Friday, August 21, 2020 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Foreclosure could
complicate school sale
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
One tax lot for sale at the
former Seaside High School
campus may not actually be
the school district’s to sell.
Lot 4900, a parcel included
in the marketing package for
the sale of the high school, is
owned by Clatsop County, the
county’s property manage-
ment specialist, Sirpa Duoos,
said earlier this month.
“There’s a confl ict with
how the school district has
been handling that piece
through their marketing of the
rest of the property,” Duoos
said.
Tax lot 4900 was originally
deeded to the Seaside School
District by its owners, Leonard
and Eleanor Kiser, in 1956.
But when the school district
failed to pay property taxes
on the 0.82-acre property, the
county foreclosed in 1961.
The county retains own-
ership, even as the parcel is
included in the school’s sales
packet.
The disclosure comes after
the school district’s board of
directors authorized the super-
intendent to negotiate and exe-
cute a $3.2 million contract for
the sale with Harry Henke, a
registered agent of HTA Prop-
erties LLC.
When the former high
school property is sold, almost
8 acres used as ballfi elds at the
north end of the high school
campus will also revert to the
city.
Referred to as “the north
40,” the property, zoned
medium residential, is not
included in the school district
sale.
“Staff has been informed
the city of Seaside is inter-
ested in these properties to use
as recreational fi elds,” Duoos
said.
While other school proper-
ties for sale have no reversion-
ary clauses, there’s “no con-
fl ict there,” Duoos said. “But
we do have to fi gure out how
to resolve tax lot 4900.”
Commissioner
Lianne
Thompson, who represents
District 5, leaned to turning
tax lot 4900 over to the city for
park space.
“It makes sense we allow
them to use it for recreational
purposes and still have the
reversionary clause, so that
we have both fl exibility and
accountability to happen in a
humane way and a sane way,”
Thompson said.
Commissioner
Sarah
Nebeker, who represents Dis-
trict 4, agreed that recre-
ational use is benefi cial for
the community, but added
the county should seek some
compensation.
The land could be sold
for public auction, Duoos
said in her summary to
commissioners.
“Most of all I’d like to hear
from the school district and the
city of Seaside,” Pamela Wev,
county commission chair-
woman, said. “I’d like to hear
what their wants would be
from this.”
City eyes role in elementary school future
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
As Gearhart Elemen-
tary School moves closer to
sale, city offi cials are seek-
ing ways to retain portions
of the land for playground
and athletic fi eld space.
Mayor Matt Brown said
he and City Administrator
Chad Sweet met with with
Robert Morey, a potential
owner of the property, to
discuss a possible role for
the city if the transaction
takes place.
That could involve a
zoning change for a portion
of the property and use of
the park space, soccer and
baseball fi elds for the city,
Sweet said at the August
City Council meeting.
“They want to do a proj-
ect at the site knowing that
it’s going to be diffi cult to
go through zoning that will
benefi t both the community
and maybe get a little bit of
this person’s money back
out,” Sweet said.
If Morey does purchase
the former school, the city
could partner after the pur-
chase helping to maintain
the park space, the soc-
cer fi elds and the baseball
fi elds. “Matt and I thought
that was pretty interesting,”
Sweet said.
Gearhart
Elementary
School sits on 8 1/2 acres
with almost 32,000 square
feet of building space. S tu-
dents will move to the new
Pacifi c Ridge school in
Seaside.
Seaside Signal
Gearhart Elementary School in July.
Originally listed at
$1.9 million, the dis-
trict lowered the price to
$1.2 million earlier this
year before authoriz-
ing the sale to Morey at
$750,000.
Designated public-/
semi-public,
zoning
code limits uses to a gov-
ernment facility, com-
munity meeting build-
ing, public service use or
educational purposes.
The property is not
zoned for residential or
commercial use, which
would require a zone
change.
Maintenance of the
fi elds would require
“simple
maintenance
one or two days work
a month for our staff,
Sweet said.
“We can pretty well
maintain that for the pub-
lic until we can as a com-
munity fi gure out what
Landmark outdoors law will
boost Arch Cape water project
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Local efforts to conserve
the Arch Cape watershed
received a crucial boost this
week from the Great Amer-
ican Outdoors Act.
The landmark measure,
signed into law Aug. 4 by
President Donald Trump,
gained bipartisan support
and will put funds toward
deferred maintenance at
national parks and other
projects in Oregon and
across the United States.
The Arch Cape Water
District is set to receive $1
million this year and — with
the law fully and perma-
nently funding the Land and
Water Conservation Fund —
appears to be on solid foot-
ing for a request for $2.5
million next year.
Phil Chick, the dis-
trict manager, estimates it
will cost around $5.5 mil-
lion to purchase 1,521 acres
of commercial timberland
around the source of Arch
Cape’s drinking water.
But the news was huge.
“This was the whole proj-
ect,” Chick said. “I don’t
think there’s a whole lot
that’s in our way for doing
it now. … It defi nitely opens
up the door for optimism.”
The Great American Out-
doors Act is the most signif-
icant investment in decades
for national parks and pub-
lic lands, according to Ore-
gon Outdoors, an advocacy
coalition representing the
outdoor recreation indus-
try, nonprofi t recreation
groups and conservation
organizations.
The Arch Cape Water
District is in a due diligence
period with property owner
the best project,” he added.
“By community, I mean the
Planning Commission, City
Council, the buyer and city
staff. Insurance is covered,
and I think that would work
out really well.”
Whether a deal would
include the playground
equipment is unclear. Coun-
cilor Dan Jesse said moving
the equipment would likely
be “cost prohibitive” for the
school district.
“I think they’ll leave
it,” Jesse said. “I think we
should consider that before
we offer to pay anything for
it.”
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Colin Murphey/The Astorian
A stream helps feed the Arch Cape watershed.
Onion Peak LLC to pur-
chase the acreage by 2023,
but they do not have a pur-
chase price yet.
The information the water
district is collecting now all
seems to be pointing to go,
Chick said.
Like many coastal com-
munities, Arch Cape does
not have full control of its
watershed and residents
have worried about how to
ensure water quality long
term while commercial log-
ging is still a possibility on
the land. The Arch Cape
Water District oversees 290
water connections.
The water district hopes
to create a community for-
est on the acreage, managing
the forest for both social and
ecological benefi ts.
The property the district
hopes to purchase would
tie into an additional 3,500
acres the North Coast Land
Conservancy is in the pro-
cess of acquiring for its $10
million Rainforest Reserve
project.
That project also received
signifi cant funding this year
in the form of a $2.1 million
Oregon Watershed Enhance-
ment Board grant.
This year has highlighted
another need besides water
quality, Chick noted.
When much of the state
shut down in the spring to
slow the spread of the coro-
navirus, outdoor recre-
ational options were lim-
ited in the southern portions
of the North Coast. Large
state parks like Oswald
West, Ecola and Nehalem
and other state lands closed,
restricting access to beaches
and forests.
The proposed community
forest property was one of
the few places people could
go, Chick said.
“It’s a really vital recre-
ation area for people from all
over,” he said.
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