OUR 113th Year
February 14, 2020 $1.00
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
Gearhart sets table for fi re station bond vote
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
R.J. Marx
Property on North Marion under consideration for a public safety building.
A bond for a new fi rehouse in
Gearhart could go on the ballot as
soon as May, but there are a few
“ifs.”
At the Wednesday, Feb. 5, City
Council meeting, councilors unan-
imously approved a request for
up to $25,000 from the building
reserve fund to coordinate work to
date, review materials and prepare
a cost estimate for a bond. The city
has about $142,000 in reserves for
these purposes.
“As we’re fi nishing these points
of due diligence, my hope is that
we are able to come to a decision
sometime soon and perhaps put a
new fi re station on a bond some-
time this year,” Mayor Matt Brown
said. “That’s my hope.”
The funds are designed to “tri-
ple-check” cost estimates for a
new fi rehouse and resiliency sta-
tion at the High Point site on North
Marion Avenue, City Administra-
tor Chad Sweet said.
Should these estimates, which
include the cost for design, geo-
technical studies and construction,
independently pan out, the city
could be eligible for a more favor-
able bond structure from Busi-
ness Oregon, the state’s economic
development agency.
“We have completed the pre-
application and we are working
on the longer application,” Sweet
said. “One of the requirements
is that our estimations have gone
See Fire station, Page A5
Heritage
Homes wins
land partitions
Planning Commission OKs
fi ve-parcel home plan
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Katherine Lacaze
The fundraiser, which raises money for various phases of the Bob Chisholm Community Center’s renovation, included a pizza
dinner, the Fascination competition and raffl es.
Bob Chisholm
Community Center
thrives with a
little bit of luck
KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
O
f all the fundraisers for community causes hosted by local organiza-
tions, the annual Fascination Tournament to benefi t the Bob Chisholm
Community Center is one of the loudest.
That’s to be expected when more than 30 teams with four members
apiece participate in a fast-paced competition to see who comes out
ahead while playing a century-old arcade game that relies primarily on luck.
See Fascination, Page A5
The Seaside Planning Commission gave
OKs Feb. 4 for a fi ve-parcel home plan along
the west bank of the Necanicum River.
Astoria’s Heritage Home Building Inc.
will divide the two Seaside parcels into lots
for fi ve single-family homes, three on the
12th Avenue side and two on 13th Avenue.
Each property will have the river in the
back, with the front will face the ocean side.
Nathan Johnson, on behalf of his father
Ben Johnson, sought approval of the two
partitions between 12th Avenue and 13th
Avenue.
Heritage plans to build one single-family
dwelling on each of the subsequent parcels.
Access to all parcels will be along the
western property line.
Public utilities are located on 12th and
13th Avenue, and new water and sewer
hookups will be installed to serve the new
parcels.
While the .3-acre 12th Avenue parcel
could accommodate four lots with attached
units under the provisions of the higher den-
sity R-3 zone, according to staff documents,
the applicant believes “three detached
dwellings would be more suited to the
neighborhood.”
A proposed 25-foot wide access would
run parallel to the west property line and
each of the parcels would be oriented east
to west.
Residents at the public hearing showed
overall support for the home plan, but asked
for a look at traffi c, parking and sidewalks.
Twelfth Avenue resident Karl Schorr
said he was not opposed to the partition, but
he was concerned residents might use the
access road to the property as a short-cut.
“What am I concerned with is you might
fi nd traffi c is more than you intend. When
people fi nd a shorter route, they will take
it.”
See Land, Page A5
Mill Ponds community cleanup yields results
Nearly 26 tons of
garbage collected
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Volunteers descended upon
Mill Ponds in Seaside on Sat-
urday, Feb. 8, inspired by the
efforts of 37-year-old commer-
cial fi sherman Jesse Anderson to
clean up the local habitat.
“I cannot say it enough,”
Anderson said on Facebook Sat-
urday. “How thankful I am for
the community support and the
volunteers that risk their health
and injury to be a part of this
cleanup.”
Before they left, volunteers
collected the amount of garbage
equivalent to a Fourth of July
cleanup, Seaside’s Public Works
Director Dale McDowell said
Monday.
The Public Works Department
hauled 50 yards — about 26 tons
of garbage — from the Mill Ponds
and the boat launch site to Recol-
ogy in Astoria, McDowell said,
with more to come. Employees
Jeremy Strimple and Cesar Alcala
pitched in using the city dump
truck, two dump boxes, a backhoe
and mini-excavator. The depart-
ment also provided garbage bags,
nitrile gloves, Sharps containers
and long-handled garbage pickers.
Anderson said 32 volunteers
collected tires, more than 20 bikes,
30 rims and tires from bikes, a
two-gallon bucket of batteries and
500 needles with 50 yards picked
by hand and an estimated 500 to
800 picked up by machines in one
site deemed unsafe.
Volunteer and former Sunset
Empire Park and Recreation Dis-
trict Director Mary Blake “found
her very own plaque she had gotten
from Providence Hospital,” Ander-
son said.
See Cleanup, Page A5
Susan Williams
LEFT Organizer Jesse Anderson fl ashes a smile at the Saturday, Feb. 8, cleanup.
RIGHT Joe Sims participates in the Mill Ponds cleanup.