A6 • Friday, January 24, 2020 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
Annexation: Property owners seek
assurances costs will be shared fairly
Continued from Page A1
R.J. Marx
A playground area behind The Heights. The new gym is in
the background with a temporary play area in foreground,
left.
School: District
sees ‘substantial
completion’ by July
Continued from Page A1
Henry said he hoped to
fi nish all items on the con-
struction punch list before
faculty and administrators
move in for fall, to “have
a clear line where you take
over certain sections of the
building.”
At the high school and
middle school campus,
crews worked 10-hour
shifts, four days a week,
project superintendent Phil
Broome said. “In the mid-
dle of October, we were
doing six 10s,” he said.
“Now we’re down to four.”
At The Heights Ele-
mentary School, modulars
have been installed and
classes are underway.
The fourth and fi fth
grade will fi nish the year
in the modular, Seaside
Superintendent
Sheila
Roley said.
When Pod A is com-
plete, the students from
Pod B will move in and B
will be remodeled. When
Pod B is done, the students
from Pod C will move in
so C can be remodeled.
No class will move
more than once during this
school year, Roley said,
and it will take most of the
school year to complete
all the pods. Classroom
moves for opening in the
fall will happen during the
summer.
The modulars will
remain after renovations
are complete, in anticipa-
tion of students from Gear-
hart Elementary School,
which is closing in June,
Roley said.
Gearhart has 12 regular
classrooms, with special
education and music.
The Heights will have
about 22 classrooms, 14
inside and eight modulars
outside to house about 750
students next fall.
“We needed this many
more to have the space for
everybody,” Roley said.“It
will be a big elementary,
but they certainly get a lot
bigger.”
Painting or follow-up
could continue at The
Heights at the start of the
new school year, Henry
said.
“Being a renovation
project and working in an
occupied building pres-
ents other kinds of coordi-
nation or schedule issues,”
he said.
Council’s Monday, Jan. 13,
public hearing, the fi rst of
three scheduled. “I know it’s
been a goal of this council
this year to go through the
properties and bring them
into the city. We’ve prepared
an ordinance to allow that to
take place.”
Annexation is required
before land can be devel-
oped at urban density with
city zoning, or to hook up
to city water, police, fi re and
other services. After annex-
ation, subject properties
— about two-thirds east of
which are east of the high-
way, and one-third along the
Necanicum River — would
be withdrawn from the Sea-
side Rural Fire Protection
District and included in the
city of Seaside for fi re pro-
tection purposes.
Property owners would
be required to pay the cost of
water and sewer extensions.
Residents now under
county jurisdiction would
see an increase of about
$1.80 per $1,000 of their
home’s assessed value
after annexation, offi cials
estimated.
According to city staff,
property owners received
letters and an overview map
in October 2018 with a sec-
ond letter and response map
to property owners the fol-
lowing month.
Twenty-seven owners of
the 45 properties were sent
response cards, and 14 of
the 20 owners who replied
said they would be in favor
of annexation, Rahl said.
Residents at the Jan. 13
public hearing sought assur-
ances that they would not
be charged prohibitively
expensive fees for water
hookups or septic removal.
“There are things that
need to be resolved before
we’re on board with annex-
ation,” attorney Chris-
tian Zupancic, represent-
ing SC&RV LLC, which
City of Seaside
Overlay of South Seaside Annexation Project.
owns the land about to be
annexed.
The city would han-
dle installation of the main
sewage lines Rahl said, and
landowners share the cost of
those lines to their home or
business. Those costs may
be paid immediately or in
an installment plan with
interest.
Property owner Benjamin
Brown sought assurances
that he would not be hit with
high fees for removal of
working septic systems.
While hookup would be
mandatory, Winstanley said,
the existing septic system
could be emptied and aban-
doned in place.
Sewer and water plans
are yet to come, Winstanley
said. “We certainly can have
conversation about it, and
we can give you ideas how
we can solve some of those
things, but that’s a project
we do after we annex, not as
we annex.”
“From a design stand-
point, we’re a ways from
doing that,” Winstanley
said. “The council would
have work to do.”
That could include form-
ing a local improvement dis-
trict, fi nalizing a construc-
tion project and compiling
bid documents. “Within a
couple of years time if we
got sewer into those proper-
ties, that would be a pretty
good timeline.”
Councilors said that cost
to homeowners is their main
concern.
“I would instruct we keep
the costs as low as we can
to the homeowners,” City
Councilor Seth Morrisey
said.
City Councilor Steve
Wright added, “Whatever
we do, we want to be fair
and equitable in doing this. ”
Council President Randy
Frank, Councilors Wright,
Morrisey, Tita Montero and
Tom Horning unanimously
voted for the ordinance on
its fi rst reading. Mayor Jay
Barber and Councilor Dana
Phillips were absent.
Second and third read-
ings of the ordinance could
be read after public hearings
scheduled Jan. 27 and Feb.
10.
“We will be taking future
testimony,” Frank said.
“There’s a chance to let us
hear concerns and for every-
one to understand what the
city wants to do.”
Health care
is just the
beginning.
You deserve good health. That’s why Columbia Pacific CCO helps people in our
communities get the comprehensive care they deserve from the Oregon Health Plan.
But good health is more than health care. So we also work with local partners to
increase access to fresh food, education and more. When you’re stronger, we are
all stronger. Learn more at ColPacHealth.org/OHP or call 866-326-5722.
OHP-CPC-19-056