By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
When Lincoln County enters Phase 2 of the state’s reopening protocol, the city of Yachats will keep its most of its facilities closed to the public.
The public will have to make appointments to enter city offices inside the Yachats Commons, the Yachats City Council decided Thursday.
The Commons itself will remain closed, the council decided, until its clear that the coronavirus pandemic has eased.
The library, which is staffed by volunteers, might add a second day to its once-a-week book pickup, community services coordinator Heather Hoen told the council, but otherwise will remain closed.
And, Hoen said, volunteers at the Little Log Church and Museum are still wary of reopening that facility.
County commissioners have voted to move to Phase 2 on Sept. 29 if the county meets metrics and health indicators set out by Gov. Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority. The county was scheduled to allow looser restrictions on public gatherings, recreational businesses and government offices starting Tuesday, but commissioners voted this week to delay it by at least 21 more days.
The two Yachats facilities that will reopen to the public are the fenced playground and picnic pavilion behind the Commons. Hoen said those are outside and meet state and federal guidelines for general use.
While the playground is closed at the moment, it can reopen Sept. 29 if that’s when Lincoln County moves into Phase 2. Hoen said playground users would have to adhere to social distancing requirements or wear masks. And signs will be put up saying people use it at their own risk.
Hoen said there is demand for the playground to reopen.
“As a citizen and a mother I can tell you my kids are begging to go,” she said.
The picnic shelter/pavilion is already being used by the library to sell used books and two musical groups for practice. It’s considered an outdoor facility, so the only limitation is to have fewer than 25 people use it at one time.
Hoen told the council that some class organizers who used the Commons before it was closed in March want to return. Others do not.
The city would need volunteers to monitor mask compliance and someone – either the city or class members – would have to clean and sanitize the space when they are done.
“I’m not entirely sure how to make the Commons work,” Hoen said.
Council members said they were in no hurry to reopen the Commons.
“We’ve been closed. I don’t see any pressing need to make any changes now,” said Councilor Jim Tooke. “I don’t think another few months of being closed will make or break us.”
The council easily agreed that taking appointments to meet staff at city offices was practical. Most requests of those types were to have the city planner check building plans or permits, said city recorder Kimmie Jackson. Most billing and licensing is easily done by phone or online, she said.
Lincoln County has had 467 COVID-19 cases since March, the vast majority concentrated in the Newport and Lincoln City areas. There have been between 1-9 cases in the Yachats area’s 97498 ZIP code, according to the Oregon Health Authority. The ZIP code has a population of more than 1,600.
Monitoring of Yachats’ wastewater treatment plant since June under a special coronavirus surveillance program at Oregon State University has shown that only twice — in mid-July and likely carried by 1-2 tourists — was there evidence of the virus in the community.
None of that was mentioned in Thursday’s meeting.
In other business, the council:
- Appointed Ariana Carlson to the Planning Commission;
- Held another long discussion – but it won’t take action until at least its Sept. 16 meeting – on paving ideas for Driftwood Lane. “We’re in danger of talking this thing to death,” said Tooke;
- Decided to not explore ways to try to limit illegal fireworks in the city during Fourth of July celebrations because it felt any ordinance would not be enforceable;
- Decided to not look again at refining its vacation rental ordinance, but finally put into a formal resolution the changes it made last fall;
- Decided not to pursue a water line protection insurance program being marketed by a private company through the League of Oregon Cities;
- And, on a 3-2 vote extended the city’s emergency declaration through Nov. 3 to match the date recently extended by the state of Oregon and Lincoln County. Councilors Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey and Leslie Vaaler voted against the extension.