Friday, December 10, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Vacation rentals: City will need to ‘basically facelift the entire comprehensive plan’
Continued from Page A1
Since Jan. 1, the plan-
ning department has received
73 land use applications. Of
those, 57.5% are for short-
term rentals, including 32
vacation rentals, seven
rental condos and three
bed-and-breakfasts.
Overall, there are 411
short-term rental units active
and pending, Flory said.
Applications are sup-
ported for properties located
west of Neawanna Street on
the city’s north end, west of
N. Holladay Drive and S.
Holladay Drive and west of
S. Roosevelt Drive. The loca-
tions where vacation rental
applications are not sup-
ported are dominated by full-
time residential homes.
The Planning Commis-
sion will not support the
approval of a vacation rental
conditional use permit appli-
cation if more than 40% of
the surrounding properties
within 100 feet of an appli-
cant’s property are licensed
as vacation rentals.
“When it comes to the
spatial distribution, what is it
doing in the current real estate
market as a house comes for
sale?” Flory said. “Is it aff ect-
ing the sale of that property
because it is over the density
requirement? That’s the fi rst
question we get asked when
someone calls when a prop-
erty goes for sales. ‘Can it be
a vacation rental?’”
If the density is over 40%,
property owners are discour-
aged from applying for the
permit because the recom-
mendation coming out of the
planning department is going
to be to deny it based on pol-
icies that are already set in
place, Flory said.
That density may be
too high, planning com-
missioners and council-
ors said, leading to adverse
impacts on housing aff ord-
ability and demands on city
infrastructure.
“My concern is that new
vacation rentals are displac-
ing long-term residents,”
City of Seaside
Business licenses sold by year.
Planning Commissioner Seth
Morrisey said.
Vacation rental dwell-
ings are turning into a busi-
ness model, he said, and their
numbers will accelerate.
City Councilor Randy
Frank said competition for
vacation rental dwellings
could create a bidding war,
artifi cially infl ating the price
of lodging. “That ultimately
could harm our ability to stay
competitive with other places
on the coast,” Frank said.
City Councilor Tita Mon-
tero said the density of vaca-
tion rentals in a neighbor-
hood is a factor that should
determine how many dwell-
ings are allowed, but there
are others as well, including
how they aff ect the people
who live here.
“We don’t want an over-
population of the VRDs in
any segment of the city,”
Montero said. “What we
need is a pause and morato-
rium, that we stop provid-
ing any more VRD licenses
or permits over a period of
time so that we can look at
every one of these diff erent
options, see what we think is
going to work and see what
works for other places. We’re
not taking away something
that somebody already has.
What we’re saying is, from
this period of time, no new
VRD licenses.”
Density should not be the
only way of measuring their
needs, Planning Commis-
sioner Kathy Kleczek said.
“Whether we’re talking
about sewage and water and
electricity and broadband,
emergency services and the
rest of the community ser-
vices are also impacted by
all of these things,” she said.
“This is something that we
need to look at and reduce so
that we can be forward-look-
ing instead of trying to catch
up all the time with what’s
happening to us.”
In future weeks, the city
will need to “basically face-
lift the entire comprehen-
sive plan,” Planning Director
Kevin Cupples said.
Zoning ordinances would
need to be updated to match
plan revisions.
“And then from that,
you’d know whether you
want to move forward or not,”
City Manager Mark Winstan-
ley said. “This would be a
discussion that the council
should be having at a council
meeting as to whether they
want to move forward with
that kind of work.”
As for a potential morato-
rium on vacation rental per-
mits, Barber asked city staff
and City Attorney Dan Van
Thiel, in conjunction with the
League of Oregon Cities, to
provide the steps necessary
if a moratorium is considered
the right path.
The city may consider a
part-time consultant to help
with the research, Barber
said.
“I’d like someone to tell
us what we would need to
undertake so we could have
a moratorium, so we could
make the decision on solid
ground,” he said.
PUBLIC SAFETY LOGS
Pearl Harbor: Wartime in Seaside
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Seaside
immediately
went into blackout that
day, Linkey said. “We lived
on the Prom, so we would
close the Venetian blinds,
pull the blackout curtains
across. My dad had huge
plywood boards made
that we would have to lift
up and put in the window.
There were no lights in
Seaside.”
It would be so dark in
the winter, “you couldn’t
even see your hand in front
of your face,” she said.
The Prom was off -lim-
its during the winter after
4:30 p.m., and in the sum-
mer, at sunset. For fear
of Japanese attack, resi-
dents and visitors were not
allowed on the beach as
military police patrolled in
their Jeeps.
“It was an amazing time
to live in Seaside and to see
the many changes that the
Second World War brought
Continued from Page A2
way to three-car crash with
injuries reported.
4:31 p.m., 1300 block Broad-
way: Caller requests welfare
check of a motorhome parked
in the area all day; caller says
children are inside with a male
and no lights are on. The mo-
torhome is gone when police
arrive.
Disabled truck
6:27 p.m., 400 block S. Roos-
evelt: EMS call. Someone at the
scene is arrested on a warrant.
SEASIDE FIRE & RESCUE
PUBLIC SAFETY
LOG
R.J. Marx
Members of American Legion Post 99 hold the fl ag at the
Necanicum River.
to our wonderful town,”
Linkey said.
Seaside’s John Sefren
was the only World War
II veteran in the audience.
Sefren, 94, said he was 17
when he entered the mil-
itary at the tail end of
the war. He served in the
Pacifi c theater from 1945
to 1947. He said he still
gets choked up when he
thinks of those who gave
their lives at that time.
After the program,
Sefren, accompanied by
Barber and escorted by
the American Legion Post
99 executive committee,
headed to the Pearl Har-
bor Memorial Bridge on
First Avenue for the lay-
ing of the wreath, with the
playing of Taps, recalling
those who lost their lives
80 years ago.
Suspended license
Nov. 26
12:22 p.m., 83000 block
Creekside: EMS call.
2:42 p.m., Hug Point: Water
rescue.
8:28 p.m., 500 block N. Wahan-
na: Fire investigation for smoke
reported in the area.
Nov. 27
1:16 p.m., 900 block Avenue G:
EMS call.
10 :07 p.m., 1000 block S.
Beach Drive: EMS call.
Nov. 29
ZIP code: City initiates the process
Continued from Page A1
they’d be looking for is
community support, Watts
said.
Should the potential neg-
atives outweigh the bene-
fi ts, there are multiple off -
ramps the City Council
could take in order to step
back from the process. “As
I understand it, if the service
is diminished as a result of
this, it wouldn’t happen,” he
said.
City councilors approved
the resolution in a 4-1 vote.
Jesse voted against it.
“It will be long, deliber-
ative, and we probably will
have to do a Survey Mon-
key and get community
input and demonstrate broad
support,” Warren said. “But,
so far, it looks like we have
broad support, so we have to
start the process somewhere
and this is the way to start
it.”
6:48 p.m.. 500 block Beach
Drive: EMS call.
Dec. 2
12:17 p.m., 2600 Spruce Driive:
EMS call.
3:25 p.m., 2500 block Mill
Creek Lane: EMS call.
OREGON STATE
POLICE
PUBLIC SAFETY LOG
Single-car crash
An 83-year-old man was given
a citation Nov. 22 at 6:23 p.m.
on U.S. Highway 101 and
Sea Ridge Lane. An Oregon
State Trooper drove up on a
single-car crash that had just
occurred near milepost 18
when the driver mistakenly
turned left on to the roadside
curb while trying to enter a
nearby parking lot. There were
no injuries and only minor
damage to his Lexus. He drove
the car into the parking lot and
secured it there. The trooper
took only minimal information
at the time as he was on his
A man caught driving with a
suspended license was pulled
over by state police Nov. 23 at
4:33 p.m. on U.S. Highway 101
at milepost 18, northbound
after patrol saw a car speeding.
A records check showed a sus-
pended misdemeanor status.
James Daryl Collins, 40, was
given provided a criminal cita-
tion in addition to his violation
citations. He was instructed
he could not operate a motor
vehicle and was released.
Disturbances
Troopers assisted Seaside
police Nov. 23 at 9:27 p.m. on
U.S. Highway 101 and Avenue
U with two physical distur-
bances. The fi rst was at NAPA
Auto Parts where two brothers
were fi ghting in the parking
lot. They were separated and
Suspended license
A blue Lincoln Navigator
was stopped Nov. 25 on U.S.
Highway 101 near milepost 18
at 1:44 p.m. for an equipment
violation. It was soon revealed
the 51-year-old driver was driv-
ing with a suspended license.
He was cited and released.
Suspended driving
privileges
A Seaside man was arrested
Nov. 27 at 6:37 p.m. on U.S.
Highway 26 near U.S. Highway
103 at the scene of a crashed
tow truck. Cody Joseph Oster-
meirer, 31, was arrested by Sea-
side police for probable cause.
At the scene of the crash,
troopers saw an older blue tow
truck that had slipped down
the hill from U.S. Highway 25
to U.S. Highway 103. While
tagging the vehicle, two men
drove up and the owner of the
tow truck was contacted. He
provided information showing
his driving privileges were
suspended in Oregon. Seaside
police were contacted and he
was detained and transported
to their headquarters.
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been denied homeowners’
insurance or may have paid
higher premiums because
the distance to Seaside was
mistakenly considered too
far from their residence.
“Over half of Gearhart
gets its mail directly deliv-
ered to residences,” Warren
said. “There is no reason to
expect this would change as
a result of changing our ZIP
code. Having an indepen-
dent ZIP code from the city
of Seaside should not pre-
clude the USPS (U.S. Postal
Service) from continuing to
deliver our mail as the city
of Gearhart host post offi ce.”
The population of Gear-
hart, at 1,800, far exceeds
smaller communities with
their own ZIP codes, includ-
ing Arch Cape, Hammond,
Manzanita and Tolovana.
“Getting our own ZIP
code will not solve every
issue such as having an
insuffi cient number of P.O.
boxes,” Warren said. “But
in my opinion, it is an incre-
mental improvement for all
of our residents.”
City Councilor Dan Jesse
said he was concerned that
the change would prove
costly to business owners
with address and printing
changes.
Those already getting
home delivery could face
delays or even elimination
of the service. “It’s more
about the bean counters that
are already trying to cut the
services in spots that will be
terminated and save a fair
amount of money by not
delivering to Gearhart any-
more,” Jesse said. “When
you say there’s wide support
for this, my guess is you’re
not seeing wide support for
it in places that are getting
mail delivery.”
Since the 1960s, Gear-
hart mail has been routed
through the Seaside Post
Offi ce to the Gearhart Post
Offi ce.
The Gearhart Post Offi ce
became a contract satellite
offi ce of Seaside Post Offi ce
in 1961. The change was
made as a cost-saving mea-
sure, however, the Postal
Service agreed that Gearhart
would continue to receive
mail addressed to “Gearhart,
Oregon.”
“As far as I am able to
determine, Gearhart has
never made a formal request
and has never solicited
assistance from its congres-
sional delegation to achieve
this goal,” Warren said.
City Attorney Peter Watts
said during the ZIP code
request process the post
offi ce will look at the overall
impact on local customers,
conducting surveys to see
if the majority of residents
favor the new ZIP.
One of the things that
Troopers came upon a
disabled U-Haul truck on U.S.
Highway 26 near milepost 4
Nov. 22 at 8:36 p.m. The driver,
71, from Santa Cruz, Califor-
nia, said he was heading west
when his tire hit something in
the road. His tire defl ated and
he drove over to the shoulder
where he was able to get
out and observe his tire was
bent in off the rim. A U-Haul
mechanic was dispatched to
the scene.
issued criminal citations by
Seaside police. Rides were
called for both. Not long after,
one of the brothers got phys-
ical with the family member
who came to give them a ride.
This altercation occurred in
the parking lot of Les Schwab.
Seaside police are leading the
investigation.
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