6A • December 8, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
Legal challenge to campus boundary expansion
Appeal to land
use board after
comments rejected
‘I’d like to see the money that would be saved for
the schools would be spent building bridges so the
kids could be safe for the 71 percent of the time
that they are not in school.’
By R.J. Marx
John Dunzer
Seaside Signal
The Seaside School District
rammed through plans for a new
school campus without adequately
considering alternative proposals,
Seaside’s John Dunzer said in a le-
gal challenge submitted to the state
Land Use Board of Appeals Mon-
day.
Money saved from an alternate
plan could be used to provide up-
grades to the city’s bridges, Dun-
zer said. “I’d like to see the money
that would be saved for the schools
would be spent building bridges so
the kids could be safe for the 71 per-
cent of the time that they are not in
school.”
On Nov. 8, the County Board
of Commissioners adopted an or-
dinance amending the county’s
comprehensive plan expanding Sea-
side’s urban growth boundary to ac-
commodate a new campus. At that
meeting, the commission declined
to accept Dunzer’s submission as
the record was closed.
A longtime critic of the plan to re-
locate Seaside’s endangered schools
out of the tsunami inundation zone,
Dunzer said county approval of the
school district’s plan violates state
SEASIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT
A look at costs for the Seaside campus.
planning rules requiring local gov-
ernment to look at all options within
the existing boundaries before expan-
sion of those boundaries.
Tom Bennett, the county’s com-
munity relations coordinator, said
the county had not received the ap-
peal.
Two sites proposed
By voting to recommend ap-
proval of the district’s request for
an expansion of the urban growth
boundary, the county paved the way
for rezoning 40 acres of the property
and annexing an additional 49-acre
portion of the property, located at
Seaside Heights Elementary School,
2000 Spruce Drive.
Dunzer said he thinks the reloca-
tion — at a cost of more than $100
million, to be paid by voters after
passage of a 2015 bond — is unnec-
essary.
“They did not look at expanding
the school on two sites instead of
just one,” Dunzer said. “When you
do that, you have the potential of
saving almost over $50 million for
the price of the schools. Because
it is possible and quite feasible to
build a junior high school right
above Seaside Heights Elementary
School.”
Dunzer claims in his appeal that
the existing Seaside Heights Ele-
mentary School site could be used
as the site of a new middle school,
resulting in a “more tolerable impact
on the entire east side of Seaside.”
Project moves forward
School district officials have
refuted Dunzer’s comments in the
past, stating that the new campus
plan is the only way to provide a safe
environment for students, moving
Board of directors seeks to define goals
School from Page 1A
comparing Seaside, a resort
town with a transient popula-
tion, to other Oregon commu-
nities.
In Seaside, not all kids
have the opportunities for
higher education.
“We live in a place where
kids start working very early,”
Wunderlich said. “We have to
find ways to partner with oth-
er community businesses to
help them prepare with those
jobs, and not necessarily say,
‘you need to do this for col-
lege.’”
Patrick Nofield sought a
community liaison to make
sure children are properly fed
and clothed. “It affects ev-
erything we are talking about
here,” he said.
A living document
About one in four organi-
zations that start this process
are unsuccessful, Colonna
said. More time may be spent
on the planning than the im-
plementation, and future lead-
ers may be reluctant to adopt
a plan put forth by previous
administrators.
“The plan needs to be
modified and changed every
year,” Colonna said. “If you
do that, you’ll never need to
change this plan again.”
That plan is a living docu-
ment that can be used by fu-
ture administrators and staff.
out of aging, unreinforced buildings
—Broadway Middle School, Gear-
hart Elementary School and Seaside
High School — in the Cascadia Sub-
duction Zone event to seismically
resilient buildings on higher ground.
At an August meeting, school
district consultant Greg Winterowd
of Winterbrook Planning said the
school’s request addresses relevant cri-
teria of statewide planning goals, the
Seaside comprehensive plan and the
Clatsop County comprehensive plan.
The proposed location is the only
site that meets all seven city crite-
ria, Winterowd said, and the only
site with access to a major collector
street, South Wahanna Road.
In adopting the boundary change
in September, Seaside officials said
their recommendation was “based on
the assumption that the public hear-
ing did not reveal any well-substan-
tiated reason to consider modifying
the district’s plans.”
The district said in a response to
Dunzer’s comments at the time that
Dunzer “rarely cites applicable re-
view criteria” and failed to explain
why the errors he believes occurred
are relevant to whether such criteria
are met. Many facts are misstated,
they wrote, and represent a “lack of
technical knowledge.”
An October project update report-
ed the district is moving ahead with a
focus on site analysis, including geo-
logic lab tests and surveying, before
construction is slated to begin next
spring.
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R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Board members meet with consultant Jerome Colonna.
Metrics would be required
on a three- or four-month ba-
sis, to determine success at
meeting clear and understand-
able goals. “Of the plans that
I see successful, that’s a really
big piece,” Colonna said.
Faculty and staff must
feel included, he added. Fo-
cus groups and gathering
information on the website
are both components of the
process. Principals and teach-
ers should develop goals that
align with the districts.
“They don’t need to be the
same, but they should be sim-
ilar,” Colonna said.
Elements of the plan in-
clude a strategic planning
team meeting once a month of
“maybe 12-15 individuals,”
he said.
A board member, princi-
pals, union presidents, stu-
dent and business community
could be among the team, as
well as representatives of the
construction project.
The team would take on
one element at a time before
bringing those proposals to
the board.
The team would determine
focus groups, who to meet
with, when and where, along
with issues to discuss.
Timeline
This is a good time to em-
bark on this process, board
member Mark Truax said.
“There’s going to be
enough distractions in the
move and opening,” Truax
said. “That’s not going to be
real smooth. At least every-
body should be on the same
page in one way shape or
form. We’ll have part of the
issue taken care of, something
we don’t have to worry about.
As far as the timeline, we’re
at it.”
Colonna said the strategic
plan could be integrated with
the campus relocation process
to form a successful three-to-
five-year process.
“It’s nice to get the big
picture,” board member Lori
Lum said. “There’s no bet-
ter time than now to discover
what is our vision, what is our
purpose.”
Board member Brian Tay-
lor agreed the timing was
right. “The time to do that is
right now, so when we go to
move up the hill, everybody is
moving in the same direction.”
Funds for the project would
come from budget consultant
funds and grants, Roley said.
If adopted at the Thursday,
Dec. 14, district board meet-
ing, Colonna would bring fo-
cus groups to the district and
invite community input.
“I think the timing is per-
fect,” Roley said.
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Seaside Airport considers amenities for arrivals
MAZATLAN
camping discussion never
moved forward.
City ordinance prohibits
camping anywhere in the city
and the airport is no exception.
“The committee has pushed
for a long time and the city has
not allowed people to put their
tent out into the grass,” Hen-
derson said. “It’s something
most small airports allow, but
the city will confiscate your
tent in the grassy area.”
To change the policy
would require a variance, he
said. “We keep asking and the
answer is ‘no.’”
M E X I C A N R E S TA U R A N T
By R.J. Marx
Randall Hen-
derson and
Teri Carpenter,
chairman and
vice chairwoman
of the Seaside
Airport Advisory
Committee.
Seaside Signal
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Before the bike program
can begin, storage will be
needed. The committee agreed
a 3-foot-by-9-foot container —
rather than a shed — would of-
fer the most portability and du-
rability. Cost estimates will be
presented at a future session.
While the bikes and shed
won easy agreement, the
Expires 12/15/17
Bikes at Seaside Airport?
Yes. Camping? No.
The Seaside Airport Advi-
sory Committee met Tuesday,
Nov. 28, with an eye to visit-
ing travelers. On the agenda
was a request to allow camp-
ing on the airport’s grassy area
and a new bike storage unit.
When visitors fly to Sea-
side, they still need to travel
to their final destination, Ran-
dall Henderson, the commit-
tee’s chairman, said. Bicycles
would be available to pilots
and their passengers.
“Pilots don’t have cars
parked at the airport and
would appreciate transporta-
tion to homes or lodging in
Seaside and Gearhart,” Hen-
derson said. “In small gen-
eral aviation, it’s called ‘the
last mile problem.’ You get to
the airport and you’re kind of
stuck.”
Other Oregon airports pro-
vide courtesy or loaner cars,
Henderson said. Sunriver Air-
port keeps a stable of bicycles
available for visitors.
Costs, and in some cases
the bicycles, are mostly cov-
ered by donations, Henderson
said.
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