OUR 115th Year
January 14, 2022 $1.00
SEASIDESIGNAL
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
Seaside
delays
homeless
ordinance
GEARHART
SEEKS
REGIONAL
PICKLEBALL
SOLUTION
Patterned on rules
adopted in Coos Bay
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Seaside is not Coos Bay. And while
Coos Bay, a city of 16,000 on the south-
ern coast, has implemented a camping
ordinance designed to address home-
lessness, Seaside is fi nding that a lack
of camping sites or parking could make
adoption of a similar ordinance, at least
for now, untenable.
The ordinance, presented at Seaside’s
December meeting, recognizes the fed-
eral court ruling, Martin v. Boise, as well
as newly adopted Oregon laws that make
it legal to camp overnight on publicly
owned property. The ordinance makes it
legal to park or camp — including under
tents, tarps, sleeping bags and temporary
huts — on most publicly owned property
within the city limits between the hours
of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Seamus McVey, an advocate for the
homeless, said Seaside’s proposed ordi-
nance fl ies in the face of the Boise decision.
City needs
more courts,
enthusiast says
See Homeless, Page A3
R.J. Marx
Gearhart pickleball players took advantage of a break
in the winter weather on Saturday.
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
ickleball enthusiast Wally
Hamer approached Gearhart
City Council last Wednes-
day, with a letter seeking more
courts for an increasing demand.
“We are hoping to add two
more courts to the Gearhart
facility so we would have a
total of four courts,” Hamer
said after the meeting.
Pickleball, similar to
tennis, is an 11-point
game and described as a
cross between ping-pong
and tennis, fi rst came
before the council when Hamer
approached the City Council in May
with proposed alterations to Gearhart’s two
existing tennis courts in order to create space
for pickleball without disruption to tennis
players.
In 2019, the city converted one of the
city’s two full-time tennis courts into part-
time pickleball courts using rolling nets and
striping.
P
See Pickleball, Page A6
Commission
sidesteps
vacation rental
moratorium
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Wally and Ginny Hamer at the Beaches and Breakers Pickleball Tournament
at the Sunset Recreation Center.
A planning commissioner’s eff ort to
show support for a vacation rental mora-
torium in Seaside failed to gain support.
Kathy Kleczek, the vice chairwoman
of the Planning Commission, moved that
the commission make a formal recom-
mendation to the City Council to declare
a moratorium on new conditional use per-
mits for vacation rentals.
“It is basically putting the ball in their
court,” she said at the January commis-
sion meeting. “Since we can’t actually
create a moratorium — that’s the City
Council’s job — I wanted to offi cially say,
‘Here you go. We want you to do this.’”
See Rentals, Page A3
Softball fi eld upgrades driven by federal agreement Volunteers form
Seaside
First phase toward
PAC to support
planner
achieving equality
new fi rehouse
Cupples to
step down
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
A Seaside employee
since 1998
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
After 23 years with the
city of Seaside, Planning
Director Kevin Cupples
announced his retirement
early this month.
After welcoming a new
planning
commissioner,
Brandon Kraft, Cupples said
his last day will be Feb. 15.
“I’m going to remain here in
Seaside, but I’ve got some
See Cupples, Page A3
The Seaside School District
launched the fi rst phase of a
project to upgrade softball facil-
ities in response to an agree-
ment with the U.S. Department
of Education’s Offi ce for Civil
Rights.
The school district has until
the end of June 2023 to build the
facility and provide more equity
between girls and boys athletics.
It’s been an ongoing issue
since before she arrived in the
school district, Susan Penrod,
the school superintendent, said.
“We’re excited to complete this
project, with, of course, our top
priority being to provide a won-
derful softball complex for our
athletes, in addition to meeting
our deadlines with the Offi ce of
Civil Rights,” she said.
The fi rst phase, which was
approved during the December
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
campus, so the school district
is extending his contract for the
softball complex, Penrod said.
ZCS Engineering & Architec-
ture will assist with the design.
Gearhart volunteer fi refi ghters hope
to have a voice in the May election on a
$13 million bond for a new fi rehouse off
Highlands Lane.
Josh Lair, speaking on behalf of the
Gearhart Volunteer Fire Department
Association, said at last Wednesday’s
City Council meeting that the volunteers
are forming a political action committee
to help push the measure to approval.
Firefi ghters see the need as an urgent
one. The cinder-block fi rehouse on
Pacifi c Way, built in 1958, is considered
outdated and vulnerable to earthquake
and tsunami.
City staff say the fi rehouse is not
practical to retrofi t and it makes no fi s-
cal sense to spend up to $10 million on a
facility subject to inundation. An August
cost estimate put the price of a new High-
lands station at just over $13 million.
See Agreement, Page A6
See Firehouse, Page A3
R.J. Marx
A hole is underneath third base on the softball fi eld at Broadway Field.
school board meeting, involves
working with Brian Hardebeck,
a senior project manager at DAY
CPM, to coordinate and com-
plete the project. Hardebeck was
part of the team that worked on
construction of the new school