SEASIDE – The Seaside City Council voted to grant a liquor license to Seth Morrisey – who intends to establish a convenience store near Seaside High School – with conditions.

During Monday night’s Council meeting, Morrisey said he will maintain a strict policy of not selling alcohol to minors.

Morrisey plans to build a “beer vault” that is glass fronted, in full view of the cashier, clearly marked with a “no minors” sign, and monitored by a camera. He intends to install registers that will lock out purchases until the birth date of customers purchasing alcohol or tobacco is entered into the register. Morrisey said he will be installing a camera system that can be monitored, on site and remotely, to ensure that employees are adhering to the store’s carding policy. He will also make all camera footage available to the police department to assist whenever necessary.

Among the concerns expressed by some City Council members were safety issues relating to the location of the store and the incentive for more students to cross U.S. Highway 101 during breaks and the lunch period.

“This is a very special case for us,” said Councilman Stubby Lyons. “We’ve never had an application this close to the school.”

Lyons expressed reservations with allowing the license to be approved without a workshop session to discuss it, but later changed his opinion.

The issue of safety in crossing the highway was discussed at length. Morrisey assured the Council he was willing to work within its parameters. Mayor Don Larson said the matter was one of good business practices – not the regulation of student safety.

“If the liquor license is approved, I’m going to go way above what the OLCC requires,” said Morrisey. “I’m hoping this project will jump-start the development of this part of town.”

Councilmen Tim Tolan said he was satisfied with the preparations Morrisey had made in the planning phases.

To ease the concerns of some council members, Seaside City Manager Mark Winstanley suggested making the approval conditional, requiring Morrisey to maintain an operational camera system that was functioning for the duration of the store’s business hours and require the construction of the proposed “beer vault.”

Seaside Police Chief Bob Gross said Morrisey’s presentation was in line with what he presented to the police department. Officers had not found anything to disqualify Morrisey.

The license was approved 6-1 with Larson casting the lone dissenting vote.

“I can’t vote for it at this time,” said Larson.

In other news:

? The Council heard a presentation by Jeff Kilday on behalf of the ad hoc committee formed to study the feasibility of an expansion of the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. Kilday presented several statistics but the most striking was the amount of revenue lost because the current convention center was too small. The estimated loss of revenue was $8.4 million.

“We had started keeping track early on in 2007 and we started realizing there are a lot of clients we are missing out on,” said Convention Center General Manager Russ Vandenberg. “This is something you can’t ignore. I think it’s time to take a look and see if it’s time to expand the facility.”

? The City Council also heard the first two readings of an ordinance that would increase the development charges on new building projects. Currently Seaside ranks among the lowest of cities in Oregon for a system development charges; the proposed increase would put Seaside somewhere in the middle of the pack.

The charges would be assessed for wastewater and parks, which stand at $675 and $325 respectively for residential development. Under the new charge system, those rates would increase to $4,882 for wastewater and $783 for parks.

? The Council announced a vacancy on the Community Center and Senior Commission. To apply for the position available, people should pick up an application at Seaside City Hall, 989 Broadway in Seaside.

? The city received a donation of $1,000 from Bradwood Landing, proponents of the liquefied natural gas terminal east of Astoria, for the new Seaside Library fund. “Thank you for the donation,” said Larson. “This is what gives us a library and we thank you for that.”

? The City Council heard a brief presentation by Mallory Pittard, one of four members of a team of students who helped organize this year’s Relay for Life as a Pacifica Project. Pittard worked with classmates Alix Richardson, Fawn Rhodes and Jeremy Carrow to raise funds for this year’s relay. The group had raised $75,831 by the time the relay began Saturday and was expecting to raise a total of $80,000 by August, according to Pittard.