October 27, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 5A
Enjoy the Coast’s beauty, prepare for an emergency
A
s a Seaside employee, my
role occasionally includes
public information offi cer
duties. This involves assisting our
public safety departments (police
and fi re) and city hall from time
to time with messaging that needs
to be dispersed to the media and
Seaside residents.
Recently we sent out a simple
release as Oregon’s North Coast
prepared for its fi rst solid storm of
the season. Strong winds and some
heavy rainfall were forecasted to
make for a pretty wet weekend
(models called for about 3 inches
of rain on Saturday alone as of my
Oct. 20 column deadline). Orego-
nians and longtime coastal dwellers
are accustomed to this. And I’ve
learned that most residents don’t
SIDE RAIL
JON RAHL
really get too excited until winds
blow north of 60 or 70 mph and the
rain causes some of our roads to
fl ood. Nevertheless, we believe as
a municipality that it’s a good idea
to push out simple reminders about
the steps to take to prepare yourself
for any sort of coastal storm or
emergency.
It’s also a good reminder for
our hospitality community to
prepare themselves to talk to our
out-of-area visitors that may not be
accustomed to the high winds and
signifi cant rainfall. Storm watching
is a common reason for visitors
to come to the coast in the fall
and winter months, but we often
encounter visitors at the Seaside
Visitors Bureau and Information
Center that are surprised at the
weather. It’s at that point that I
believe we have an opportunity to
educate about the beauty of these
storms while also indicating some
of the dangers. Downed trees,
high surf advisories and sneaker
waves are things we try to point
out as real possibilities. It becomes
second nature for many of us, but
that’s not always a part of your
thought process when you are on
vacation in a new place.
Oregon Coast storms can be
an amazing thing to watch and I
believe we should continue to em-
brace the opportunity to showcase
it from our best vantage points, but
let’s not forget about the communi-
ty of visitors that may not under-
stand everything that comes with
this beauty.
Razor clamming opens
Were you as excited as we were
that the beaches opened again this
Oct. 1 to razor clamming? After
16-plus months of elevated levels
of domoic acid that forced closures
of recreational clamming, we’ve
taken full advantage of the re-
opening by placing “How to Razor
Clam” ads back into circulation.
We’ve also started running a “How
to Catch Your Dinner” video on
our social media channels and as
one of three digital video ads in
the Portland metro market. After
close to four weeks, the video
ads have yielded website traffi c
increases of 48.5 percent to Sea-
sideORcom. The OTT format we
are using (Over The Top) allows
us to purchase impressions rather
than direct air time, which you’d
traditionally do if you were buying
advertising space on cable or satel-
lite television.
Have a thought or a question
about tourism in Seaside, or maybe
an idea for a future column? Drop
me an email at jrahl@cityofsea-
side.us. Jon Rahl is the director
of tourism for the Seaside Visitors
Bureau and assistant general
manager of the Seaside Civic &
Convention Center.
LETTERS
Letters from Page 4A
During the ordinance
development process, both the
Planning Commission and City
Council were very aware of
Gearhart’s history of short-
term rentals. There was never
an intention to eliminate night-
ly rentals. The city remains
open to revisiting the number
of rental permits, any time.
Though invited, Mr. Townsend
has refused to state his case
directly to the city council. The
report doesn’t even mention
our high-density R-3 tourist
zone. Nor does Mr. Adams
mention the growing infl ux
of full-time residents who are
helping to sustain and grow
Gearhart’s year-round econ-
omy. These are potential full
time residents who are unable
to fi nd places to live due to the
short term rentals. The housing
shortage in Gearhart is a huge
threat to its economy.
In his report, Mr. Adams
says the Gearhart economy is
driven by tourism. Tourists do
spend money in Gearhart. But
Gearhart was hardly suffering
prior to the fl ood of internet
facilitated nightly rentals begin-
ning several years ago. He goes
on to say that nightly lodgers
generate thousands of badly
needed tax dollars for Gearhart.
This too is false. Gearhart began
collecting taxes on short-term
rentals just this year. It was
doing just fi ne long before the
tax collections began. He also
conveniently neglects the fact
that those tax dollars are used to
monitor short-term rentals and
add staff.
Mr. Adams argues that
real estate is so expensive in
Gearhart that property owners
must rent their property in order
to afford it. The report peddles
this myth over and over again.
These aren’t homeowners strug-
gling to make their mortgage
payment. These are business-
es out to make a profi t. The
reality is many of the permits
are issued to LLCs, businesses
organized under Oregon law.
Also, very few transient lodging
permits are held by anybody
actually living in Gearhart. The
majority of permit holders live
out-of-town. The permits are
held by residents of the Portland
area, Seattle and several states,
even Alaska. Not Gearhart
residents.
Measure 4-188 is not about
protecting jobs or caring about
Gearhart’s economy. It’s about
people who want to profi t from
their rental properties at the
expense of Gearhart citizens’
rights and quality of life.
Vote no on Measure 4-188.
Terry Graff
Gearhart
Mayor Brown’s
facts in question
I like Matt Brown … heck
we were almost business
partners a couple of short
years ago. I’ve spoken with
him at several of the planning
commission meetings since
then. I pressed him as to his
palpable passion around the
short-term rental issue brewing
then. I was a bit bewildered
given his status as a small busi-
ness person in Gearhart and
even more confounding, that
his business is golf and golf
equipment. Ironically, this is a
business that would seemingly
benefi t from guests from out of
town who’d naturally include
golf as a popular activity when
visiting the Coast.
Why, I wondered would he
propose the curtailment of va-
cation rentals in his own mar-
ket area? His answer surprised
me … He explained to my
wife and me that low-income
housing was disappearing and
thus becoming a negative fac-
tor in recruiting candidates for
the landscaping and pro shop
responsibilities.
I reminded him of the lack
of correlation between afford-
able housing and vacation
rental properties. Homes that
could be purchased by this
wage class are rare indeed; and
those homes if found would
not, from a pricing perspec-
tive, lend themselves to beach
rentals. But even if there were
affordable housing in Gearhart
(an oxymoron of sorts) why
would the taxpayers be enlisted
to accommodate the labor
needs of a private for-profi t
golf course?
And now as I read this
back, it leads me to wonder if
I’ve overlooked the obvious
… that this heavy regulation
regime will lower housing
costs by virtue of the depre-
ciating effect of such owner
constraint. Some of us have
already learned of prospects
voicing their reluctance to
invest in Gearhart now because
of sagging home values they
fear going forward.
David Remer
Gearhart
Vote yes
Yesterday I had a friend
that moved to Gearhart re-
cently send me a note asking
why I support the current bal-
lot measure on vacation rent-
als in Gearhart.
His request prompted me
to voice my opinion. As a born
and raised proud Gearhart boy
I am really outraged by all of
this. I have had the opportunity
to meet and become friends
with so many great people va-
cationing in Gearhart through-
out my life. This I feel was
because they have been able
to rent homes in Gearhart. I
really personally have not seen
or heard of that many issues
pertaining to short-term rentals.
It seems interesting to me
that many of people pushing
for the present city ordnance
really are not long time Gear-
hart residents and probably
arrived here as a tourist at fi rst,
but now really don’t want oth-
ers to enjoy what they found
here.
In my opinion it’s all about
equal rights for all. It’s not fair
that the only rentals allowed
are the 80 or so that applied a
few months ago. Many never
know when they may want or
need to rent their homes. So
having to get a license now
and pay $600 a year till that
day comes seems unfair. I feel
this whole area is and always
has been a tourist driven area.
Much of all the amenities this
area has to offer that we enjoy
daily would not be here if we
did not have tourism to support
it. You may be one of the resi-
dents that started coming here
as a tourist and renting. What if
you couldn’t have stayed here.
Maybe you would be living
in Corvallis next to some
rowdy college students. I just
feel the current City Council
wants to put a wall up around
Gearhart. The mayor wants
more homes to be available
for low income workers to
live in, that would be great but
the only way that is going to
happen is for property values
to drop considerably, which
would not make the present
property owners happy at all. I
am all for regulations on how
vacation rentals are rented.
Limits on number of occu-
pants, motor vehicles appear-
ance of the house and yard,
along with other issues that
could become a problem. I feel
both the present ordnance and
the proposed ordnance cover
that area properly. Actually a
drive around Gearhart would
reveal that many homes that
are occupied by the owners
would not meet these regu-
lations. As a matter of fact, I
believe there are more police
calls to permanent homes than
short-term rental homes. I
really feel that vacation rentals
with both of these ordinances
will be controlled properly, just
feel it is very unfair to limit
them to a select few. In closing
I hope everyone understands
the beach belongs to everyone
and we should share access to
all. Please vote yes on Measure
4-188.
Jeff Ter Har
Gearhart
Gearhart is a gem
I have a high-energy dog
who likes to walk around
Gearhart for one to two hours a
day. I accompany him on these
forays. We very much enjoy
the usually quiet side streets,
the magnifi cent trees along
the Ridge Path, waving to
friends driving by, stopping to
chat with an acquaintance we
encounter, viewing the houses
and their gardens, eating black-
berries.
We know a lot of people
by name, and even more dogs.
I have wonderful, friendly
neighbors with whom I can
visit, usually standing in the
middle of the road, because
we don’t have much traffi c.
To me, this is the essence of a
small residential town, and I
cherish it.
I also want to protect it.
Living in a town with unlim-
ited short-term rentals without
regulations will be the demise
of this way of life. We have a
gem. Let’s be mindful, and not
sell our soul. Please vote “no”
on b allot Measure 4-188.
Sharon Kloepfer
Gearhart
Vote no
The supporters of Measure
4-188 want unlimited, unregu-
lated short-term rentals. They
talk as if they’re doing some-
thing great for Gearhart. These
big-money absentee landlords
and vacation rental companies
care little about our community
and neighborhoods. They care
only about making easy mon-
ey, packing as many people as
possible into as many houses
as possible.
They don’t care our city
council with the support of
Gearhart residents established
Short-term Rental Ordinance
901.
They don’t care that the
Land Use Board of Appeals
upheld our ordinance.
They don’t care that it cost
the taxpayers tens of thousands
of dollars in legal fees just to
have LUBA uphold the ordi-
nance with no changes.
They don’t care that many
rental permit holders support
Ordinance 901.
They don’t care that Mea-
sure 4-188 will destroy our
family neighborhoods and our
town’s residential character.
As Gearhart residents we
should be concerned, not
fooled. Look at a few of their
demands:
• Unlimited number of rent-
als. To keep Gearhart special,
we need a residential balance.
This balance includes rentals
of more than 30 days (long-
term) available for housing in
our family neighborhoods. As
residents, we are and should
be the backbone of our special
town.
• No septic inspections.
They show no concern that
rentals fi lled to capacity will
overload septic systems. This
could force all residents to pay
for an expensive sewer system.
They are not concerned that
some short-term rentals have
cesspools. Do you want this?
• No parking or garbage
regulations. This will lead to
over-parked neighborhoods
with renters’ garbage in your
street.
Show you are concerned.
Vote no on Measure 4-188.
Wilson Mark
Gearhart
Here are the facts
In response to David
Townsend’s letter (“Other side
of rentals,” The Daily Astorian,
Sept. 29): Let’s get the facts
straight. David Townsend is an
out-of-state owner of a Gear-
hart short-term vacation rental,
and owner of a political con-
sulting company representing
other short-term vacation rental
owners.
His company is working
to convince Gearhart voters to
repeal and replace the current
city regulations with a measure
which would result in an unlim-
ited number of short-term vaca-
tion rentals in Gearhart.
Townsend says our property
values are being affected under
the current city regulations.
He is trying to scare Gearhart
homeowners. He says you may
not be able to sell your home if
we don’t allow unlimited va-
cation rentals. That is not the
truth.
Here are the facts. Since the
implementation of the current
Gearhart short-term rental reg-
ulations, there has been a boom
in the sale of Gearhart homes
to people looking for full-time
residences. Houses in Gearhart
have recently sold at full price
after being on the market for
just one day. There’s so much
new construction that local
contractors are booked out for
over a year. Yes, you can easily
sell your house today under the
current short-term rental regu-
lations.
Townsend is also selling the
notion that his short-term rental
measure will be good for the
Gearhart economy. What really
is good for the Gearhart econo-
my is more full-time residents
who patronize local businesses
all year, instead of having to
rely on visitors during the sum-
mer, and then trying to survive
the winter months.
Vote “no” on Measure
4-188. Keep Gearhart residen-
tial.
Randy Wiltgen
Gearhart
Vote no on
Measure 4-188
For the past 30 years, the
slow pace, friendly neighbors
and quiet neighborhoods of
Gearhart have been my refuge
after a hard day’s work. It’s
not a tourist destination; it’s
our home town. But its very
existence as such is now
threatened by the Internet-fu-
eled short-term rental business
and by Measure 4-188, which
would overturn the city’s
comprehensive plan, zoning
ordinance and laws that protect
residential neighborhoods from
the high-impact commercial
activity of vacation rentals.
As a planning commis-
sioner and city councilor for
many years, I’ve witnessed
the growth of the problem
and the city’s solution to it,
worked out over a two-year
process of citizen involvement,
testimony and deliberation.
The resulting Ordinance 901
was a fair compromise for all
competing interests, and is now
affording our citizens protection
from moneyed interests that
would obliterate the character
of Gearhart. It is founded on
the principles of Gearhart’s
comprehensive land use plan as
adopted in 1994, which requires
the city to “recognize the im-
portance of the city’s residential
neighborhoods and the need to
protect them from the negative
impacts of the transient rental
of property, and to discourage
increased levels of traffi c and
similar disruptions.”
I implore my fellow
Gearhart voters to vote no on
Measure 4-188. A yes vote
would threaten every Gearhart
citizen’s quality of life.
Paulina Cockrum
Gearhart
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