Seaside review finds limited buildable land, highlights infrastructure barriers to housing

Consultants and county staff told Seaside city leaders at a work session that the city’s apparent land capacity for new housing shrinks sharply once regulatory and physical constraints are removed, and that infrastructure limits and a high share of second homes complicate meeting the community’s affordable‑housing needs.

Clatsop County housing manager Alyssa Gertler said the project — funded by a grant from the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development and prepared for each city in the county — updates the 2019 study and compiles a buildable land inventory, infrastructure needs and a housing supply analysis. “Seaside, in particular, has really been quite proactive about housing and taking really good steps to help you think about how this might inform what you do next,” Gertler said.

Steve Foster of 3j Consulting, who led the inventory work, said the team began with all residentially zoned land and then removed parcels restricted by stream corridors, steep slopes, wetlands, public rights of way, parks, small already‑developed lots and properties not serviceable by…