OUR 114th Year
November 12, 2021
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
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Agencies
partner on
warming
center
Low-barrier shelter to open
in December in Seaside
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
A new warming center in Seaside will
give homeless people an alternative to
sleeping outside in the cold.
The 15-bed, low-barrier shelter on S.
Roosevelt Drive will open on Dec. 1. The
outreach is a combined project between
Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Cen-
ters, the city, Clatsop Community Action
and the Sunset Empire Park and Recre-
ation District.
The warming center was announced
in a year of prioritizing homeless issues,
with the goal of transitional and perma-
nent housing for people in need. Rec-
ommendations from city, county and
nonprofit leaders delivered to the City
Council prior to Monday’s meeting
sought to define and implement strategies
to address homelessness.
See Warming center, Page A3
Vista Ridge II
addresses
flooding,
landslide fears
Continuance is granted as
development clock resets
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Representatives of Vista Ridge II deliv-
ered stormwater plans, water flows and
home designs to the Planning Commis-
sion last week as they review plans for the
17-lot, 6.5-acre residential subdivision in
the city’s eastern hills.
In a September meeting, neighbors
expressed concerns about flooding and
landslide risk, already a problem for nearby
properties at the original Vista Ridge sub-
division. Residents said they had pumped
water off their properties during storms for
decades, and fear the new subdivision will
only make things worse.
See Vista Ridge II, Page A3
Seaside School District
Map indicates areas of concern for speeding, crossing and other hazards. The map identifies schools, points of interest, Safe
Routes to School locations and enrollment boundaries.
Ensuring a safe trip to
school for every student
Safe Routes to School
Assessing options,
identifying issues
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
A
s Seaside, the Seaside School Dis-
trict and other partners explore
solutions for providing students
with safer access to their schools,
sports and other activities, they
are looking for feedback from the
community.
With assistance from Safe Routes
to School, the project leaders —
including representatives from the
city, school district, Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation and Alta
Planning + Design — are holding a
walk audit from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m.
next Wednesday. The community
and other stakeholders are invited to
attend to learn more about the pro-
gram and offer input. The group will
be meeting at 7:15 a.m. at the bike
rack at Pacific Ridge Elementary
School. In addition to attending the
walk audit, community members also
can share feedback at http://odots-
rtsprojectid.com/.
The walk audit will be
conducted in the morning to observe
student arrival, according to Sea-
side schools Superintendent Susan
Penrod. It will begin with observing
elementary student arrival and then
move to the middle and high school
campus.
Katherine Lacaze
Staff member James Downes helps
students get safely inside Pacific Ridge
Elementary School during the first day
of the 2021-22 school year.
Dale McDowell, the city’s Pub-
lic Works director, who is spearhead-
ing the program for Seaside, said they
want to get an idea of how the traf-
fic flows, how many students are cur-
rently walking or biking to school,
how the school buses are getting on
and off campus, and other factors.
“With the Safe Routes to School
coming on board, it’s another set of
fresh eyes looking at things for us,”
he said.
A surprise celebration for Mayor Barber’s 80th birthday
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Mayor Jay Barber cele-
brated his 80th birthday with
a little help from his friends,
almost 100 of them, at the
Sons of Norway lodge in
Gearhart.
People turned out at
4 p.m. sharp to surprise the
mayor 15 minutes later. The
Barbers entered the room
from a drenching downpour
outside to find themselves
surrounded by friends,
family and state and local
notables.
State Sen. Betsy Johnson,
who is running for governor
as an independent, said she
first met Barber 35 years ago
when he served as the direc-
tor of the Oregon Health &
Science University Founda-
tion, overseeing fundraising
Safe Routes to School was started
in the 1990s but didn’t take off until
2005, when Congress approved fund-
ing for implementation of programs
across the country. In June 2012, Con-
gress passed a new transportation bill
— Moving Ahead for Progress in the
21st Century — that made significant
changes for funding the program.
Under the new law, Safe Routes
to School is combined with the for-
mer Transportation Enhancement pro-
gram. All Safe Routs to School that
were eligible under the federal Safe
Routes to School program continue
to be eligible to compete for fund-
ing under Transportation Alternatives.
However, these projects are no longer
fully covered by federal funds. Local
communities must now come up with
20% of the project’s cost as a match.
The objective of Safe Routes to
School is to create safe, healthy, con-
venient and fun opportunities for
kids to use active transportation for
the school commute or to get to their
after-school activities. This primarily
involves walking, biking or skating.
McDowell has been interested in
having Seaside participate in Safe
Routes to School for several years.
He initially reached out to former
school Superintendent Doug Dough-
erty. However, the project was put on
hiatus with talk of building the new
school campus on the hills by what
is now Pacific Ridge Elementary
School.
See Safe rides, Page A6
Gearhart ZIP code
discussion points to
city east-west divide
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Photos by R.J. Marx
LEFT: Crowd celebrates Mayor Jay Barber’s 80th birthday. RIGHT: Barber and his wife, Jan,
share a moment at his 80th birthday party.
programs.
“The one consistent
throughout all of Jay’s life is
service to others,” she said.
“When we met, he was help-
ing sick kids at OHSU. He
helped students who went
to Warner Pacific. Jay is the
chair of the board of Helping
Hands Reentry (Outreach
Centers) and helping with
that. City councilor, mayor
— Jay’s life is a total life of
service.”
Former Sunset Empire
Park and Recreation Dis-
trict director Mary Blake
described Barber as a man
of warmth and compas-
sion. “He wraps everybody
up with love and is one of
the best spirited kind of
guys, with a killer sense of
humor,” she said.
Seaside Fire Chief Joey
Daniels said Barber supports
firefighters and always plays
a role at their fundraisers.
See Barber, Page A5
Is a package destined
for Seaside or Gearhart?
Postal workers and deliv-
ery drivers can’t always be
sure. Both cities share the
97138 ZIP code, and each
has addresses of numbered
and lettered streets.
Gearhart Mayor Paulina
Cockrum and city council-
ors want the U.S. Postal
Service to assign Gearhart
a unique ZIP code, and
came prepared to issue a
resolution to that effect at
last week’s City Council
meeting.
But doing so, City
Councilor Dan Jesse
pointed out, may lead to
unintended consequences.
Jesse said while a new
ZIP code might benefit res-
idents in the city’s core,
many residents, especially
those living east of the
Neacoxie River and east
of U.S. Highway 101, have
grown to depend on the
Seaside Post Office.
“I don’t get anything
from the Gearhart Post
Office,” Jesse said. “I have
no reason to ever go there
because it doesn’t serve me
at all.”
City Councilor Reita
Fackerell said she under-
stands the need for a new
ZIP code and supports
the resolution. “But if we
did get a new ZIP code in
Gearhart,” she said, “we’re
not sure who will deliver
to the people who do have
actual mailboxes.”
See ZIP code, Page A6