Friday, July 29, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Campers: Stay extended to six days before move-out
Continued from Page A1
R.J. Marx
Spencer Kyle, center, at his fi rst City Council meeting as city
manager. At left, Kim Jordan, the city recorder, and at right,
City Attorney Dan Van Thiel.
Kyle: ‘Excited
to put roots here’
Continued from Page A1
a credentialed city man-
ager from the International
City/County Management
Association.
He was selected by the
City Council from a national
pool of candidates using
Jensen Strategies, a Port-
land-based recruitment fi rm .
His fi rst council meeting
included a ballot measure
for a moratorium on psilocy-
bin dispensaries, changes to
the city’s homeless camping
ordinance and an appeal to a
vacation rental approval.
“There are a few proce-
dural diff erences, but the
work we’re doing is about
the same,” Kyle said after
the meeting. “What I appre-
ciated tonight was we had
some vigorous debate on
some important issues, and
I think some minds were
changed in the process.
That’s what the process is
for and I think it’s good for
our community.”
The Kyles have found a
rental home in Gearhart and
plan to buy.
“Our kids are loving all
the amenities, the beaches
and everything else in par-
ticular,” Kyle said. “This
would be a great experience.
We’re excited to put some
roots down here. So I’m just
excited. I’m drinking from
the fi re hose right now and
a little overwhelmed with
everything, but I can’t wait
to be better up to speed and
really be able to serve you
and the community.”
It means you are not off ensive or dan-
gerous. Rather than penalize 25 people
for the actions of two, we can just say
to those two people, ‘You have lost the
ability to live in the camp.’”
Elizabeth Davis, who described her-
self as a resident and RV camper at the
site experiencing temporary homeless-
ness, said the policy limiting stays to
one night has negatively impacted her
family’s life.
“The gas required to constantly
move our RV in order to comply with
the ordinance is an undue burden,
about the cost of renting a house by the
end of the month,” Davis said. “That
actively thwarts my ability to save or
get into a place.”
Wear and tear on her vehicle leads
to expensive mechanical problems not
easily fi xed, which occur more often
and sooner, Davis said.
“Certainly the instability created by
the current ordinance and the way that
it is enforced makes it inherently diffi -
cult to have a normal household stabil-
ity or routine that most people take for
granted in their daily lives,” she said.
Mill Ponds camper Michael How-
ard said that despite working 30 hours
a week, he could not aff ord housing.
He, like others, sought a longer length
of stay.
“I’m on a three-year waitlist for
housing,” Howard said.
Camper Jeanne Faller said she was
homeless as a result of COVID, mold
exposure and osteoporosis.
“I’m too sick to get up every sin-
gle day and walk,” Faller said. “ I can
try, but I end up back in the emergency
room.”
The overnight limits had come in an
eff ort to prevent a repeat of an encamp-
ment at the city-owned lot at 10th and
Necanicum, Mayor Jay Barber said.
“We had people moving in and
Police Chief Dave Ham and Community Service Offi cer Paul Knoch respond to the
Seaside City Council’s consideration of homeless camping hours.
the fi rst six or seven campers really
self-governed themselves, kept the
place clean,” he said. “Within weeks,
there were 20 campers, and then 30
campers, then 40 campers in chaos.
And our concern was that we don’t
want to see that happen. You have to
move out so that we don’t see an RV
park and a 10th and Necanicum estab-
lished in the neighborhood where the
problems would come again.”
Extending the length of stay for
homeless campers is the least burden-
some enforcement approach, Commu-
nity Service Offi cer Paul Knoch said.
“I think one day out is critical,
though, because it’s a temporary camp-
ing program,” he said. “Public works
needs to clean up the area. We don’t
want a 10th and Necanicum-type
setup.”
According to the new policy, partic-
ipants must check out on Thursday by
10 a.m. and are allowed to return after
4 p.m. when the gates are reopened.
Those who do not comply with camp
rules may be denied entry or issued a
citation to appear in court.
Campers found to be repeatedly in
violation of the ordinance and deemed
to be a nuisance will be excluded from
camping in the city.
“I’ll be going into Mill Ponds every
single day to make sure campers are
tidy,” Knoch said. “I know what a clean
and tidy camp looks like. If there’s
trash just starting to spread out, I can
have contact with that individual. Our
presence won’t change even if they
don’t have to move out every day. We
just won’t be having these daily fi ghts
and struggles. And I also believe we’ll
have more people who are currently
not participating in the program.”
Barber, Phillips, Montero, City
Councilor Steve Wright, City Coun-
cilor Tom Horning and City Coun-
cilor Randy Frank approved the policy ,
which went into eff ect immediately on
a temporary basis.
Additional tweaks to the camping
ordinance included a prohibition on
camping in aquatic or wetland areas, as
well as wording that would have per-
mitted homeless camping on private
property in residential areas.
Camping on nonresidential private
property requires property owner per-
mission and participation in the permit
process.
Lot-size requirements will be a
topic of future policy discussions.
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R.J. Marx
A proposed ordinance would prohibit signs on trees and areas
where they would pose a public safety hazard.
Signs: Public safety
concerns spur ordinance
Continued from Page A1
regarding election signs,” City
Administrator Chad Sweet
said. “The council is mainly
concerned with election signs
nailed to city trees, on city
right of way, and placed in a
manner that creates a hazard
to walkers and drivers.”
Residents asked the city
to remove a campaign sign
on private property at the
corner of Pacifi c Way and
North Cottage. They said
the sign, which advocated
a “yes” vote for Measure
4-213, was too big and vio-
lated the city’s zoning code.
They also said that the law
is being exercised unfairly,
as in the past, the city has
required the removal of
oversized campaign signs.
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.
City Attorney Peter Watts
said the U.S. Supreme Court
has ruled that signs are an
important medium of polit-
ical, religious, or personal
messages for which there
are no exact alternatives.
The ruling limits the ability
of local governments to reg-
ulate political signs.
His opinion opened the
door to campaign signs of
increasingly greater size, on
parked cars and on the fence
along Pacifi c Way in front
of the former Gearhart Ele-
mentary School.
Other elements of the
sign ordinance will be
untouched.
“We’re not proposing
changes to the current city
sign ordinance except for
election signs,” Sweet said.
Watts said he is con-
cerned about public safety,
maintaining vehicle sight
lines, right of ways and
protecting city trees. Rules
would likely not exceed
that.
“I would just say the
higher the level of regula-
tion, the higher the legal
risk, because it could impair
people’s ability to express
themselves,” Watts said.
“I think we should try
to keep the regulation to a
minimum that keeps pub-
lic safety and our tree safety
paramount,” City Councilor
Brent Warren said.
Watts will bring a draft
of the election sign ordi-
nance to the council at the
August meeting for discus-
sion, Sweet said.
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