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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2017)
August 18, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 7A Gearhart transit plan gets green light Hwy. 101 at center of 20-year goals ment” and said funds would be better spent elsewhere. By R.J. Marx The transportation plan pri- oritizes investments with four tiers, from the $1.2 million likely to be available through existing funding sources to a wish list that exceeds the like- ly level of city and state fund- ing through 2040. Roadway and intersection upgrades, including devel- opment of a three-lane con- figuration on Highway 101 through most of Gearhart, are estimated at $23 million. Bridge projects — in- cluding replacement of the Highway 101 bridge over Mill Creek and Highway 101 bridge over Neawanna Creek in Seaside — would cost an estimated $2 million. According to the plan, 33 pedestrian and bicycle projects would cost an estimated $25 million to complete. Concepts include sidewalk, path and roadway crossing improve- ments, and a network of bi- Wish list Seaside Signal With the goal of identi- fying future transportation needs and opening the door to grant funding, the City Coun- cil has a transportation system plan. The goal is to anticipate growth and know how to deal with it, City Planner Carole Connell said. “There will be more de- mand placed on the city, and this is a program for us to deal with that,” Connell said. At the top of the list is the reconfiguration of U.S. High- way 101. Planners want to provide greater turning safe- ty and connectivity between the east and west sides of the roadway and reduce bottle- necks and traffic jams. Additional projects listed in the plan aim to facilitate tsunami evacuation, infra- R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL Gearhart Planner Carole Connell and consultant Kevin Chewuk at a public hearing on the transportation system plan early this year. structure improvements, pe- destrian walkways and to ensure that new development complies with the city’s goals. With one exception, city councilors and Mayor Matt Brown approved the two-vol- ume plan, which presents a blueprint for the city’s trans- portation systems through 2040. “I’m a big proponent of it,” Brown said at a public hearing Wednesday, Aug. 2. “It’s been one of our top goals for a long time. I think it’s a no-brainer.” City Councilor Dan Jesse called the plan “anti-develop- Tree-topping at core of beach dune controversy cycle lanes, marked on-street routes and shared-use paths. Transit and system man- agement projects comprise the remainder of proposed project costs. None are funded or planned, Connell said, but adoption of the plan will en- able the city to request outside funding for future transporta- tion improvements. Adoption of the plan, pre- pared by the city, Oregon De- partment of Transportation, DKS Associates and Angelo Planning Group, does not commit the city to the projects. “There is a whole other process outside of this,” said Kevin Chewuk, a lead trans- portation planner with DKS. Higher cost “aspirational” projects listed in the plan in- clude sidewalk replacement, road extensions and Highway 101 reconfiguration. Of a potential $51 million for 59 spending projects, the plan lists 35 locally funded transportation projects at an estimated cost of $28 million to the city. have urban renewal money we wouldn’t be able to do that,” City Councilor Tita Montero said. “Seaside will benefit to have the south en- try to the city not look like a scumbag.” “That’s what got this pro- cess going,” Brown said. The ordinance, written in 1994, was a leading discus- sion item among committee members. City Attorney Peter Watts said the ordinance “creates problems for both sides,” in its ambiguity. “One of the things we’ve talked about is getting clarity to the process. Do noxious weeds apply to native plants? Trees are an issue. Grass is an issue. How do you measure 50 percent of grass?” How it works Search for consensus 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 workshop led to the formation of the Dune Vege- tation Committee, comprised of both permanent and part- time Gearhart residents. The city suggested the committee study the issues concerning vegetation and vehicle access within the Beach and Ac- tive Dunes Overlay District. Members of the committee would then make suggestions to the City Council regarding potential changes to the ordi- nance. R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL Residents seek guidance as to how much dune vegetation may be removed or trimmed. R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL Recommendations Residents seek guidance as to how much dune vege- tation may be removed or trimmed. The committee formed in April and presented its find- ings to the City Council at its July meeting. In the committee’s recom- mendations, all but emergen- cy vehicles are to be limited within the zone — known as the Beach and Active Dunes Overlay District — not only cars, but trucks, motorized mowers, bush hogs and other equipment. The committee recom- mended installation of locked gates at all areas where motor- ized vehicles are able to enter the overlay district. A recommendation con- cerning tree pruning or vegetation removal offers guidelines for homeowners to remove noxious weeds or trees. The committee’s fourth recommendation would allow the city administrator to issue a permit for removal of trees which are larger than 12 inch- es diameter. Van Hoomissen said that while early meetings were contentious, later meet- ings found some consensus. “Over time, I feel the com- mittee’s work became much more collaborative,” he said. “The committee talked about views, elk, different trees, dif- ferent noxious weeds, grass, historical evolution of the dunes, historical practices of various property owners who owned property in or abutting the dunes.” “The issue of whether large trees can be topped or removed entirely is the main contentious issue, and it re- mains for council to decide,” Van Hoomissen said. Committee member John Green said he would like to see a moratorium on cutting on public property until the issue is resolved. “I think be- fore we do anything, we have to have a parks master plan,” Green said. Code change sought Gearhart’s Jack Delaney, a member of the committee who disputed aspects of the findings, said the committee was “illegitimate” because it was comprised of nonresi- dents. Their findings “totally ig- nored the expertise of all the experts in the area,” he said, naming a number of county, state and city agencies. “Not once did we have any dis- cussion or information from them.” Committee member Bill Corti called the composition of the committee “unbal- anced,” and sought guidance for pruning or trimming trees on city-owned property. “I think adjacent property owners should be able to thin or remove the trees,” commit- tee member Jim Furnish said after the meeting. “I think the city will be battling about it for years.” Clarification of city rules will likely require a change to city code, City Administrator Chad Sweet said. To that end, the city plans to hold a work session to discuss recommen- dations in September. Potential changes would go through a public process at Planning Commission and City Council meetings with the goal of crafting a revised ordinance. “In the end, what we found is the contentiousness over a small part of the large issues often masks the fact that there is widespread agreement on much of the issue,” Van Hoomissen said. “We should not take the view that every- thing is contentious. Because everything is not.” Volunteer efforts help charter school meet deadline Academy from Page 1A with the city finished and the proper permits were in hand, the academy was left with about a month to renovate the building up to code. Installing fire safety equipment, addressing Americans with Disabilities Act access concerns and other general maintenance projects were needed. “It is thanks to Coaster Construction and all the volunteers that we were suc- cessful,” Moore said. Almost every weekend over the past month, Moore said volunteers came out to help clear brush, paint the interior and exterior of the school and clean a build- ing that sat vacant for more than a year. Moore has also received a number of in-kind donations, such as school supplies, organizational items and a de- fibrillator from Cannon Beach Fire and Rescue. “People have really come out of the woodwork for this,” Moore said. More to go There are still a few hurdles left for the academy before officially crossing the finish line. The charter school was awarded temporary occupancy with an agreement that a full fire safety system would be installed by November. This is one of the largest renovations needed and will take more time to complete, Moore said. The building was not equipped with any fire safety system when it was oper- ating as a children’s center. While the charter school has enough students enrolled to operate, the acad- emy is still recruiting to fill more seats before fall, Moore said. Earlier this year, the academy had as many as 40 students. Moore said she has no concerns about meeting the goal, however, and attributes fluctuating numbers to the fact the status of the school has been up in the air be- cause of the late location change. “I think there are a lot of families who were waiting for this day to happen,” Moore said. Seaside Signal Bus routes in Clatsop County may be delayed or canceled because of the number of people trrav- eling through the area to view the solar eclipse on Aug. 21. Sunset Empire Trans- portation District Execu- tive Director Jeff Hazen said, “The Oregon De- partment of Transportation has predicted that those traveling on Oregon high- ways on the days before and after the solar eclipse, may experience the biggest traffic event in Oregon his- tory and residents should prepare ahead for delays, cancellations or closures.” Riders can follow the district’s Facebook page or website, http://bit. ly/2w7MUJx, for informa- tion on delays or cancella- tions. Issues raised about traffic, growth Renewal from Page 1A Gearhart from Page 1A Eclipse may slow, stop bus service Urban renewal is a fi- nancing program authorized under state law and imple- mented locally allowing the use of property tax reve- nues from city and regional taxing districts to grow the economy in blighted or un- derdeveloped areas. The Turnaround and Prom, the city’s sewage plant, 12th Avenue improve- ments and construction of a new library are the products of past urban renewal plans. Using tax-increment fi- nancing, funding comes through increases in as- sessed values of local prop- erties. As new development ar- rives and existing properties are improved, assessments rise and see property tax in- creases. Property taxes on the growth in assessed value in the urban renewal area are frozen and increases are allocated to the city’s urban renewal agency and not the taxing districts. Property taxes don’t raise for the individual. Instead, a portion of what people are already paying will go to urban renewal rather than to other taxing districts, urban renewal consultant Elaine Howard said. The urban renewal dis- trict plans to fund projects like road and sewer system needs for the new Seaside school campus, storefront redesign, property acquisi- tion, and most notably, an estimated $45 million for bridge improvements at av- enues A, G, S and U. “We are very commit- ted to the concept of urban renewal,” Mayor Jay Bar- ber said. “It really is about improving what we already have, and without urban-re- newal we would not have the financial resources to complete those projects.” Community concerns One of the aspects Pince- tich took issue with was the idea of annexing 32 acres of unincorporated forest land as a part of the new district. She said she was involved in discussions about expanding the urban growth boundary, which was tabled last sum- mer. “The (Portland State University) population sta- tistics have been published and cites negligible growth for Clatsop County. Why the urban growth expansion?” Pincetich said. City Manager Mark Win- stanley said that 32 acres out the 560 acres in the en- tire plan was included in the urban renewal district so that the city could possibly have another point of entry to build road, water or sewer infrastructure to the school site. “I think there has been some confusion between the urban growth boundary expansion and the urban renewal district. They are two distinct things,” he said. “It’s not about increasing the size of the city.” However, city councilors received written testimony hours before the hearing from Sean Malone, an attor- ney with the Oregon Coast Alliance, who asserts that by including this property in the urban renewal district the city is not in compliance with its comprehensive plan. Malone wrote that the comprehensive plan says forestlands “shall be con- served for forest uses,” and argued that “this policy would not be served in any way by using the property for the school district.” Winstanley, as well as the City Council, declined to comment on Malone’s testimony because they did not have a chance to read it before the meeting. Traffic and development Others were concerned about improvement proj- ects on Wahanna Road and Spruce Street bringing more traffic into otherwise quiet residential areas. Residents also feared language in the plan allowing eminent do- main, an act that allows a city to buy property for fair mar- ket value in order to complete an infrastructure project. “We have a very quiet neighborhood,” said James Hall, who lives on Cooper Street. “This could create a lot more traffic and effect the general peacefulness of our neighborhood.” Winstanley said Seaside has never used eminent do- main in urban renewal proj- ects in the past 32 years, and said residents should not worry about that changing this time around. City Councilor Steve Wright also noted that de- veloping roads to the new school site was not just up to the city, but of the transpor- tation advisory commission and the school district, and that this was an ongoing dis- cussion. Public involvement After the hourlong hear- ing, there was still a sense from some residents that their voices were still not being heard. Pincetich said it’s not just about the number of public meetings held, but the num- ber of public comment pe- riods to allow the public to interact with the city. “There was one hearing on the conformance to the comprehensive plan, but un- til now no public hearings about the actual merits of the plan,” she said.
