October 13, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 5A
Aquatic facility to see major remake
SKY BOX
SKYLER ARCHIBALD
I
feel fortunate each day to work in
a beautiful facility with amazing
people. It gives me great energy
every time that I walk through the
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation
District Natatorium, featuring a beautiful
lap pool, warm-water learner pool and
spa. This month, our aquatic facility
will shut down for a major renovation.
The main pool, more than 30 years old,
needs to be replastered. This is a major
construction project!
The district has worked hard on
informing our members and regular
patrons about the upcoming closure and
are offering several options for con-
tinuing memberships during that time.
for more information on those options,
please contact the pool front desk at
503-738-3311.
In the meantime, I want to thank the
foresight and uphill slog that the found-
ing members of the district had and en-
dured to see the construction of the pool
through. There many in the community
who recognized the great need for a
public pool to help educate both children
and adults and teach important water
safety skills. Those individuals worked
hard to convince the naysayers to both
create the Sunset Empire Park and Rec-
reation District — nearly 50 years ago
—and construct the Sunset Pool.
Since its construction, the pool has
served an important role in education
and recreation in South Clatsop County.
Growing up here, I remember swim
lessons, school swim lessons, birth-
day parties and coming swimming on
Wednesday nights with my Scout troop.
Now as a grown adult, I’ve seen my own
two children fl ourish and gain confi -
dence after learning to swim here!
MEETINGS
a.m., 1225 Avenue A., Sea-
side.
Tuesday, Oct. 17
Seaside School District
Board of Directors, 6 p.m.,
1801 S. Franklin, Seaside.
Seaside Library Board, 4:30
p.m., 1131 Broadway, Seaside.
Seaside Planning Commis-
sion, work session, 7 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Seaside Planning Commis-
sion, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
Wednesday, Oct. 18
Thursday, Nov. 9
Seaside Tourism Advisory
Committee, 3 p.m., 989
Broadway.
Seaside Convention Center
Commission, 5 p.m., 415 First
Avenue.
Thursday, Oct. 19
Seaside Transportation
Advisory Committee, 6 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
In 2016, the district served 944 chil-
dren through our swim lesson program
and we expect that number to increase in
2017! Our school swim lesson program
serves children from Jewell, Warrenton
and three of the schools in the Seaside
School District. We’re home to the
Seaside Swim Team, a youth team full
of roughly 25 dedicated swimmers. The
Sunset Pool is also the home for the
Seaside High School swim team.
But youth and children aren’t the
only population we serve! There are
hundreds of dedicated lap swimmers in
our community that blow my mind each
time with their athleticism, speed and
stamina in swimming the pool, often
several times a week. We offer 20 water
fi tness classes per week as well, appeal-
ing to a broad audience to try something
fun and new in the comfort of the warm
water pool. Our local hospital uses the
magical healing power of water to help
individuals rehabilitate after having
surgery. It is truly a terrifi c place where
miracles and amazing things happen
every day!
This is all sounding like a commer-
cial for my employer and the pool.
However, my point is different. Go back
50 years to the formation of SEPRD and
the early refl ections of building a pool in
this community. The population of Sea-
side during those early years was likely
somewhere around 4,000, a number
signifi cantly smaller than our population
today!
Did those recreation pioneers have a
vision of what was to come? Could they
possibly have understood the impact that
their decisions and actions would have
on this community?
I am thankful for those dedicated
individuals and for the members of our
community that continue to believe in
our district and our programs. While we
apologize for the inconvenience that the
closure may have, we feel it is a small
price to pay, for having a wonderfully
resurfaced pool when we reopen on
Monday, Dec. 4!
Skyler Archibald is the executive
director of the Sunset Empire Park &
Recreation District
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Wednesday, Nov. 15
Wednesday, Nov. 1
The pool will close Oct. 20-Dec. 4 for renovations.
Monday, Nov. 13
Seaside Improvement Com-
mission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
Seaside Tourism Advisory
Committee, 3 p.m., 989
Broadway.
Gearhart City Council, 7
p.m., City Hall, 698 Pacifi c
Way.
Thursday, Nov. 16
Tuesday, Nov. 7
Seaside Transportation Ad-
visory Commission, 6 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Seaside Tree Board, 4 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Community and Senior
Center Commission, 10:30
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DIRECTORY
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34154 Hwy 26, Seaside, OR
P.O. Box 2845, Gearhart, OR
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LETTERS
C ONSTRUCTION
Letters from Page 4A
(predominantly out-of-state)
owners and vacation rental
agencies have now resorted
to a public referendum, Mea-
sure 4-188, to repeal and re-
place the law, forcing a vote
of the people in November. If
Gearhart wants to save itself
and uphold its current city
law, the vote against Measure
4-188 must be not just suc-
cessful, but overwhelmingly
successful. It’s a vote that
matters, not one that can be
skipped. Otherwise, moneyed
interests will continue to
pose an existential threat to
the community.
Ironically, one of the
group spearheading the
drive for Measure 4-188 is a
member of the Clatsop Coun-
ty Commission, a public
body supposedly commit-
ted to fi nding solutions for
the current housing crisis.
Let’s hope that this anomaly
doesn’t refl ect the position of
a majority of commissioners,
and that Clatsop County will,
like Gearhart, take action to
limit the scourge of short-
term rentals.
Bill Berg
Gearhart
Vote yes to
reasonably
regulate
Vote yes on ballot Mea-
sure 4-188 to reasonably
regulate Gearhart vacation
rentals. Contrary to repre-
sentations made by Gearhart
citizens, and even its mayor,
vacation rentals will still be
regulated for safety issues
and septic issues under Mea-
sure 4-188.
The measure requires
home inspections by
licensed home inspectors.
Licensing is regulated by the
state of Oregon. Ballot Mea-
sure 4-188 simply allows
the vacation rental applicant
to choose a licensed home
inspector. Additionally,
Gearhart didn’t get overrun
with vacation rentals in the
fi rst 100 years of unregu-
lated vacation rentals, and
it won’t in the second 100
years.
The city, with all its
lengthy research at taxpayer
expense, during 2015-2016
didn’t identify any more
rentals than eventually
applied for permits by the
October 2016 deadline —
only 84 out of 1,600 homes.
Over-restrictive vacation
rental ordinances will force
rental homeowners under-
ground. Many cities along
the Oregon coast, across Or-
egon and the U.S. regulate
vacation rentals, even Las
Vegas, a city from which
some very new Gearhart
citizens fl ed, allegedly due
to vacation rentals.
Ordinances are only
as good as the ability to
enforce them. The city
has failed to regularly and
consistently enforce its ex-
isting ordinances regulating
garbage, septic, parking and
appearance of properties,
and now its increasing its
responsibility to regulate an
ordinance that is misguided
and over-reaches. Measure
4-188 will be more manage-
able, requiring enforcement
of existing ordinances and
adding enough additional
regulation to preserve home-
owners’ rights and balance
the interest in public safety.
I helped draft ballot
Measure 4-188, and I’d be
delighted to talk with any-
one to go over a line-by-line
comparison of the city’s or-
dinance and Measure 4-188.
Make the best choice for
Gearhart by voting in favor
of Measure 4-188.
Katherine Schroeder
Gearhart
sure 4-188 this November. I
believe the STR Ordinance,
unanimously passed by
the Gearhart City Council,
is fair in every way. Fair
means open, transparent
conversations followed by
decision-making based on
the needs and desires of
the community. Fair means
copious research, acquisi-
tion of factual information,
communication, listening,
compromising, evaluating,
monitoring and tweaking.
Fair means upholding Gear-
hart’s comprehensive plan
by retaining a low density
residential community while
allowing all current STR
owners the opportunity to
continue to rent their homes
safely, fairly and uniformly.
The current STR ordinance
meets all these criteria.
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Current
ordinance is fair
I am in favor of safe,
fair and reasonable regula-
tion of short-term rentals in
Gearhart. That is why I am
voting no on ballot Mea-
In contrast, Measure 4-188
is not safe, fair or reasonable.
It is not safe to have an un-
limited number of renters 12
years of age or less. It is un-
reasonable to assume unlim-
ited numbers of youths and
children have a lesser impact
on a septic system. It is not
fair for Gearhart taxpayers to
foot a nearly $10,000 special
election bill. Finally, it is not
fair or reasonable for the two
chief petitioners to compro-
mise the safety, livability and
taxpayers’ money so their
children can afford to keep a
family home by renting their
inherited “gift” to transient
visitors.
Know all your facts so
you can vote reasonably and
fairly.
Sue Lorain
Gearhart
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