Friday, January 28, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Flooding: Fixes in 2013 were ‘both expensive and extensive’
Continued from Page A1
But the fl ooding that
occurs near Highway 101
by Circle Creek RV Resort
during heavy rains is some-
thing city offi cials hope
to address and possibly
mitigate.
Parts of Seaside fl ooded
during the recent storm. With
snow melt, rain swelling the
rivers and king tides, the city
had a lot of standing water,
McDowell said.
Near Circle Creek, rain
and snow melt again made
passage diffi cult if not
impossible.
“I do think it would be
interesting to have a con-
versation with the Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion again concerning the
fl ooding that does take place
south of town,” City Man-
ager Mark Winstanley said.
Changes were made sev-
eral years back that lowered
the frequency and level of
fl ooding, “but it has obvi-
ously not solved the problem
down south of town,” Win-
stanley said.
In the 1970s, berms had
been built to hold back
the Necanicum River and
improve the land for devel-
Lydia Ely/The Astorian/Daily Astorian
Cars crossed a submerged section of U.S. Highway 101 south
of Seaside early this month.
opment, City Councilor Tom
Horning said.
Much of the seasonal
water was constrained by the
berm, but fl oodwaters could
not fl ow into the fi elds and
wetlands, and had nowhere
to go but across the highway,
causing delays and closures.
In 2013, the Department
of Transportation , the county
and North Coast Land Con-
servancy completed reme-
diation of a parcel of wet-
lands designed to fl ood-proof
the area of land near Circle
Creek.
While the Department
of Transportation acknowl-
edged the wetlands mitiga-
tion project would not stop
the highway from fl ooding
entirely, they hoped to sig-
nifi cantly reduce fl ooding by
allowing the water to drain
naturally onto the wetlands.
The removal of parts of
the berm along the west side
of the river on North Coast
Land Conservancy property
did solve a large part of the
fl ood problem, Horning said.
“However, not all of the
berm was removed, so not
all of the problem was fi xed,”
Horning said. “It stands to
reason that the remaining
berm could be removed to
R.J. Marx
An area of U.S. Highway 101 that sees chronic fl ooding during heavy rains.
return the highway and river
fl ooding to the way they were
in November 1972 when
the fl ooding really began in
earnest.”
Its total removal should
restore that fl ooding section
of road to nearly dry, he said.
The fi xes in 2013 almost
a decade ago were “both
expensive and extensive,”
Winstanley said.
“Coming back and taking
a look at that again is some-
thing that would be interest-
ing,” he said. “It’s about time
for the city to engage the Ore-
gon Department of Transpor-
tation again and see whether
they have any ideas on how
they might solve that. We
complain just like anybody
else would, but I think we
can see if we can’t have some
more conversation about
that.”
City Councilor Steve
Wright, the Seaside board
member for the Northwest
Oregon Area Commission on
Transportation, brought the
issue to the group’s January
meeting.
Group members were
responsive, he said, and will
look for a regional coalition,
possibly with Oregon Solu-
tions, which works with part-
ner organizations in resolving
diffi cult public policy issues.
“The areas that fl ood are
outside the city so a regional
agency seems a good place to
start,” Wright said. “We need
to keep working on solutions.
The problem occurs less fre-
quently but it still shuts down
101.”
Firehouse: If 20-year bond passes, construction could begin in 2023
Continued from Page A1
The city could present a
$13 million bond proposal in
May. Gearhart would build
the fi rehouse on land off
Highlands Lane, currently
out of city limits. To bring it
into the urban growth bound-
ary, the city would exchange
an equal amount of acreage
already within city limits.
The city has more than
70 acres west of the state’s
no-build line that are inside the
city’s urban growth boundary
and zoned residential.
There are two areas avail-
able for the swap, consultant
Scott Fregonese said, includ-
ing about 50 acres of ocean-
front land with setback rules
prohibiting development. The
idea would be to carve off a
34-acre piece to make up for
the 34 acres in the north for
the fi rehouse.
While state law has
removed statewide restric-
tions within the tsunami
inundation zone, Gearhart
has chosen to keep stricter
requirements and not allow
critical facilities within the
tsunami overlay zone. Land
off Highlands Lane, at an ele-
vation of about 65 feet, is out-
side that zone.
“We have to prioritize
candidate sites for the UGB
swap,” Fregonese said. “We
can’t just look at one loca-
tion, even though we’ve kind
of got our eye on this one. We
feel like it’s best.”
In September, the city
made a contingent land trans-
fer agreement with the prop-
erty owner and developer,
Aerial site view of the proposed Gearhart fi re and police station.
The Cottages at Gearhart
LLC. As terms of the agree-
ment, two lots part of the par-
cel — a 2.14-acre lot for the
fi re station and 2.4-acre lot
for park property — would
be transferred to the city.
The city has been work-
ing with the state Department
of Land Conservation and
Development to follow the
correct process and achieve
the state buy-in, Fregonese
said.
The city will need to
amend
its
comprehen-
sive plan and zoning maps
to swap the urban growth
boundary and apply the sin-
gle-family residential zone.
In order to take eff ect, the
decision to swap areas of
the urban growth boundary
and amend maps must be
concurrent with the city and
county. Public hearings will
be required at both the city
and county levels.
Starting February, the city
will ask the state to review the
material to allow the swap to
occur, Fregonese said.
Timing is expected to be
complete in April, before
the proposed May fi rehouse
bond vote. “It just depends
on what they asked for if
they want more information,
or more clarifi cation that can
happen when you go back
and forth with these types of
reports and applications,” he
said.
At the same time the city
would have to rezone the
county’s 34 acres to city resi-
dential zoning.
“And then hopefully by
the summer there’s an annex-
ation into the city,” Fre-
gonese said. “After we have
the UGB swap in place the
city can then annex that four
acres into the city, and then
we could begin the develop-
ment process.”
Typically a planning com-
mission will have one or two
meetings, recommend the
comp plan amendments of
the zoning change to the city
council, he said.
“Then the City Coun-
cil will have one or two
to then adopt those comp
plan amendments and zone
NEWS NOTES
‘Jazz and the Civil
Rights Movement’
On Saturday, Feb. 5,
the Seaside Public Library
will host Galen Abdur-Raz-
zaq who will be presenting
“Jazz and the Civil Rights
Movement.”
Abdur-Razzaq will kick
off this event with a prelude
on his fl ute. From there, this
presentation will chronicle
music from the turn of the
century to present day and
highlight various artists,
their music, their infl uence
on the evolution of jazz,
and their struggles.
He will then illustrate
how jazz became an advo-
Volunteer for
Seaside Kids Inc.
Seaside Kids Inc., a vol-
unteer organization that has
helped kids to be involved
with diff erent sports, needs
volunteers as softball and
baseball programs are getting
ready to start up soon.
Seaside
Kids
needs
coaches, umpires, concession
stand volunteers and fi eld
maintenance. No special tal-
ents or skills are necessary,
just a willing heart and caring
for kids.
To volunteer call 503-758-
4827. When working with kids,
a background check is required.
New emergency
room physician
at Columbia
Memorial Hospital
Michael Triller, M.D., has
joined the Columbia Memo-
rial Hospital Emergency
Department, where he begins
working this week as a part-
time provider.
Triller earned his medi-
cal degree from the Univer-
sity of Washington School of
Medicine in Seattle. He also
earned bachelor’s degrees in
Spanish and biology, with a
chemistry minor.
Triller completed a res-
idency in emergency med-
icine at Oregon Health and
Science University in Port-
land. While there, he worked
in OHSU’s Level I Trauma
C e n t e r
and
Ter-
tiary Refer-
ral Center.
In addition,
he was a
member of
the Contin-
uous Qual- Michael Triller
ity Improve-
ment Committee and the
Stroke Committee.
Triller primarily works as
a clinical associate in emer-
gency medicine at Adven-
tist Medical Center in Port-
land. He is board-certifi ed by
the American Board of Emer-
gency Medicine.
Triller’s work has been
featured by The American
Journal of Cardiology and the
Scientifi c Sessions on Arte-
riosclerosis, Thrombosis and
Vascular Biology. His work
has also been recognized by
OHSU.
DINING
on the
NORTH COAST
Great Restaurants in:
GEARHART • SEASIDE
CANNON BEACH
WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE LOCALS GO?
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
• Junior Menu
RESTAURANT & LOUNGE
• Lighter appetite menu
E
RIL Y’
S
Galen Abdur-Razzaq
cacy for the Civil Rights
movement, with proceeds
from jazz concerts used
to fi nance major events
such as the Freedom Rides
and the March on Wash-
ington in 1963. The lec-
ture is infused with music
demonstrations.
Abdur-Razzaq is an
extraordinary fl autist with
an extensive performance
career. As a speaker, he
has performed at colleges
and universities for over 30
years. A former educator,
he holds a master’s degree
from Rutgers University,
in education and perform-
ing arts, and studied music
at Berklee School of Music
in Boston.
The presentation is a
hybrid event where par-
ticipants may either join
in-person or via Zoom.
In-person participation is
capped at a maximum of 15
and sign-ups are required
so please contact the library
to attend. The library will
be hosting the event in the
community room. If you
would like to participate via
Zoom contact the assistant
library director who will
share the event Zoom link.
change,” Fregonese said.
“We’d like to work with the
county closely to make sure
that the timing lines up so we
can support them too. I typ-
ically attend both the county
and the city meetings.”
The process could con-
tinue through the end of win-
ter into the spring.
“We will know before
whether the state is going to
say yay or nay on the swap,”
Fregonese said. “So even if
we’re in the process of doing
the comp plan amendments
in the zone change we will
still know that we’re allowed
to do the swap.”
If the 20-year bond is
approved by voters, the fi re-
house could see a four- to
six-month design process in
2022 with construction start-
ing in 2023.
If the bond does not pass,
City Administrator Chad
Sweet said, the city may
consider continuing on with
the urban growth boundary
exchange, allowing the city
to acquire higher elevation
land for other purposes.
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