemptions
over city zoning code.
“The City Council made a
difficult decision, but the deci-
sion was correct based on the
facts of the law,” Gregory Ha-
thaway, Lowenberg’s attorney,
said after the July 5 meeting.
“The city stopped the appeal
process because they wanted
to bring it back for discussion.
Based on that discussion, they
decided to reverse themselves
and approve it.”
Repeated denials
Citing losses, Lowenberg,
the owner of the former Gear-
hart Grocery, won a condi-
tional use permit to open a
neighborhood brewpub and
deli at the grocery’s location
at 599 Pacific Way in March
2016, saying the grocery was
unable to compete with larger
stores. After commissioners
approved the plan, Lowen-
berg submitted an amended
permit request seeking video
lottery machines.
Maintaining neighborhood
character, the proximity of
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
Terry Lowenberg, left, attends a meeting of the Gearhart City
Council on Wednesday, July 5, after his appeal of a denial of
his request to place video lottery machines in his business.
Lowenberg, owner of Gearhart Crossing Pub and Deli, was
granted a conditional use permit to install the machines.
lottery machines at nearby
locations along U.S. High-
way 101 and no proven need
for the machines all factored
into the council’s decision to
uphold a January Planning
Commission denial.
In April, the City Council
held an appeal hearing, and
affirmed the Planning Com-
mission’s decision to deny the
revision. After Lowenberg’s
appeal to the state’s Land Use
Board of Appeals, the city
withdrew the case for recon-
sideration in late May.
A new staff report recom-
mended that the City Council
affirm the Planning Commis-
sion’s denial of Lowenberg’s
request. “They have to com-
ply with conditional use cri-
teria,” Planner Carole Connell
said. “If that use is not listed
or permitted, it is considered
prohibited.”
State law
preemption
But a submission to the
city from Hathaway and ad-
ditional comments from City
Attorney Peter Watts led to a
change in direction by coun-
cilors.
In 1984, voters passed
Measure 4 amending the Ore-
gon Constitution to establish a
state lottery.
A fundamental provision of
the law is that jurisdictions are
preempted from enacting any
regulation in conflict with its
provisions. Land use regula-
tions, whether adopted before
or after 1984, would be pre-
empted, Hathaway said.
A key provision of the law
regulates how a video lottery
game may be placed and does
not require an applicant to
demonstrate that the place-
ment of lottery machines is
permitted by local land use
regulations, Hathaway said.
“The preemption use is
covered specifically,” Ha-
thaway said. “Other uses as
mentioned can be absolutely
regulated by the city, but when
it comes to the placement of
those machines, that’s subject
to the preemption statute. It
appears to be very unambig-
uous about the Legislature’s
intent: making sure local
government regulations don’t
prohibit the ability to place
authorized lottery machines in
authorized places.”
While declining to issue a
Change of direction
Ultimately, city councilors
decided not to pit Gearhart’s
zoning code against state law.
“I must say I am dead set
against video lottery machines
in the downtown corridor,”
Councilor Kerry Smith said
before the vote. “I’m going
to kick myself. Right now I
have to vote for the video lot-
tery machines because of that
damn law.”
Councilor Sue Lorain sec-
onded that sentiment. “I feel
really badly because I have to
vote for it,” she said.
“Our citizens will vote for
it with their wallets,” Coun-
cilor Dan Jesse said. “They
will choose to either support
the business or not support the
business. Either it will succeed
or fail based on what Terry de-
cides to do with it. To me it’s
not for us to be getting into.
It’s for the citizens to decide.
I think the law is pretty clear.”
Jesse, Lorain, Smith and
Paulina Cockrum voted on be-
half of allowing the machines,
with conditions. Mayor Matt
Brown abstained.
The city’s staff report, to be
presented at the council’s Au-
gust meeting, will be rewritten
to indicate tentative findings
and conditions, including lim-
ited exterior signage, number
of tables in the walled area
and food and beverage service
in the lottery location.
Possible shark sightings prompt signage
Don’t panic,
calmly exit the
water
By Brenna Visser
couldn’t confirm one way or
the other that these sightings
were shark fins or not, and
that often people common-
ly mistake porpoise fins for
shark fins.
the plan will enable the city
to request outside funding
for future transportation im-
provements.
Funding sources could
include Federal Highway
Trust Funds, the State High-
way Trust Fund or a Gearhart
Road District tax, according
to the June draft plan.
Tsunamis, big
and small
Gearhart’s tsunami risk
was a primary component of
the plan, and among the last
subject to revision.
“One of the reasons this
was funded was it’s the first
transportation plan to include
tsunami evacuation routes,”
Connell said. “ODOT was
pretty excited about getting
this in a TSP.”
On the assumption an ex-
treme Cascadia event would
“take out everything west of
the highway,” the original
plan advised evacuation to
points east of Highway 101.
Evacuation to the west is
often the best option, Patrick
Wingard of the Oregon De-
partment of Land Conserva-
tion and Development said in
an email.
After requests from Wing-
ard and other state officials,
DKS analyzed high ground
areas expected to remain dry
in 95 percent of tsunami sce-
narios analyzed.
“These areas are for last
resort evacuation in cases
where someone is physically
unable to get outside of the
hazard area or there are im-
passable obstacles,” Wingard
said.
The plan revision ref-
erences three north-south
“dune spines for evacuees on
the west side” of Highway
101, Connell said, including
North Marion Avenue near
McMenamins, the Ridge Path
and Summit Avenue.
Heading to council
Commissioners Jeremy
Davis, Terry Graff, Richard
Owsley, Russ Taggart and
Chairwoman Virginia Dide-
um voted to forward the plan
to the City Council. Com-
missioner Carl Anderson ab-
stained.
With the recommendation,
DKS and Connell will pres-
ent the revised transportation
system plan at the council’s
August meeting.
“The city has yet to prior-
itize projects,” Connell said.
“This is getting the frame-
work in place. The tricky part
is figuring out what mix of
projects is the most appropri-
ate for the community.”
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BRENNA VISSER/EO MEDIA GROUP
Signs in Seaside warn
beachgoers of the potential
danger posed by sharks.
There have been multiple
shark dorsal fin sightings in
Seaside and Cannon Beach, as
Seaside posted warning signs
from 12th Avenue to the Cove.
In Cannon Beach, life-
guards reported shark sight-
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Police Department tweeted
yesterday Oregon State Parks
will be posting warning signs
soon along the coast.
General Manager of Sea-
side Aquarium Keith Chan-
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