A6 • Friday, January 31, 2020 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
School district rejects bid on high school
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Seaside campus project manager Jim
Henry said the school district had rejected a
bid for Seaside High School.
“We had an offer at the high school that
was considerably less than our asking price,
and we declined to accept that,” Henry said
at the meeting of the district’s school con-
struction oversight committee on Jan. 15.
The bid was about one-third the asking
price of $5.2 million, he said.
According to Norris & Stevens, agents
marketing the property, the campus, on
more than 12½ acres with more than
102,000 square feet of business space, was
constructed in 1958 and is zoned for medi-
um-density residential use.
Three additional, ocean-view parcels
between North Holladay Drive and the
Necanicum River, with a combined 32,500
square feet, are zoned for medium-density
residential.
As students prepare to start the new school
year at campuses in the Southeast Hills,
other school district properties on the market
include the Gearhart Elementary School, sit-
ting on 8½ acres with almost 32,000 square
feet of building space, at $1.9 million; and
Broadway Middle School, a 73,000-square-
foot property on 5.4 acres at Broadway and
Roosevelt Drive listed at $3.6 million.
Henry said the district had led a tour of
the middle school with a workforce housing
developer at the middle school.
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation Dis-
trict has expressed interest, he said, and the
city of Seaside may seek to maintain the por-
tion of the property which houses the cham-
ber of commerce building, leased by the
school district to the city.
“We’re not sure where that’s going to
go,” Henry said. “The workforce housing
developer has put together a simple dia-
gram of how something work on the site, but
they’re still looking at what they’re going to
do. We’re waiting for that to keep percolat-
ing along and any other investors or oppor-
tunities that show up.”
Norris & Stevens
Seaside High School from the air. The prop-
erty is on the market for $5.2 million.
Rides: Kids get ride access
Continued from Page A1
Katherine Lacaze
The Orbitronz band performs at the sixth annual Tillamook Head Gathering at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center on
Sunday, Jan. 27.
Arts: Students display their artistic side at Gathering
Continued from Page A1
including Michelle Wunder-
lich, who now serves on the
Seaside School Board; Karen
Emmerling, of Beach Books;
Mizell-Wallace,
Mizell’s
daughter; and high school
teacher Ben Chambers.
As they planned the inau-
gural gathering for 2015, the
group wasn’t certain it would
become an annual event, but
“we hoped it would,” said
Mizell-Wallace, herself a
Seaside graduate.
Local educators who
wish to access the group’s
funds for various cultural
and arts enrichment oppor-
tunities submit an applica-
tion to the board for their
consideration. Mizell-Wal-
lace said they’ve been able
to grant most of the requests
so far.
Between 2015 and 2019,
the Tillamook Head Gather-
ing has raised about $30,000
and supported a variety of
activities, including a choir
performance at Disneyland,
botany class supplies, Sea-
side High School Arts Day,
dance lessons, calligraphy
supplies, instruments for the
ODOT: plan could fund improvements
Guitar Club, creative work-
shops and fi eld trips.
“Arts is a broad term,”
Chambers said. He expressed
his gratitude for the peo-
ple who participated in this
year’s event, whether by
donating items for the silent
auction or simply attending.
“You’re supporting these
activities for the community
and these students.”
what other counties and
agencies across the state are
doing.
“It really inspired us
hearing the stories,” he
said.
Grant County provided
free bus rides to students in
kindergarten through 12th
grade, which is the system
the Sunset Empire Trans-
portation District decided
to emulate.
To make the program
more effective, the dis-
trict also is changing its
policy that required chil-
dren 9 years and younger
to ride with an adult. Real-
izing many older students
take care of their younger
siblings while their parents
and guardians work, the
district now permits chil-
dren 9 and younger to ride
with another passenger
who is at least 12 years old.
“That allows those
older siblings to be able to
care for the younger sib-
ling and get on the bus with
them,” Hazen said, adding
they chose age 12 because
it mirrors the state’s guide-
lines for babysitting.
Middle and high school
students can show their
student IDs when getting
on the bus. For elementary
aged students, the district
is relying on drivers to dis-
cern if a passenger meets
the age requirement.
“Our drivers are really
good about watching out
for the kids and making
sure they get off at the right
spot,” Hazen said. “They’ll
be very well taken care of.”
Board notes
• The board approved
a $2,500 gift donation
from Lum’s Auto Center.
The money will go toward
implementing Kajeet, a
program that provides
off-campus Wi-Fi service
to students who don’t have
Internet access at home,
and new furniture for the
high school’s Zen Den, the
sensory room at the high
school.
• The board approved a
gift donation of $2,524.54
from the Cannon Beach
Chamber for the Seaside
High School Culinary Arts
Program. The funds were
raised in 2019 at the cham-
ber’s North Coast Culi-
nary Fest, a celebration of
James Beard in Cannon
Beach. The culinary arts
program sent numerous
student volunteers to help
at the event and they plan
to do so again for the festi-
val this year.
DEL’S O.K. TIRE
Continued from Page A1
The Avenue A- Avenue
K road project, to construct
a new center turn lane and
enhance bicycle and pedes-
trian facilities, goes to bid in
late September, 2021.
U.S. Highway 26 road
repairs, in their design
phase, are funded through
pre-construction.
Replacement of bridges
vulnerable to the tsunami
at Avenue G and Avenue U,
and a pedestrian bridge at
Avenue S, are not included
in the plan, although the
city is applying for fund-
ing per discussions with the
Transportation
Advisory
Committee.
“We are applying for Ave-
nue S, Avenue G and Ave-
nue U bridge or road fund-
ing per discussions with the
Transportation
Advisory
Commission,” McDowell
said. “While this has been
submitted, we have not seen
anything in print,” McDow-
ell said.
HOW TO COMMENT
Department of Transportation open houses will be held in
coming weeks, with an online open house in mid-February pro-
viding the chance to make comments on the plan. Review the
draft project list on the ODOT website. Send your comments to
www.oregon.gov/ODOT or email OregonDOTSTIP@odot.state.
or.us. The deadline for public comment is April 6, 2020.
While the 2021-2024 list is nearly complete, the 2024-2027
program will kick off in July 2020.
ODOT “plans to keep
the public and stakehold-
ers informed and seek their
input at key points through
an open, transparent, and
accessible process,” accord-
ing to the draft transporta-
tion plan.
DINING
on the
NORTH COAST
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CANNON BEACH
Continued from Page A6
loses more than one arm, I
restring the whole thing.”
Each string, which loops
through the entire starfi sh,
are 30 feet long.
A banner across the inter-
section of Broadway and
Holladay displays the fi sh,
the starfi sh and the bubbles.
As for real starfi sh, they
are indeed at risk, Chandler
said.
“There are not a lot,” he
said. “You can fi nd them in
the Cove at low tide. Right
now, there’s a starfi sh wast-
ing disease, so there’s less
starfi sh and sea stars than
there used to be.”
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