OUR 114th Year
December 31, 2021
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
$1.00
Former
high school
sold for
$3.2 million
Local business owners
purchase property
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The Seaside School District has sold
the former high school to TM Develop-
ment LLC for $3.2 million.
Registered agents of TM Develop-
ment include business owners Tom Utti,
Mark Utti and attorney Jeremy Rust.
“They do not have any immediate
plans that I’m aware of for the property,”
said Mark Popkin, a real estate agent rep-
resenting the buyers.
At the school district’s December
meeting, Brian Taylor, the school board
chairman, said the sale comes after almost
three years on the market. The high school
and other district schools closed and were
put up for sale as the school district built
a new, bond-fi nanced campus outside the
tsunami inundation zone.
“We’re very excited,” Taylor said in
granting Superintendent Susan Penrod
the authority to negotiate and execute the
sale.
SNOWSIDE
See School, Page A5
District to
‘close door’
on school
construction
project
Photos by Lou Solitske
TOP: Seaside City Hall in the snow. ABOVE: A snow-covered
Broadway. ABOVE RIGHT: Gulls pay a visit to the Turnaround.
RIGHT: View from the Turnaround.
YEAR IN REVIEW
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The Seaside School District hopes to
fi nally close the door on its campus con-
struction project at Seaside High School
and Middle School.
The high school gym vestibule doors
are the last project to be completed after
the original installation leaked into the
building.
“For the December milestones, the
program has completed the permitting
documents for the gym vestibule work
and that work has started construction
as of yesterday, which is a great thing
to see,” Brian Hardebeck, project man-
ager from DAY CPM, said. “And we can
report we are still maintaining dryness at
all of the openings. So that’s a great thing
for this early in the wintertime.”
See Construction, Page A5
Fireworks ban
is shot down
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Katherine Lacaze
James Hutchinson
Students returned to school in September with COVID precautions
in place.
After the retirement of Bill Eddy, Josh Como was named the fi re
chief in Gearhart.
Firehouse quest
In Seaside,
COVID remains leads top stories
top story of 2021 in Gearhart
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The city has put to rest a call to ban
fi reworks.
At a City Council meeting earlier this
month, city councilors voted 4-2 against
a motion that would have banned the sale
of legal fi reworks.
“If we ban fi reworks, they’re just going
to go someplace else and bring them back
in,” City Councilor Dana Phillips said.
“And you know what? This is America.
The thought of a little child not being able
to have a sparkler forever? The illegal fi re-
works are what we want to get rid of.”
See Fireworks, Page A6
Seaside, like cities across the
state and nation, reeled from the
impacts of COVID-19 on per-
sonal and business life.
The pandemic impacted city
services, from law enforce-
ment to the visitors bureau.
Seaside responded to pub-
lic health concerns and gov-
ernment mandates as hospi-
tal numbers increased during
a summer wave, fi lling emer-
gency rooms and stressing staff
at local hospitals.
Spring reopening
As COVID-19 restric-
tions were lifted at the end of
June, Seaside saw a surge in
new business, including hotels
and vacation rentals, with the
reopening of indoor dining.
City Hall reopened with
in-person meetings and masks
required, with live streams on
YouTube.
Seaside had put into place
an emergency order in March
2020, early in the pandemic,
restricting access to all public
buildings, city parks and the
beach.
City Council lifted the state
of emergency in late June.
With a heat wave in the
valley, thousands of tourists
jammed local beaches and
streets.
See Seaside, Page A5
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
A new Gearhart fi rehouse,
potential new ZIP code and
downtown business moves were
among the big stories in Gear-
hart in 2021.
Gearhart is working with
planners to bring the 30-acre
Cottages at Gearhart subdivi-
sion off Highlands Lane into the
city’s urban growth boundary in
a land swap for acreage in the
city’s “no-build” zone near the
ocean. The land would be used
for a fi rehouse and police sta-
tion. The current proposed loca-
tion off of Highlands Lane had
been scheduled for November,
but a ballot challenge bumped
that until next spring.
At the start of the year, Gear-
hart was hoping to transform a
site on North Cottage into the
future location for the fi rehouse,
currently housed on Pacifi c Way.
Threats of litigation at the
proposed High Point location
on North Marion Avenue and a
reluctant seller were among the
reasons Gearhart is looking at
new sites for the city’s fi rehouse.
Gearhart voters turned down
a request for a fi re station in
2006 when the city wanted to
construct a municipal building
that combined the fi rehouse with
City Hall. A new proposal at the
High Point site on North Marion
is undergoing review.
See Gearhart, Page A6