A bond measure to finance a new firehouse in Gearhart will not be on the November ballot because a court hearing on a complaint challenging the $13 million request extended past the election filing deadline.

Clatsop County Clerk Tracie Krevanko said she would pull the bond measure from the ballot after speaking with the secretary of state’s office about the timing of the legal challenge.

In the complaint filed in Circuit Court by residents Jack Zimmerman and Harold Gable in late August, the two asked the court to suspend the bond measure until costs for the project are determined.

Krevanko said since the court was not set to hear the challenge until Thursday, the measure will need to be refiled for a future election.

Gearhart is working with planners to bring the 30-acre Cottages at Gearhart subdivision off Highlands Lane into the city’s urban growth boundary in a land swap for acreage in the city’s “no-build” zone near the ocean. The land would be used for a firehouse and police station.

Mayor Paulina Cockrum said the court will hear arguments that the preliminary geotechnical report does not contain enough information to go to the voters.

“Typically preliminary geotech and architect reports are the council’s due diligence on this issue, and would be enough to get accurate costs for the project,” she said. “These costs have been published on the city website and were discussed in detail at the Aug. 13 meeting.”

Zimmerman said his preference was to improve the ballot language and hold the vote this year.

“But it is what it is,” he said. “All the city needed to do was agree to amend bond language in line with our complaint. … It would be over and on to November.”

City Attorney Peter Watts said the land swap to bring the Highlands Lane property into the urban growth boundary will proceed, as the transaction is not conditioned on passage of the bond levy.

“The idea was to lock up land for a future fire station, whether that happens in the near term or long term,” Watts said.