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.