A6 • Friday, February 18, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
Chamber: Awards banquet honors area business and community leaders
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“You
guys
have
embraced us tremendously.
We’ve strived to bring very
different products into Sea-
side that didn’t compete
with other businesses but
enhance the in spirit expe-
rienced at Seaside. And we
continue to bring people
back again and again. And
we’re just super excited
to be part of this commu-
nity. So thank you for the
recognition.”
The community impact
award, delivered to the Sea-
side Coffee House, recog-
nizes the business that has
made a positive impact on
Seaside above and beyond
for the great benefit of the
community.
Instead of a single vol-
unteer of the year, vot-
ers chose the Seaside Fire
Department overall.
Jason Schermerhorn, a
volunteer, spoke on behalf
of the firefighters in accept-
ing the award.
“We’re honored to do
it,” Schermerhorn said.
“We really appreciate all
your guys’ support and we
really enjoy what we do.”
Justin and Vanessa
Boone,
who
recently
opened their second outlet,
Burly and the Bean Cof-
fee Roasters, were selected
rising star/new business
winners.
The legacy award, hon-
oring members of the
community and/or fam-
ily who have been part of
the chamber and business
community for at least 10
years, was delivered to
Marci Utti of Del’s Chev-
ron. The family has oper-
ated Del’s for more than
54 years.
Business of the Year
recognizes the business
that has succeeded by
going above and beyond
with overall best business
practice, exceptional cus-
tomer service employee
relations, superior market-
ing and social media com-
munity involvement.
In awarding the honor to
Sadie and Andrew Mercer
and partner Robin Montero
of Maggie’s on the Prom,
emcee Ken Heman of the
Seaside Visitors bureau
said, the owners “never
stopped moving.”
“They’re
always
upgrading, improving and
adding to their business,”
Heman said. “In the past
year they’ve bought new
or brought new faces into
the community. Their cus-
tomer service is top of the
Photos by R.J. Marx
Sadie Mercer, Andrew Mercer and at right, Robin Montero of Maggie’s on the Prom, winners of
Business of the Year, with chamber CEO Brian Owen.
Marci Utti of Del’s Chevron is presented the legacy award,
honoring businesses who have been part of the chamber and
the business community for at least 10 years.
Justin Boone holding son Shiloh, Brian Owen and Vanessa
Boones. The Boones won the rising star/new business award
for Burly and the Bean.
Mark Hopman as Capt. Jack Sparrow, Leah Eruett, Tiffany Pedersen and Debra Hudson of Best
Western Plus Oceanfront Resort received the evening best costume award for their tribute to
“Pirates of the Caribbean.”
line and they are the spot
to go and Seaside for both
locals and travelers from
restaurants, hotels and
catering.”
With many guests in
costume to reflect the fairy
tale theme of the evening,
Perhaps the night’s most
emotional moment came
when Robin Knoll received
the
chamber’s
Byron
Award.
The award, named for
legendary volunteer Sea-
side’s Byron Meek, is pre-
Shrek, the Cheshire Cat,
the Princess Bride and oth-
ers vied for best costume
— an award delivered to
hotel staff, bedecked as
Captain Jack Sparrow of
“Pirates of the Caribbean”
and crew.
sented to a member of the
community who has shown
outstanding qualities in
community service.
Knoll couldn’t hold back
the tears as he accepted the
award.
“It’s pretty clear, tonight
is all about community,”
Heman said. “That’s what
we do here in Seaside. We
support each other. We’re
a community. We’re small
enough yet big enough to
be influential throughout
the world.”
Housing: Banks eager to lend money for apartment construction, officials say
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navigate funding to increase
the number and availability
of residential apartments.
“We all agree we need
apartment complexes and
funding,” she said.
Barker suggested a liai-
son between contractors
through the building and
planning department to find
grant programs and other
sources of funding. “I feel
as a group, that’s something
we need to look at.”
For now, changes to
vacation rental rules to
create additional afford-
able housing will remain
unchanged.
In its Jan. 31 council
meeting, the city tabled a
motion to place a mora-
torium on vacation rental
dwellings as a means of pre-
serving affordable housing.
The city has six new
VRD applications and 396
total transient rental units,
according to a report pre-
sented by Code Enforce-
ment Officer Jeff Flory.
Since 2015, VRD busi-
ness licenses have been
issued to 474 individual
addresses in Seaside. Of
those addresses, 346 are
still permitted or pend-
ing VRD conditional use
permits. Since 2015, 128
addresses have given up
their permits and are no
longer operating as short-
term rentals.
Center: Will open above school campus
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moving the 1,500-square-
foot trailer above the school
campus.
When complete, one side
will be a situation room,
with work stations, confer-
ence table and furniture with
the former school adminis-
tration building on S. Frank-
lin Street.
Dispatch, ham radio,
storage, supplies and rest
areas are designed for the
opposite side.
The STARS radio group
donated $4,000 in equip-
ment and $2,000 in engi-
neering support for ham
radio at the site. Pacific
Power moved and placed
the two 80-foot communica-
tions poles into position.
A former American Red
Cross trailer in need of
repair was refurbished and
put into use as emergency
The alternate emergency operations center began as an
office trailer during Seaside Civic and Convention Center
renovations.
supplies storage.
An additional parking
area will allow room for
operations and staging out-
side of the tsunami inunda-
tion zone.
The time frame for the
alternate center’s opening
has yet to be established,
McBride said. “Our next
project is to ground the poles
and place the four antenna
brackets,” she said.
Mayor Jay Barber said
the alternate center “makes
us a much safer community.
Even in the worst-case sce-
nario, there will be people
up there making sure that
we’re communicated with.
It’s a great thing to have in
place.”
Data from the Seaside
report shows a 1.5% growth
in 10 years.
“From the City Council
standpoint, I think we said
we’re tabling the notion of
having a moratorium and
we’ll continue to leave it
in the Planning Commis-
sion’s hands,” Wright said
at the housing meeting.
“My perception of it is
that Seaside has one of the
strongest sets of policies to
control this and to keep it
reasonable,” Wright said.
“They’re not necessarily
onerous rules, but it gives
us a standard that every-
body has to live up to. The
places that are having a
lot of problems just don’t
have that. Anybody can do
anything.”
To address housing
needs, Wright suggested
area and state coalitions to
pursue common regional
goals.
“There are no easy solu-
tions,” Wright said. “We
need to continue doing
whatever little things we
can find to do, and that
would include financing. ”
The task force meets
the first Monday of each
month.
Future task force meet-
ings will host Cannon
Beach development direc-
tor Jeff Adams, Rep.
Suzanne Weber and repre-
sentatives of the Tillamook
Housing Authority.