By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
YACHATS – The Yachats city council waded into all things water during its four-hour meeting Wednesday — which overflowed into scheduling an additional meeting next month to dive into potential water rate increases.
Councilors also received updates on two high-profile projects and efforts to stop a clearcut in the city’s southern viewshed.
City manager Bobbi Price announced a long-awaited agreement has been reached with Southwest Lincoln County Water PUD to supply water to Yachats during times of drought. The two water systems connect via a pipe and valve at the north end of Yachats.
“The agreement is that we can utilize them anytime between the months of August and December,” Price said. “And we have some agreements and terms of a seasonable charge and a maximum amount that we could use and what the rate and daily fee will be.”
Price did not outline those details during the meeting but provided the information to YachatsNews on Thursday. The seasonal startup fee is $10,000. The flow is limited to 100 gallons a minute and during drought conditions the city cannot use more than 135,000 cubic feet of water a day.
Mayor Craig Berdie called avoiding water emergencies “a huge deal” and said while negotiations were not always easy, it was critical to get an agreement.
“It is important enough that we are going to be revising our statute around water shortages later today — only enabled because this agreement is in place,” Berdie said. “It takes a huge burden off of the city. It’s not free … they are not giving us this water, there is a charge for this water but it’s a reasonable amount.”
The council later revised the city’s code for water rationing during droughts and making that assessment more accurately by measuring the flows of Reedy and Salmon creeks where the city draws its water as opposed to basing it on the flow of the Yachats River.
The council and Finance Committee members also discussed ideas for raising water rates to generate more money for public works projects projected to total $21 million over 20 years. Council also heard public testimony and acknowledged two letters of concern from residents.
“We did get these, we do have your correspondence, I want to be clear about that,” Berdie said. “But given that we had that correspondence, given that the issue seems to be quite complex and that we want to be able to answer the questions that people put forward fully, and we want to I think understand the issue, the city manager and I have decided what we would like to do is schedule a work meeting.”
The meeting will be 1 p.m. Sept. 9.
“It is important to note that these rate adjustments will not apply to residential water users, as the focus is primarily on commercial users who use more significant amounts of water,” according to material in the council’s meeting packet.
The city also believes adjusting rates will result more equitably distribute the cost of providing water. The longstanding practice in Yachats has been to charge large users like motels a lower rate because they provide the bulk of city funding by collecting millions a year in lodging taxes.
If the proposed rate increase is approved, it is projected to generate an additional $230,000 for the city’s water and wastewater funds.
To help big users absorb their costs, the city is proposing to increase the handling fee that motels and restaurants can deduct from the lodging and food and beverage taxes they collect to 10 percent in January. It is currently 5 percent.
It also proposed increasing the rates paid by licensed vacation rentals by next July and charging a monthly fee beginning in January to owners of vacant properties with prepaid system development charges.
One critic of the plan so far is Jim Welch, a member of the city’s Public Works & Streets Commission. In a letter submitted to the council, he said residential users and vacation rentals are “heavily subsidizing the commercial users,” and provided a breakdown of rates from June 2023 to June 2024 from the Finance Committee.
That shows the average cost of a unit, which is 100 cubic feet of water, to be $22.90 for a residential user; $18.76 for a vacation rental; $7.48 for a resort – identified as a hotel with a restaurant; $8.22 for hotels and motels; and $9.15 for restaurants.
In other business
- The city has contracted with a timber appraiser to determine the value of a 25-year lease for the trees it wants to stop from being cut in the city’s viewshed on about 20 acres of a 40-acre parcel owned by Clementa Rocha of San Jose. The property is located near the base of the Yachats Ridge immediately south of the Yachats River bridge but outside city limits. Rocha has now made clear to city officials that he does not want to sell the property but the trees have already been sold to logging contractor Joshua Howard. Both men have agreed to wait for the appraisal and city’s offer, which could be ready by late September.
- Permits to begin renovations of the Little Log Church Museum have been secured and Civil West Engineering is actively seeking contractors. A start date for the work has not been determined and will depend on finding a contractor.
- Bids are being sought to begin work on placing pedestrian-safety delineators to run along the west side of U.S. Highway 101 from the Yachats River bridge into the south edge of downtown. The Oregon Department of Transportation approved permits for the work Aug. 13.
- Only two applications have been submitted for three open seats on the council in the Nov. 5 general election. Mayor Craig Berdie has submitted his application for a second, two-year term and council appointee Barry Collins submitted an application for a full four-year term. One other council application was turned in but has not met criteria set by Lincoln County.
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com