Friday, April 1, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A5
Signs: Campaign signs in Gearhart getting bigger
Continued from Page A1
fellow councilor and mem-
bers of GEARpac2022, a
political action commit-
tee composed of community
members and volunteer fi re-
fi ghters from Gearhart.
“I had previously been
educated by the city admin-
istrator that Gearhart does
not have a political sign ordi-
nance,” Cockrum said.
In the formal complaint
fi led by Jane and Harold
Gable delivered to city elec-
tion offi cer Chad Sweet, they
ask that the 32-square-foot
sign be removed immediately.
“We ask that this illegal
sign, per Gearhart’s zoning
code be removed immedi-
ately,” they write. “By allow-
ing it to remain you are setting
a precedent and other oppos-
ing parties will be allowed to
place banners/signs that may
even be larger in size in any
Gearhart city zone.”
According to the city’s
zoning code, temporary and
permanent use signs in the
neighborhood commercial
zone are limited to no more
than 8 square feet. The code
does not have a provision for
campaign signs.
Gearhart’s Joy Sigler said
the city has “fl ippantly set
aside all city sign code claim-
ing ‘political sign exemption.’
There is no adopted city code
with this title.”
Bob Shortman, who ran
R.J. Marx
Two sides of the fi rehouse bond issue in Gearhart.
for mayor in 2012, said that
at the time he was asked to
remove a sign in support of
the candidate
“I was basically ignorant
of the law,” Shortman said
Thursday. “Within hours,
there was a barrage of com-
plaints to City Hall.”
Shortman said he was told
the sign was oversized.
“I complied instantly,”
Shortman said. “The last
thing I want to do is have
the look of doing something
wrong. So I ran down there
and removed the sign.”
Shortman said the city had
failed to address their deci-
sion in 2012, in which he lost
the mayoral election by fi ve
votes. Jeff Bennett was the
city attorney at the time.
City Attorney Peter Watts
said the U.S. Supreme Court
has invalidated laws restrict-
ing the size of political signs.
The court’s decision holds
that signs are an import-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
World TB Day
should be a
wake-up call
Thursday, March 24 is
World Tuberculosis Day,
commemorating the approx-
imately 1.5 million peo-
ple killed by this horrible
disease every year. In 20
years, global eff orts to erad-
icate tuberculosis and other
preventable diseases, led
by groups like the Global
Fund, have made enormous
progress. The Global Fund
alone has saved 44 million
lives since 2002.
That progress is now in
jeopardy. When the world
shut down to prevent the
spread of COVID-19, it
disrupted access to diag-
nostics and treatments for
tuberculosis. One million
fewer people were treated
for TB in 2020 than in 2019
and, for the fi rst time in a
decade, annual tuberculosis
deaths rose.
This must serve as a
wake-up call. Members of
Congress, including U.S.
Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley, must go on the
record in support of a $2
billion per year pledge at
the Global Fund replenish-
ment conference this year
so it can continue its vitally
important work.
2022 can be the year we
end COVID-19 once and
for all, but it must also be
the year we get the world
back on track to end tuber-
culosis and other prevent-
able diseases by ensuring
everyone, everywhere has
access to lifesaving tests
and treatments.
Michael Kalkofen
Beaverton
Station on higher
ground is needed
We retired to Gearhart
after falling in love with it’s
peaceful and beautiful sur-
roundings, along with the
friendly community. For
us, safety was and is a pri-
ority! We all want to feel
secure that in case of crim-
inal activity, fi re or medical
emergency, responders are
prepared and able to come
to our aid.
Unfortunately, Gearhart’s
aging fi re and police station,
built in the 1950s, are inad-
equate for our full-time and
volunteer responders safety
needs, and most likely will
not withstand a future cata-
strophic event, like an earth-
quake or tsunami.
A new fi re/police station
being located at a higher
elevation, as was done with
the school being moved for
this reason, will provide us
with the security and safety
that our community needs
going forward.
Please vote “yes” on
Measure 4-213.
Brad and Georgia
Wenger
Gearhart
Water issues
should be
considered at
Highlands site
The proposed Gear-
hart Fire Station and the
development of a subdivi-
sion on property south of
Highlands Lane concerns
me a great deal. This pro-
posal will only work if the
Clatsop County Planning
Commission and the Clat-
sop County Board of Com-
missioners agree that the
land should be included in
the Gearhart urban growth
boundary.
Including this land into
the Gearhart urban growth
boundary, is a very lengthy
process with public hear-
ings for concerned citizens.
A pre-application county
hearing with the developers
and 30 neighbors met with
opposition. Concerns were
the elk population and but-
terfl y habitat preservation
areas at Shamrock Pines
and the Reserve.
In March 2020, War-
renton adopted a morato-
rium which prohibited the
issuance of new water con-
nections outside the incor-
porated boundaries of War-
renton. The Clatsop County
Comprehensive Plan, Goal
10, Housing, dated March
2, board of commissioners’
agenda, indicate this water
restriction for the Clatsop
Plains is still in eff ect.
The developers in
spring 2021 realized the
land could not be devel-
oped unless they had Gear-
hart water. The city of
Gearhart has only a partial
water right permit from the
Oregon Water Resources
Department from July 1 to
Oct. 31. According to Mur-
raySmith, 2016 Warrenton
water master plan, Gearhart
purchased an average of
4,628,833 gallons a month
from May to October.
Clatsop Plains commu-
nities are concerned about
water quality and quantity
and want to initiate a mor-
atorium on building homes
with septic systems on less
than one acre. Because
Gearhart gets their drink-
ing water from the Clatsop
Plains aquifer, will higher
housing density aff ect the
city’s future water supply?
There are so many issues
with this land to be consid-
ered. Please vote no on the
Gearhart Fire Station bond
measure.
Deanna Mancill
Gearhart
ant medium of political, reli-
gious, or personal messages
for which there are no exact
alternatives.
That opinion was related
to signs in a residential zone,
Watts said, but should not
make a fundamental diff er-
ence in interpretation.
“The sign causing the con-
troversy in Gearhart is in a
commercial zone, so the facts
are not entirely the same,” he
said. “The freedom to engage
in political speech via sign,
seems like it would be appli-
cable regardless of zoning,
though I can’t say that with
100% certainty.”
Mitch Cogan, a retired
attorney living in Gearhart
who is opposed to the bond
measure, said the city is “get-
ting themselves in some trou-
ble here and causing all kinds
of consternation by taking
an alternate interpretation to
the sign rules now than they
took a few years ago, when
they wanted to take down a
sign promoting the mayoral
campaign of somebody who
apparently they didn’t want to
be mayor.”
Watts’ interpretation of
the Supreme Court ruling is
incorrect, Cogan said. That
ruling, made in 1994, stated
that a city that had banned
all political signs was acting
unconstitutionally. “The court
in no way said what Mr. Watts
is saying they said, which is
that you can’t regulate politi-
cal signs. That’s just not accu-
rate at all.”
According to the Oregon
Elections Division, the law
does not specifi cally address
the size, location or timing
of political campaign signs.
These may be regulated by
the local jurisdiction where
the sign is located.
“Although this offi ce can-
not generally off er advice as
to the applicability of these
provisions to particular loca-
tions,” the Elections Divi-
sion states, “there is a concern
that public employees enforce
such regulations in an equita-
ble manner so as not to indi-
cate any support or opposi-
tion to political candidates or
issues.”
The sign situation could
turn into a “tit-for-tat” thing
now, Cogan said, with big-
ger and bigger signs on both
sides.
“There’s a lot of people
who are very upset about
this thing on the no side, and
they’re going to run out and
they’re gonna buy the biggest
signs they can fi nd,” Cogan
said. “And I think it’s not the
intent of the rules to begin
with. We’ve gotten ourselves
going down a troublesome
path here.”
Shortman said the sign
at Pacifi c Way and Cottage
should come down. “If it was
me, I would suggest that they
take the sign down because
now other people are mak-
ing big signs,” he said. “They
should just remove the sign.
We shouldn’t fl ood the town
with big signs — just go back
to the regular signs.”
Watts said while he does
not have a defi nitive action,
he is trying to weigh legal
considerations.
“I think there is substan-
tially more legal risk/liability
of removing the sign versus
taking no action,” Watts said.
“I have advised Chad that my
advice is to not take action. I
know that that is not popular
with some people, because I
am getting emails, but that
is my position until I have
explained it to the City Coun-
cil and they have given us
instructions to the contrary.”
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