Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 2018)
BYE BYE BIRDIE By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal T oo much foot traffic and too many predators have made Gear- hart’s dry sand less inviting to one rare visitor. The western snowy plover, a threatened species, last nested on Necanicum Spit in 2002. Without any recent sightings, the area school- children dubbed “Birdy Beach” in 2014 will no longer be kept as an ac- tive bird management site and seasonal restrictions will be lifted. See Plover, Page 6A SEASIDESIGNAL.COM OUR 112th YEAR • February 16, 2018 City brings campus land into boundary With annexation, permit process to follow By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal SEASIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT Infrastructure plans will follow after approval of annexation of the Seaside School District campus property. After months of revisions, Seaside’s City Council unanimously approved a plan to bring two properties into the city’s boundary. The annexation marks the end of one phase of the process begun with the passage of a $99.7 bond for a new school campus, approved by voters in 2016. The decision enables the school district to proceed with infrastructure like water, sew- age and roads. The property, located at 2000 Spruce Drive, includes the residential portion of the existing Seaside Heights Elementary School site outside the wetlands zone. Superintendent Sheila Ro- ley and members of the construction represent- ed the district. “Tonight, City Council approved annexation of our property into the city of Seaside, which allows us to move forward with the next steps on building our schools,” Roley said after the meeting. “It also gives the city jurisdiction in that area now that we are annexed in. It is one great step forward in the cooperative effort be- tween the city and the citizens and the school district and our partners to get our kids into a high-quality school in a safe place.” Before voting in favor of the ordinance, Councilor Tita Montero asked school district representatives for regular and in-person up- dates. She also sought greater detail on traffic studies and parking. “We have a lot of issues in getting it done Seaside subdivision gets go-ahead Project involves 58 affordable homes By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal PAID R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL Max Ritchie on the site of Blue Heron Pointe last March. 2006. But plans stalled until late 2016, when the Ritchies presented a 45-unit multi- family proposal. That plan hit a snag over a requirement for a sidewalk along Wahan- na Road. The project remained dormant until the Ritch- ies presented a new design showing pedestrian and bike lanes within the subdivision. The prior plan would have accommodated a duplex on every lot with the exception Planning Commissioner Richard Ridout, who vot- ed against approval, said sidewalks should have been included. “I’m not ready to give up on the need for there being a sidewalk there,” he said. Traffic improvements along Avenue S will likely be among city and school district priorities, Planning Commission Vice Chairman Bill Carpenter said. Sidewalks will likely be a priority of the city and school district, Commissioner Da- vid Posalski added. Carpenter and Posalski were joined by Chris Hoth, the commission’s chairman, and commissioners Teri Car- penter, Lou Neubecker and Ray Romine in the 6-1 vote to proceed. After the meeting, Ritchie said his first steps would be to improve underground util- ities already installed and to record the subdivision plat. Plans are “a little differ- ent” from those first submit- ted more than a decade ago, he said. “They’ve put in a few more requirements, but I’m glad to provide some housing for the community.” See Boundary, Page 7A State elk response leaves city unsatisfied Frustration grows over lack of options By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal The response from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to Gearhart’s ongoing search for a solution to the elk problem left some officials unsatisfied and want- ing more. “We have no power over wildlife population in our area,” Mayor Matty Brown said at the Feb. 7 Gearhart City Council meeting. “Zero. It’s all the ODFW. Really the only thing the city can do is to document these cases and sending that information to the ODFW. It’s really up to them if they want to control popula- tion of animals. Period.” After providing a chron- icled listing of elk and hu- man interactions, including some in which humans and pets were threatened on city streets, the city reached out to the department. JOHN DUDLEY This elk dines on some Gear- hart shrubbery. A letter addressed to ODFW went out in the mail Jan. 10. “The city of Gearhart would like to request more information on how to best protect the citizens’ safety and what can be done so no one is injured or killed by these ani- mals,” Brown wrote. The mayor said he hoped to build awareness of conflicts and public safety issues. In a response, depart- ment wildlife biologist Her- man Biederbeck thanked the See Elk, Page 6A The art of Gayle H. Seely PERMIT NO. 97 ASTORIA, OR PRSRT STD US POSTAGE Patience proved a virtue for Seaside developers Bruce and Max Ritchie. For more than a decade, they’ve submitted plans for the 15-acre plot of land on the corner of South Wahanna Road and Avenue S known as Blue Heron Pointe. At the Feb. 6 Planning Commission meeting, their 58-lot, single-family propos- al won conditional approval. A draft of a final plan will be delivered later this month, Planning Director Kevin Cupples said. The homes will provide workforce housing, Max Ritchie said, with prices in the “low $300,000 and high $200,000” range. Homes will average under 2,000 square feet. The saga of Blue Her- on Pointe began in the ear- ly 2000s, going so far as to win preliminary approval in of one. The revised plan pres- ents 58 single-family home lots. Lingering concerns about traffic surfaced during public comment Tuesday. With construction of the new Seaside school campus nearby, neighbors, including Cooper Street residents, fear construction and school traf- fic will overwhelm already burdened city streets. “This construction will be taking place at the same time as construction for the schools,” Seaside resident Mary Kjemhus said. Speeding traffic could cause a hazard on the blind hill near the entrance to the subdivision, she said. “I want to get it on the radar — how do we slow traffic along there?” Resident Kemy Kay Kjemhus said the new homes could bring at least two cars per family, with four trips per day going out — “472 cars on that little country road at Wahanna and Avenue S.” To get onto Cooper Drive is already “extraordinarily hard” on school days, both in mornings and afternoons, she added. with the least impact on the citizens of that neighborhood,” Mayor Jay Barber said. “We’ll get there, and this is the next step in that pro- cess, to annex that property. Then our Planning Commission has a yeoman’s job to do in an- swering all these questions.” Councilor Steve Wright called the ordinance a first step. “This is a huge project,” he said. “From looking at the (city’s) past, there’s never been anything of this magnitude. We’ve got to work together, and we’re well on our way.” Barber, Wright, Montero and councilors Dana Phillips, Tom Horning and Seth Morrisey voted for the ordinance. Randy Frank was absent. Next comes the submission of a campus master plan followed by Planning Commission review. Artist studies the mosaic patterns of river rock By Eve Marx For Seaside Signal EVE MARX/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL Artist Gayle H. Seely. “I love seeing people become so involved in my boxes,” Gayle H. Seely said. The artist’s unique creations will be on display at Fair- weather House and Gallery’s Art Walk kick off at the “Fresh Greens” opening reception on Saturday, March 3, from 5 to 7 p.m. Her ancient methods of mosaic and beading combined with fresh, modern energy and emotions create in- tricate colorful boxes, bound to delight. Seely, an Oregon native, moved to the North Coast from Trinidad, California, in 1984. She became familiar with the area after her parents moved to Gearhart in 1980. On a sleepy Monday morning at the Pacif- ic Way Bakery in Gearhart, Seely relayed that as a child she spent a lot of time examining and studying the natural mosaic of river rock in Fall River. After graduating from the Uni- versity of Oregon with a degree in fine art, she moved to San Francisco to take a job in an ar- chitectural design firm. “It was the late ’70’s, I lived in the Mari- na,” Seely said. “I fed my interest in fine art going to galleries and museums. I walked all over the city, I read Ayn Rand, I took day trips to Santa Cruz,” she laughed. To offset the ar- tistic constrictions of her day job, she enrolled at Humboldt State College as a post baccalau- reate unclassified, which meant she could take any art class she liked. “There was a senior year seminar where I was thrown in with the messy artists, and I re- alized I wanted to feel that,” Seely said. She decided to pay off her school loan and her and car loan and eventually quit her job in San Francisco to move to Trinidad to make art. To support herself, she took a job waiting ta- bles at a place called The Eatery. “When I wasn’t working, I drew. I was drawn to seascapes,” Seely said. “I’ve always loved the beach.” See Seely, Page 7A