A6 • Friday, April 29, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
Signs: Take a stroll, gain Seaside history
Continued from Page A1
Historical Society for his-
tory input and with City
Councilor Tom Horning, a
geologist, for natural sys-
tems and input.
Travel Oregon’s 2021
Competitive and Recov-
ery Grant Program sup-
ported economic recov-
ery by investing in projects
that enhanced the visitor
experience, and prepared
communities and visitors
for COVID-19 safe travel,
Travel Oregon’s indus-
try communications man-
ager Jaime Eder said. “For
this particular project, the
application did a good job
of showing community
support for the project and
Travel Oregon was pleased
to see the collaboration tak-
ing place between the city
and Seaside Museum & His-
torical Society to develop
content for the interpretive
signs.”
It
was
deemed
“COVID-appropriate” as it
was an outdoor attraction,
Eder said. “It was also key
that the timeline had the
project complete in align-
ment with the Promenade’s
centennial celebration.”
Seaside photo resto-
rationist Bruce Andrews
retouched high-defi nition
images from the archive
at the museum and Pub-
lic Works Director Dale
McDowell was instrumen-
tal in helping select sites,
Heineman said.
There was far less sand
on the beach when the Prom
was constructed, reads the
sign “How the Beach Got
Its Sand,” at Avenue A and
the Prom. “The rocky cob-
ble you fi nd in the Cove
extended all the way to
Ninth Avenue, leaving only
three short blocks of the
Prom’s 1.5-mile length built
over sand.”
In front of Worldmark,
“Before There Was a Prom”
shares the construction pro-
cess at the time.
“Tillamook Rock Light,”
at Oceanway and the Prom,
details the iconic history
of the Terrible Tilly Light-
house, located 1.2 miles
off of Tillamook Head. The
lighthouse was completed in
1881 and became known as
Terrible Tilly due to the dan-
gerous weather and water
conditions facing its four
full-time keepers and their
suppliers.
“Meet Me at the Nata-
torium,” by the Seaside
Aquarium, shares the history
of one of Seaside’s early
attractions. Natatoriums, or
indoor swimming spaces,
were popular leisure attrac-
tions in the early 1900s, and
the Seaside Prom was home
to two of them, the Oates
Baths Natatorium and the
Seaside Baths Natatorium.
“The Prom During World
War II,” at Sixth Avenue and
the Prom, refl ecting on a
time when the Prom, with its
overlook of the Pacifi c, “felt
like a front seat to World
War II.”
Research has shown that
visitors — and Oregonians
— value visits to histori-
cal sites — Eder said. “In
2017, Oregon received an
estimated 10 million over-
night leisure travelers who
visited historical places and
participated in one or more
art and culture related activ-
ities. That represents nearly
30% of the yearly over-
night marketable trips to
Oregon.”
Parks: Plan could be used for state funding
Continued from Page A1
Photos by
Joshua Heineman
ABOVE: “How
The Beach Got
Its Sand,” placed
at Avenue A and
the Prom.
LEFT: “Before
There Was a
Prom,” featuring
the history of
the Prom. City
engineer L.C.
Rogers designed
and J.H. Tillman
constructed what
would become
8,000 feet of
seawall.
Tax break: Income-based tax
breaks could follow bond vote
Continued from Page A1
The Parks Master Plan
Advisory
Committee
approved the plan in late
August and sent it to the
Planning Commission for
review and approval before
heading to the City Coun-
cil. Hearings also occurred
where public testimony was
received and considered.
According to the ordi-
nance, the City Council
identifi ed a need to iden-
tify park and recreation defi -
ciencies, improvement stan-
dards, funding sources and
projects to plan for city park
access to residents, park bud-
geting, operations and park
maintenance.
The revised plan updates
language in the original 1994
comprehensive plan, and
modifi es rules for setbacks,
recreation trails, bicycle
paths and connections.
New language specifi es
all structures must be set
back 50 feet from the Neca-
nicum River Estuary. Vege-
tation within the setback is
protected unless an excep-
tion is allowed for removal.
The plan also lays out
standards for tree-cutting,
pruning, and trimming is
subject to the beaches and
dunes overlay zone.
New development must
comply with the master plan.
A suggestion to prohibit
bicycles on the city’s Ridge
Path — the historic Indian
trail that traverses much
of the city — was dropped
from the plan after residents
objected to the ban. The
plan seeks to preserve and
enhance the Ridge Path as a
recreational asset by estab-
lishing connections to the
path, requiring appropriate
access easements and main-
taining the path surface.
“We will use the parks
plan to seek to obtain state
funding for priority proj-
ects,” Cockrum said after
“If it was brought up
in June, I would be more
than happy to vote ‘yes’ for
it,” City Councilor Kerry
Smith said. “I question
what people would think
about us off ering a tax
break before the vote. Are
we trying to buy the vote?
“This to me looks like
a city maybe desperate
and is throwing that carrot
out for some people at this
time. I don’t have a prob-
lem helping people. But
prior to the vote, I could
not support this.”
The City Council tabled
the tax relief program until
the council’s June meeting.
If the bond measure
passes, Mayor Paulina
Cockrum said, the program
will be on the agenda. “We
will put in a budgetary line
item for it as we develop
our budget,” she said. “If
we can use some of that
marijuana/pot money for
a good purpose, I am more
than happy to spend it on
something like this.”
facebook.com/SeasideSignal
R.J. Marx
View looking east from Pacifi c Way near Gearhart Park.
THE COUNCIL
WILL CONDUCT
A SECOND
READING
AT THE MAY
MEETING AND IF
APPROVED, THE
PLAN WILL GO
INTO EFFECT 30
DAYS AFTER.
the meeting. “Adding some
amenities to the downtown,
Trails End Park will be a pri-
ority. Improved budgeting
for maintaining our parks
spaces will also be a benefi t.”
The plan is an initial step
toward creation of a new
public entity, the Gearhart
Parks Commission, that will
bring greater focus to the
stewardship and enhance-
ment of the city’s parks sys-
tem going forward.
The plan also addresses
concerns about pedestrian
crossings and future projects
along U.S. Highway 101.
Amendments to the ordi-
nance reference pedestrian
traffi c in relation to bicycle
recreation trails and routes.
“I’ve been doing a lot
of canvassing on the side,”
Cockrum said. “There’ve
been a lot of opportuni-
ties to talk about the project
and how we’re all trying to
weave it all together. People
are really excited.”
This will be a good bud-
geting document when plan-
ning for park improvements,
City Planner Carole Con-
nell said. “It’s meant to be
a working document, to be
updated periodically.”
The council will conduct
a second reading at the May
meeting and if approved, the
plan will go into eff ect 30
days after.