Friday, October 25, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A7
School: Buyer would need to do due diligence in sale
BUSINESS
Continued from Page A1
Sales pitch
The Gearhart campus sits
on 8.4 acres one block west
of the intersection of U.S.
Highway 101 and Pacifi c
Way, describes Norris &
Stevens, co-representing the
school district, with Popkin
Real Estate.
“The main building has
classic large classrooms
with a large central hallway
featuring natural sunlight
through countertop-to-ceil-
ing glass windows,” they
write. “The four outer build-
ings are staged around the
main building for specialty
classrooms.”
Listed at $1.9 million,
the campus offers workout
facilities with a full gymna-
sium plus covered basket-
ball courts outside. Baseball,
soccer and softball fi elds and
two bark chipped outdoor
play areas offer recreational
opportunities.
While real estate agents
declined to comment for
this article, in July, Norris
& Stevens agent Raymond
Duchek said he had not
“zeroed in” on the market.
Duchek said he is look-
ing to market the campus
to the broadest net possible,
including buyers who might
be interested in using the
existing structures. “We’re
trying to get as many options
on the table for the school
district,” he said.
Firehouse
Since the early 2000s,
Gearhart fi refi ghters have
asked the city to replace the
fi re house, a building con-
structed in 1958 considered
unsafe in an earthquake or
tsunami. A 2006 bond mea-
sure for a new public safety
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Seaside High School Superintendent emeritus Doug Dougherty shows the conditions of the
boiler room at Gearhart Elementary School in 2016.
building failed at the polls.
Gearhart’s Jack Zimmer-
man would like to see the
city reconsider the school
as a possibility for the pro-
posed Gearhart Fire Sta-
tion, now targeted at what is
known as the High Point site
on North Marion.
“At this point in time
the Gearhart school has
become, in my opinion, an
increasing catalyst dividing
the community between the
proposed fi re station and the
school’s future,” Zimmer-
man wrote in a guest column
(see “Opinion: Gearhart Fire
should consider elementary
school location,” p. 5).
“While most of our com-
munity is keenly aware of
Gearhart leadership’s well-
funded efforts to build a
13,000-square-foot
fi re
facility, many of us are per-
plexed,” Zimmerman wrote.
“Perplexed with regards to
the glaring absence of either
a formal position or the void
in effort to investigate our
school as an alternative to
the proposed fi re station.”
City Administrator Chad
Sweet said the city’s fi re-
house committee looked at
the school as a potential site
and knocked it off the table
as an option. “It was not
considered because its ele-
vation is 17 feet — our cur-
rent station is at 27 feet.”
The land is close to the
aquifer, making that location
susceptible to subsidence,
Sweet said.
“During winter storms
the area fl oods in part
because of the small creek
to the east of the property,”
he said. “These are many of
the same reasons the school
district is moving the school
out. The public would lose
trust in its city offi cials if
they put a fi re station in such
a location.”
Unless a school or gov-
ernment building were to
take over the location, the
property would require a
zone change.
Sweet said he had been
told it would cost between
$500,000 and $1 million to
tear the building down, the
differential largely because
of asbestos concerns.
If the building was occu-
pied as is, a purchaser could
continue to use it as long
as they could pass building
code.
“Nobody has talked to me
about it, nor have they talked
to planning about it,” Sweet
said. “They could buy it, but
they’ve got a very long road
to hoe to do any changes.”
“As the property is on the
market,” Henry said. “We’d
prefer to have direct discus-
sions with potential buyers
about existing conditions
and opportunities, letting
them perform their own due
diligence.”
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Hops: Raising money for outdoor trails at new campus
Continued from Page A1
a fi fth-grade teacher at The
Heights Elementary School.
However, not wanting
to restrict patrons to drink-
ing one type of beer, Sea-
side Brewery owner Jimmy
Griffi n said, they commit-
ted 100% of monies raised
from all beer sales during
the fundraiser to a charity of
Meyer’s choice.
The educator and presi-
dent of the Seaside Teach-
ers Association chose for the
money to go toward building
trails and installing benches
for students to use.
“With all the technolog-
ical distractions, all of the
negative impacts of human
destruction to the planet, and
the addictive problems with
anti-social media, nature is a
powerful anecdote,” Meyer
said, adding it can provide
“the calming peace so many
of our students desperately
need to offset the trauma and
wounds they are enduring.”
His vision is to provide
enough walking trails and
bench seating on the school
property so all the class-
rooms at the new campus
Katherine Lacaze
Jeremy Catt, assistant principal of The Heights and Gearhart
elementary schools, dances with his 5-year-old daughter
Neah at a fundraiser at Seaside Brewery on Wednesday, Oct.
16. Money raised from sales of the Hops for Teachers pale ale
during the evening will go toward building trails at the new
school campus.
have easy access to spe-
cial outdoor places for stu-
dents to enjoy for a variety
of activities, including art,
reading, and journal writing.
These “can become special
moments and experiences
for our children to capture
and cling to as they grow
and develop into community
members with an ownership
towards the land,” Meyer
said.
“Children need exposure
to the wonder of the world,
to be curious about other liv-
ing things, and to fi nd their
place in a natural order out-
side the confi nes of the
human structures that often
limit creativity and stifl e the
sublime,” he said.
Meyers has been growing
hops for about six years on
his riverside property. About
three years ago, he discussed
the idea of partnering with
the Seaside Brewing Com-
pany with Todd and Sarah
Lippold.
The brewing company
created two small batches
of Hops for Teachers the
past two years using Mey-
er’s Cascade and Mount
Hood varieties. This year,
they spent three days pick-
ing hops in September and
came away with enough for
a 15-barrel batch — or 30
kegs — of the brew.
“It was kind of cool that
were enough hops this year
to make a full batch,” Griffi n
said. “It was a lot of work,
but it was a lot of fun mak-
ing it.”
With the size of the
yield, the brewery was able
to cut some monies loose
for the fundraiser, he said.
The rest of the batch will be
sold at the brewery until it
runs out.
Fall Fun Fest: Saying ‘trick or treat’ underwater
Continued from Page A1
Expanding attendance
The Fall Fun Fest —
sponsored by Providence
Seaside Hospital, Lum’s
Auto Center and other local
businesses — was immedi-
ately followed by the dis-
trict’s Spooky Swim at the
Sunset Pool. Last year,
numerous guests were
turned away from swimming
because of the pool’s lim-
ited capacity. As a response,
the recreation district broke
the event into two different
one-hour waves this year to
allow roughly 200 people to
join the festivities, albeit for
a shorter amount of time.
The Fall Fun Fest also
has grown so large it strains
the capacity of the commu-
nity center, Wildt and Lee
said. Although the district
staff works to do the best
with the space available, the
event has continued growing
over the years such that Lee
anticipates eventually need-
ing to fi nd an alternate loca-
tion in the coming years.
Katherine Lacaze
Volunteer Hannah Aulston paints a Halloween icon on Carson
Smith at the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District’s Fall
Fun Fest on Saturday, Oct. 19.
A recreational spin
This was the second
year for the Spooky Swim,
which was started as a sort
of replacement for the rec-
reation district’s traditional
“haunted house” that was
set up at the pool and other
on-site facilities. Accord-
ing to Lee, the organization
was looking to better align
the event with its goal of
promoting recreation while
offering children an activ-
ity that would keep them
engaged for a whole eve-
ning, rather than for a sin-
gle trip through the haunted
house.
Additionally, Lee said,
there are other regional orga-
nizations that put on haunted
houses or similar attractions,
while the Spooky Swim is
“something we could specif-
ically offer the community.”
While last year the dis-
trict received inquiries from
community members about
whether they would con-
tinue offering the haunted
house, Lee said she feels the
change has been positively
received.
The Sunset Pool is trans-
formed with lights and dec-
oration, and music plays
while the swimmers enjoy
the pool and play games if
they feel so inclined.
To get into the festival
and swim, patrons had the
option of paying $2 admis-
sion or donating two cans of
food for the South County
Community Food Bank.
Although Lee said they were
still confi rming the precise
number of items collected
for the food pantry, she esti-
mated it to be about 350 to
400 individual canned and
dried goods.
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