Leave your mark along the seaside

Published 5:00 pm Sunday, July 25, 2004

Seaside’s bench program commemorates loved onesSEASIDE – If you or someone you love enjoys visiting Seaside’s beaches, city officials invite you to leave your mark at the shore.

For a $1,500 donation, the city will purchase a bench in your name to replace aging benches along the city’s Promenade. Benches may commemorate a family member or loved one and come with an optional four-inch by seven-inch bronze plaque that may be embedded in the bench’s backrest.

The commemorative bench program was established in answer to a request from a citizen to place a plaque in the city in memory of his parents. The city did not have a program that would allow him to do that, Planning Director Kevin Cupples said. MORE INFO.For more information, or to make a donation, call the city’s planning department at 738-7100 or city hall at 738-5511. The City Council directed staff members to examine the idea of some sort of commemorative program.

“We looked at what other cities, counties and parks departments had done,” he said. “One of the things they commonly do is provide for commemorative benches.”

Many of the prom’s 34 benches – most of them wooden – are aging and breaking down. Staff pitched the bench idea as a way to provide both a commemorative program for the public and to replace old benches.

The person making the donation may ask that the bench be placed anywhere along the prom where there is already a bench. If a particular location is not requested, the city will replace the oldest benches first.

“We may come to a point where we have replaced all 34 benches and we may look at areas along the prom that are under-served by benches,” Cupples said. “And I could see a time where we might refocus on other parks. This program is something that can be expanded in the future.”

The city will purchase the benches from MacKay Precast Products of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. The six-foot-long benches will be made of concrete with a washed aggregate base, smooth seat and backrest and attachment brackets that will fix them to the ground. The city will install the benches and maintain them for 10 years.

“Hopefully, there will be very little maintenance,” Cupples said. “The nice thing is that you won’t get splinters when you sit on these benches.”

Brochures for the program were completed in January, and so far, the city has received donations for eight benches. The benches have been ordered and Cupples hopes to have them installed along the prom by the end of August.

“We’re hoping that this will be a real positive program for the public,” Cupples said. “Although the bench plaques are optional, it gives people the opportunity to put in some kind of remembrance for someone they loved.”