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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 2019)
A6 • Friday, August 16, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com Gearhart takes stock of STR numbers By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal Two years into the city’s vacation rental rules came into place, City Administra- tor Chad Sweet provided an update on short-term rental permits at the Aug. 7 City Council meeting. The rules brought limits on the transfer of short-term rental permits through sale. “It is the intent that the sale of homes with a rental permit will result in gradual attrition of the total number of dwell- ings with a vacation rental permit,” the ordinance states. The numbers are dropping. Starting at 98 permits at the start of the program in 2017, the number of permits dropped from 81 in 2018 to 79 now. Gearhart’s rules limit the transfer of permits through sale. Despite the slide in the number of permits, revenue generated from those per- mits is on the rise. Total tran- sient tax received has risen from $294,000 in 2017 to about $345,000 this year. About $211,000 or 61% of that comes from hotels and motels in Gearhart; resi- dential property and condos make up the difference. Application fees, how- ever, have diminished, from an initial $46,900 to zero in 2018-19, as “we’re not tak- ing any application fees in the R-1 zone,” Sweet said. The city saw collections of $38,000 from renewal fees of $600 per property in 2018-19. Permit fees stood at $5,800 in the month of July and the city has collected $82,000 in transient room tax year-to-date in the 2019-20 budget season. This year, the number of complaints has dropped to six from a high of 15 in 2017- 18. “Most of all complaints we took were taken care of,” Sweet said. Noise, parking and bark- ing dogs “have really been the crux of the issue,” he said. Source: US Census, AirDNA, Johnson Economics Healthy Smiles increases children’s access to dental care By NICOLE BALES The Astorian Many dental problems are preventable, yet they are among the most com- mon chronic conditions for children and among the top reasons kids go to the emer- gency room or miss school. Dental care is available through private insurance and the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s version of Medic- aid, however many parents do not know their children qualify or how to get help. Based on community health needs assessments, The Oregon Community Foundation provided a fi ve- year, $300,000 grant to Providence Seaside Hospital for school-based outreach to improve access. Under the Healthy Smiles program, hundreds of students each school year receive dental screenings, as well as sealants through the Oregon Health Authority and information on how to navigate dental care. The next school year will be the last one covered by grant money, but Providence Seaside intends to continue the program. Justin Abbott, the Provi- dence Healthy Smiles coor- dinator, works with schools to coordinate care days and helps families understand the often-complicated insur- ance that covers dental care. “I’m Justin’s biggest fan. He has done so much for our students and parents,” said Tobi Boyd, the Seaside School District’s health spe- cialist. “He is the bridge that Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian Students have access to basic dental care supplies provided by Providence Healthy Smiles. is able to fi ll those gaps and make it possible. “Dental problems affect your whole body health and so it’s incredibly important. It’s probably one of the most important things to make sure our kids have healthy teeth.” When screenings reveal students have a more seri- ous dental problem or pain, Abbott said some parents don’t know how to get their child the care they need. “We go through the next steps with them,” he said. “Is it trying to set them up with insurance? Is it getting them actually to the den- tist? What can we do to help them get to the dentist?” Molly Yeend, the stra- tegic projects coordinator for the Oregon Community Foundation, said Healthy Smiles has found children who may have never been to a dentist before. “(Abbott) is going in and helping to educate the kids so it kind of helps eliminate the fears that they might have about going to the den- tist and understanding the importance of taking care of their teeth,” she said. Healthy Smiles guides parents and their children toward available dentists. However, children covered by the Oregon Health Plan have to see dentists in Asto- ria, since there are no den- tists in South County who accept the state’s insurance. There are also no pedi- atric dentists in Clatsop County, which creates a bar- rier for care if a child needs extensive work, or just can’t be treated because they’re Fall mushroom season starts early By TOM BANSE Northwest News Network Pacifi c Northwesterners who forage for wild mush- rooms are noticing that the late summer and fall delica- cies are coming in early this year. Edible wild mushrooms are now fl ooding wholesale markets. In the maritime North- west, chanterelles are coming in at least three weeks early. In the Cascade Mountains, porcinis (aka king boletes) and matsutakes (aka pine mushroom) are poking up earlier than normal too. “We’re already seeing mushrooms coming in that generally don’t show up until the middle of September,” said Charlie Wiley, a com- mercial mushroom buyer in Southwest Washington and owner of Pacifi c Northwest Wild Mushrooms. “We’ve got pine mushrooms coming in. I can’t remember ever get- ting them in August.” Wiley guessed the wild mushrooms were triggered to fruit early by mild, moist summer weather. “Mother Nature is fi nicky and she defi nitely tricked them,” Wiley told public radio last week. “It’s shap- ing up to be an outstanding mushroom crop this year.” Wiley said wholesale prices are falling fast as pick- ers bring in big harvests, which means you might want to keep an eye out for spe- cials at supermarkets and restaurants. A new festival in Ore- gon to celebrate wild mush- rooms had to be moved up by a week to Aug. 25 because the star attraction is arriv- ing early. The Mount Hood Meadows Mushroom Festi- val was originally scheduled for Labor Day weekend. Vice president Dave Tragethon said his Mount Hood resort previously hosted mushroom dinners in the spring and fall, but expanded the program this year to include guided hikes, cooking demos and a food fest. “We are making this more about discovery and getting into the forest to fi nd some treasures, identifying them and coming up with delicious ways to prepare and present them,” Tragethon said. Novices interested in for- aging for wild mushrooms are strongly urged to go out with a mushroom expert until they get the hang of fungi identifi cation. Commercial mushroom foragers hope the unusual early arrival of fall fungi does not lead to an early end of this year’s season as well. “Hopefully, we’ll still get another fl ush of things in the fall,”said Dena Wiley, a part- ner in the Pacifi c Northwest Wild Mushrooms company. “We count on the October mushrooms to come in for the Thanksgiving holidays.” PUBLIC MEETINGS Tuesday, Aug. 20 Sunset Empire Park and Recre- ation District Board of Directors, 5:15 p.m., Bob Chisholm Commu- nity Center, 1225 Avenue A, Sea- side. Seaside Planning Commission, work session, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Seaside School District Board of Directors, 7 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin, Seaside. Wednesday, Aug. 21 Seaside Tourism Advisory Commit- tee, 3 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Monday, Aug. 26 Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Tuesday, Sept. 3 Community Center Commission meeting, 10:30 a.m., Bob Chisholm Center, 1225 Avenue A, Seaside. Seaside Library Board, 4:30 p.m., Seaside Public Library, 1131 Broad- way. Sunset Empire Park and Recre- ation District, board workshop, 5:15 p.m., Bob Chisholm Commu- nity Center, 1225 Avenue A, Sea- side. Seaside Planning Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Wednesday, Sept. 4 Seaside Improvement Commis- sion, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broad- way. too afraid and fi dgety. The closest pediatric dentists that take the Oregon Health Plan are in St. Helens and the Portland area. “The issue is there’s just not enough dental provid- ers who will take OHP to see these folks who are either low income or no income,” said Michael McNickle, the county’s public health director. McNickle and Abbott said transportation is also a major obstacle for low-in- come families in South County or rural areas who want to take their children to a dentist. “Sometimes that’s a huge barrier parents have to over- come is the distance that peo- ple have to travel, because if you’re out in Jewell you have to come to Astoria for dental care and sometimes parents have to take entire days off work just to make that appointment. “Then usually, I know when I go to the dentist, you go for the cleaning and then you have to go back, so that’s like two days off work. So if you do that twice a year then that’s four days off work just taking your kids to the den- tist if they’re having any sort of problems at all.” Healthy Smiles also partners with the Oregon Health Authority, the local coordinated care organiza- tion, local dentists and oth- ers every year to provide a screening and services day at Lum’s Auto Center in Warrenton. McNickle said if chil- dren get access to dental care through programs like Healthy Smiles, they likely will not have as many dental issues when they get older. “I think that what we’ll see in the future, that the number of cavities and orthodontic issues and all those kind of things will go down. It’s going to take some time, though,” he said. “I sure am glad Providence has taken that on. I think that’s a marvelous program.” Send money in the moment. Right from your mobile banking app. together with Terms and Conditions Apply.
