Friday, January 14, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Rentals: Moratorium will be council decision
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Her motion went without
a second.
In late November, the
Planning Commission and
City Council met in a joint
workshop on short-term
rentals. Topics included a
potential moratorium on
conditional use permits for
vacation rentals, designed to
give the council time to study
the impact of short-term rent-
als on affordable housing and
city infrastructure.
Concerns have been
raised about planning ahead
for the cost that would be
incurred should the city
decide to place a moratorium
on vacation rentals and study
the effects of existing regula-
tions or placing limits.
“We as a Planning Com-
mission appeared to be in
agreement following the
joint meeting that the current
VRD (vacation rental dwell-
ing) vs. long-term rental situ-
ation, or housing in general,
bears looking into in-depth to
make sure the best interests
of the community are being
served.”
Commissioners said it is
the City Council’s, not the
Planning
Commission’s,
responsibility to take the lead
in shaping the ordinance.
Commissioner Seth Mor-
risey, who is also a former
city councilor, said the deci-
sion to declare a moratorium
should come from the coun-
cil, not the commission.
“They’re more of the
political body,” he said. “I
feel that it would be more
appropriate if they actually
initiated this, if that’s what
they want to do.”
Commissioner Jon Wick-
ersham said he sought “a
little bit more information
about why we’re making a
recommendation and maybe
a little more structure around
that recommendation.”
After the meeting, Klec-
zek said she was disappointed
by the Planning Commis-
sion’s decision. “Not second-
ing a motion to me indicates
an unwillingness to discuss
an issue,” she said.
“I hope that the City
Council does move for-
ward with a moratorium of
some form. My motion was
not detailed intentionally, so
that the council would be
the body to determine the
form a moratorium would
take, depending on the time
frame and direction their
action would take — study
stand-alone or in conjunction
with the comprehensive plan
review.”
Homeless: Coos Bay ordinance falls short in Seaside
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“I want to address pub-
licly the horror — I don’t
think that is overselling it
— that I experienced in
reading that,” McVey said
at Monday’s City Coun-
cil meeting. “I’m honestly
a little ashamed that it was
presented for a first reading
without somebody having
gone over this thing because
there are parts of it that seem
to be as though somebody
read through the Martin v.
Boise decision, took every-
thing that it said you cannot
do, and included it in this
ordinance. It’s shameful,
frankly. The fact that you’re
penalizing acts that cannot
be separated from homeless-
ness, compounding daily,
make it an undue burden.
I’m not an attorney, but I’m
pretty sure I could argue this
one in court.”
Coos Bay ordinance
Seaside’s
ordinances,
like others throughout the
state, have been struck
down by the courts at this
point. After a series of
workshops and forums,
Seaside hoped to adopt a
camping ordinance similar
to that in place in Coos Bay
since October, designed to
protect the safety of citizens
and regulate use of publicly
owned property by estab-
lishing time, manner, and
place guidelines for trailers,
tents, campers and RVs.
After approving the first
reading of the ordinance
last month, Seaside officials
turned to Coos Bay leaders
for input on the impacts of
the measure.
Coos Bay Mayor Joe
Benetti said the city cre-
ated a homeless workgroup
several years ago. Among
solutions came travel assis-
Homeless advocate Seamus McVey called the new city
camping ordinance ‘a horror.’
tance to homeless individ-
uals back to where they
have confirmed support
and housing waiting. They
enacted a vacant prop-
erty registration ordinance,
property watch program,
a warming shelter policy,
temporary shelter ordi-
nance and most recently
site preparation for an orga-
nized and supervised urban
campground.
The Coos Bay ordinance
gives permission to private
property owners and rent-
als with permission, pro-
vides RV camping on city
streets for up to 72 hours
and allows camping along
U.S. Highway 101. Camp-
ing in all parks is illegal —
campers may be in the parks
during the day but cannot
stay overnight.
Coos Bay assistant city
manager and treasurer
Nicole Rutherford said the
city has seen fewer parked
vehicles, including RVs,
since enactment. “We have
had to tow a few vehicles,
but in comparison to the
number of vehicles we had
within our city originally,
the few tows are insignifi-
cant to the overall success.”
Seaside ordinance
‘premature’
Seaside Councilor Tom
Horning said that without
specific options for those
affected, the ordinance was
premature.
“I would think that an
ordinance such as this could
be used to define proper-
ties that are where we don’t
want to see camping and be
able to do something about
it, but until we have the land
or the facilities to serve as
a refuge for people from
inclement weather. I’m a lit-
tle concerned about whether
or how we should proceed,”
Horning said.
There are too many
unknowns in the document
right now, councilor Dana
Phillips said. “I think we’re
going to be open for all sorts
of criticism, and rightfully
so.”
Councilor Steve Wright
asked for further clarifica-
tion on “time, manner and
place” — key elements of
the Boise decision — to
R.J. Marx
Kevin Cupples, back row, right, with members of Seaside’s Community Emergency Response
Team at Broadway Park in October.
Cupples: Has worked for city since 1998
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other pressing things that
need to be taken care of in my
life,” he said.
Cupples grew up in Scap-
poose and graduated from
Southern Oregon State Uni-
versity. He worked in plan-
ning for Coos County and
then the City of Coos Bay
before coming to Seaside in
August 1998.
The Planning Director
serves as staff liaison to the
Seaside Planning Commis-
sion. Department staff con-
duct research and prepare
reports and findings to sup-
port land use decisions.
During his time as direc-
tor, Cupples has overseen
property development plans,
emergency services and code
enforcement.
He leads a staff of three,
code compliance officer
Jeff Flory, emergency pre-
paredness coordinator Anne
McBride and administrative
assistant Jordan Sprague.
“Personally, I want to
thank him for his long service
and his contribution to our
city, both in his official role
with the city but also as a citi-
zen who lived here and raised
his family here,” Mayor Jay
Barber said. “I wish him well
in his next endeavor.”
determine where camp-
ers or vehicles could shel-
ter in Seaside. He proposed
additional workshops to
consider the impact of the
camping ordinance.
Wright was joined by
Councilor Tita Montero in
calling for additional work-
shops to consider the impact
of the camping ordinance.
“We need to look at the rest
of our ordinances to see any
changes made in this ordi-
nance,” she said. “What do
they either negate or add to
the rest of our ordinances?
There’s a lot more thought
that goes into this.”
Council members Mon-
tero, Horning, Wright and
Phillips, along with Randy
Frank and Mayor Jay Bar-
ber, voted to schedule a
workshop prior to the next
council meeting. David Pos-
alski was absent.
“We’ve been reluctant
since the Boise decision to
do any really aggressive
enforcement of camping in
neighborhoods for fear that
we would be sued and that
we would be subject to law-
suits,” Barber said. “It could
be very painful for the city.
I don’t see how this ordi-
nance relieves us in any way
of that kind of liability.”
Gearhart Fire Department
Volunteers Amy Lair and her father, Josh Lair.
Firehouse:
Firefighters seek
voice in bond vote
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“With this bond we
hope to keep Gearhart
and its citizens on track
to being highly resilient,
healthy and happy,” Lair
said.
The volume of calls
for service since 2015 has
increased 60%, with 660
calls for service in 2021.
“If we continue on this
path five years from now
we are projected to have
nearly 1,000 calls yearly,”
Lair said. “We need facil-
ities to support that high
demand.”
Hopes for a bond
vote last November were
delayed by a legal chal-
lenge that proved unsuc-
cessful in court. City offi-
cials intend to put the bond
measure on the May bal-
lot, with public meetings
throughout the coming
months.
In 2021, the fire depart-
ment, which has 30 vol-
unteers, had less than half
the amount of volunteer
hours compared to 2020,
Fire Chief Josh Como said.
“With everything being
busier, the response load is
falling on fewer and fewer
key members. We have a
super strong, very dedi-
cated core group that keeps
responding. This is not just
relevant in Gearhart but a
countywide situation.”
Once the PAC is offi-
cially formed with the
state, the name will be
GearPAC2022, Lair said.
The PAC will be overseen
by Amy Lair, as president
of the PAC, and Randy
Bowers, as treasurer of the
PAC.
The PAC has been coor-
dinated by all volunteers of
the Gearhart Volunteer Fire
Department, with 100%
support.
The loss of volunteers
is a challenge for many fire
departments.
“It’s a nationwide issue
now,” City Attorney Peter
Watts said. “Recruitment
and retention really have
been negatively impacted
in the last few decades.
That’s not something that
anyone in Clatsop County
is doing wrong — in fact
Clatsop County is doing
really well compared to a
lot of other places that are
having to go with a profes-
sional fire force instead of
volunteers.”