OUR 112th Year
August 2, 2019 $1.00
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
Vacation rental limits, new enforcement ahead
Regulations aimed at
compliance, workforce housing
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
USA Today listed Seaside as No. 10 as its
“50 best places to buy a vacation rental prop-
erty in 2019.”
That’s a list City Councilor Tita Montero
doesn’t want to be on.
Part of the reason for its high ranking, she
said, is the city’s lack of regulations, she said
at Monday’s joint Planning Commission and
City Council work session on vacation rental
dwellings. “One of the things it said about
Seaside is we have very few rules. I was sort
of ticked off.”
Offi cials showed support for changes
including caps for the number of vacation
rental dwellings, licensing limits and a mor-
atorium on new units to meet the region’s
workforce housing crunch, which may limit
inventory and discourage rentals, according
to a January county housing study.
Acting on recommendations from the
Planning Commission, the workshop, led by
City Councilor Seth Morrisey, who sat on
the countywide housing task force, sought to
chart a process of introducing ordinances or
changes to ordinances already in place.
In seeking to limit new short-term rent-
als, Montero asked staff to look into a mor-
atorium on issuing future licenses until rules
are enacted.
Higher fees for licensing and annual
inspections for vacation rental dwellings
could also be on the horizon.
A limit on the maximum number of vaca-
tion rentals within Seaside could be consid-
ered, possibly 10%, a limit used by Lincoln
City, considered a comparable example.
According to the county’s housing study,
the 2018 estimated number of housing units
STATE REP. TIFFINY MITCHELL
SITS IN ON MEETING
State Rep. Tiffi ny Mitch-
ell, D-Astoria, was in the
front row of the audience
as Seaside City Council
and Planning Commis-
sion members consid-
ered changes to the city’s
vacation rental dwelling
rules.
Tiffi ny Mitchell
See Mitchell, Page A7
See Rentals, Page A7
Seaside: The Movie
Clatsop County Public Health
Seaside, public
play ‘catch-up’
on teen smoking,
vaping
By KATHERINE LACAZE
Seaside Signal
The Clatsop County Public Health
Department is looking for cooperation from
the city of Seaside and other local govern-
ments to implement a tobacco retail licens-
ing fee aimed at mitigating underage use of
vaping devices and e-cigarettes.
“If we have all the cities and the county
working on the same page, then we can have
a complete program,” Director Michael
McNickle told Seaside city councilors
during their regular meeting July 22.
McNickle and Julia Hesse, the county’s
tobacco prevention specialist, gave a presen-
tation on the county’s potential ordinance
to impose a tobacco licensing fee on local
retailers. Once the ordinance is approved at
the county level, cities will be asked to indi-
vidually adopt the ordinance by reference,
according to Clatsop County Commissioner
Pamela Wev, liaison to the public health
department.
“We have a massive problem in our entire
population, but specifi cally among teenag-
ers,” she said.
The county’s public health staff has been
working on the ordinance for about two
years, following the state of Oregon’s enact-
ment of Senate Bill 754, or the Tobacco 21
law, which made Oregon the fi fth state to
increase the legal age to purchase tobacco
and tobacco products.
Alyssa Roehrenbeck
Cast and crew members Matt Shingledecker (actor, Roger), Steff anie Leigh (actress, Susanna), Kameron Gates (makeup artist), Jade
Harris (production designer, costume designer).
By EVE MARX
For Seaside Signal
Along the North Coast and in the
Portland Metro area for 18 days, fi lm-
makers captured the fl avor of the
coast. The marquee reads “Seaside,”
the movie, to debut Aug. 20.
Oregon native Sam Zalutsky
directed the Gravitas Ventures produc-
tion, starring Ariana DeBose, Sharon
Washington, Matt Shingledecker, and
Steffanie Garrar in a revenge thriller
that explore the tension between peo-
ple’s surface behavior and the confl ict-
ing thoughts and impulses bubbling up
inside us all.
“The movie takes its inspiration
from the Seaside area, which is very
dear to me,” Zalutsky said.
Target is nonsmokers
Despite the decline in the underage use
of tobacco during the past few years, e-cig-
arettes — including increasingly popular
Alyssa Roehrenbeck
Director Sam Zalutsky talks with cast at Funland.
See Movie, Page A8
See Vaping, Page A7
Social justice, activism
motivate artist May Wallace
By CARA MICO
For Seaside Signal
Portland artist May Wallace’s
portrait exhibit at the Seaside
Library focuses on the faces of
climate change and features large
scale images of the people who
inspire her.
The portraits, on display until
Aug. 27, are oversized and fea-
ture full-body portraits of people
in their daily life, underwater and
on fi re.
Wallace, 69, has “always been
an activist,” and is outspoken
about the importance of immigra-
tion and housing reform in addi-
tion to the climate crisis which
became one of
her focus issues
almost
seven
years ago. While
the portraits are
meant to high-
light the urgency
of the current cli-
mate meltdown, it’s clear from
speaking with her and through her
art that she cares deeply about the
people around her.
“I’m continuing to make por-
traits of houseless people,” Wal-
lace said. “A lot of people con-
tinue to ignore them, it’s great to
have them as friends, to know a
little bit about their struggles.”
See Wallace, Page A7
“Meg,” by May Wallace, from “The Things They Carry” series.