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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 2017)
JEFF TER HAR/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL SEAGULLS RANKED FIFTH IN STATE, IN RUNNING FOR CHAMPIONSHIP Gulls showed their stuff despite the rainy weather, defeating Banks 19-14 at home. See SPORTS, page 12A SEASIDESIGNAL.COM • COMPLIMENTARY COPY OUR 111th YEAR • October 27, 2017 Short-term rental vote underway Gearhart’s short-term rental rules face repeal By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL Ballot box at Gearhart City Hall. R esidents in Gearhart perceive the vote to repeal and replace vacation rental rules to be a dramatic turning point that could determine the future look and direction of the community. With ballots on their way today to the city’s 1,245 registered voters, advocates of Measure 4-188 say the new rules take away their prop- erty rights and will cost the city millions in lost tourism dollars . City offi cials and many residents counter that a repeal would jeopardize Gearhart’s residential character. They, too, say property rights are at stake and that the rules promote much-needed long-term rental housing. Vote “no” advocates warn repeal could lead to overcrowding and health and safety hazards. The issue comes to a head at the ballot box on Nov. 7 , the result of years of discussion and debate. Ongoing debate In 2013, city leaders and residents raised con- cerns over “renters’ mentality” and how vacation rentals in residential zones can negatively affect the atmosphere and livability . At the time, the taxing ordinance for short-term SEASIDE, GEARHART TEAMS BATTLE CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES rental properties provided exemption for the ap- proximately 50 single-family homes rented out un- der the city’s guidelines. The owners were required to pay Oregon’s 1 percent lodging tax but did not have to pay Gearhart’s 7 percent lodging tax, through an exemption that had been put in place in the 1990s so those dwellings could be rented with- out paying taxes. Gearhart City Administrator Chad Sweet esti- mated that the city was losing about $95,000 a year because of the exemption. That exemption was removed in 2016 and short-term renters were required to pay the city’s 7 percent lodging tax. Manager, board at odds over food bank temporary closure South County food bank to see ‘internal restructuring’ By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal Board members and Kar- la Gann, the former regional manager of the South Coun- ty Food Bank, have two dif- ferent accountings of a split that could leave hundreds of South County residents hun- gry over the holidays. Gann said she and staff were approached by board members Friday, Oct.19, ordered to relinquish their keys and locked out of the Roosevelt Drive building. “They said, ‘You’re fi red, you’re gone. Give me your keys and leave.’ They did it SUBMITTED PHOTO Seaside’s Katie Bulletset on the scene of wildfi res in Santa Rosa, California. Firefi ghters return after facing Santa Rosa devastation By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal PAID PERMIT NO. 97 ASTORIA, OR PRSRT STD US POSTAGE Imagine the city of Seaside ablaze — and then some. Santa Rosa, California , a city of more than 175,000, fought blazes on every side, south and east to Sonoma and Napa, one of 12 wildfi res burning in eight counties. “It was one of those things where the whole city was on fi re,” Seaside Fire Chief Joey Daniels, among the Clatsop County Strike Force members returning from Santa Rosa, said . “They lost malls, they lost the hospital … It basically took out a whole city.” “The news does not give it justice,” Gearhart’s Fire Chief Bill Eddy, also a strike force member, said . In areas where livestock, pets and wild animals caught in the fi re perished, “you could defi nitely smell it,” Eddy said. “It wasn’t just a physi- cal fi re,” Daniels said. “It’s mental fatigue. We all take it personally. When you stand on the hillside and thousands of homes and buildings are gone, when you drive down the freeway and their com- mercial buildings are burned down on both sides — none of us wants to see somebody devastated like that.” Daniels was one of fi ve members of the Seaside Fire Department contingent, in ad- dition to Lt. Genesee Dennis, Capt. Mike Smith and fi re- See Ballots, Page 6A in the worst possible way,” Gann said. Gann blamed the closure on months of board misman- agement. It c ould jeopardize Thanksgiving and holiday meals and leave thousands of dollars in Christmas gifts undelivered, she said. Late Friday, South Coun- ty Food Bank board mem- bers released a statement that the food bank would close for two weeks for an “internal restructuring.” “With the consistent growth in the number of people we are serving on a daily basis, we really need to make sure we have the in- frastructure in place to con- tinue to feed everyone who comes through the doors,” board president Darren Gooch said. See Food Bank, Page 6A Helping dogs and their owners ‘work as a team’ Arnicadia Dog Training opens in Seaside By Eve Marx For Seaside Signal SUBMITTED PHOTO Seaside fi refi ghters join crews fi ghting California blazes. fi ghters Alex Hernandez and Katie Bulletset. Gearhart’s crew consisted of Eddy, Tanner Rich, Mike LaLonde and Angels Garcia. Olney-Walluski Volunteer Fire and Rescue Chief Ron Tyson led the county strike team, joined by volunteers from Lewis and Clark, Knap- pa and Columbia River Fire in addition to those from Seaside and Gearhart. Firefi ghters step up The Oregon Fire Marshal received the request for assis- tance through the Emergen- cy Management Assistance Compact, a national state-to- state mutual aid system, late at night on Oct. 10. Crews were mobilized and on their way down Interstate 5 the next day, Daniels said, about a 15-hour trip. Clatsop County fi refi ghters worked with the more than 4,200 fi refi ghters in the Santa Rosa region, sleeping in tents outside the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Oregon fi refi ghters offered relief to local crews whose re- sources had been spread thin. Some local fi refi ghters had been working shifts of three or four days straight, Daniels said. See Fire, Page 6A Is your dog your best friend or your biggest head- ache? If the answer isn’t ‘best friend’ it may be time to call Cati Foss, profession- al dog trainer. “Training is often a last ditch effort to keep the dog,” Foss said from her desk at Arnicadia Dog Training in Seaside. The primary reason pet owners seek professional help is because they are ex- periencing a problem with their dog that makes every- one, including the dog, mis- erable. The most common issues are impulse control, timidity and anxiety, jump- ing, barking, mouthing, and reactive dogs. “A reactive dog is a dog who is hard to manage in public,” Foss said. “The dog is overexcited, or it has mild aggression, or anxiety or fear.” Her fi rst job is calm- ing the dog so it will be re- ceptive to training. Cati Foss relocated from Des Moines, Washington, EVE MARX/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL Cati Foss and her Sheltie, Lyra, are loving Arnicadia’s new training and play space. to the coast in 2008. Her husband has family in the area. The couple live in As- toria and have two kids and a Sheltie dog. After working as a manager at Safeway, Foss became part of the new management team building the then-new Petco in War- renton. “After awhile, I was in- vited to move from manage- ment into dog training,” Foss said. “I quickly learned I had See Dogs, Page 10A