By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
YACHATS – In the end, there were too many unresolved issues.
Some 11 months after an original application and eight months after a previously scheduled hearing, the Yachats Planning Commission voted unanimously Tuesday evening to turn down a conditional use permit to allow a hotly debated motel project along Yachats Ocean Road.
There was little debate among six commissioners during their vote after a 4 1/2-hour hearing that the Cottages at Agate Point had major issues involving access, parking, traffic and design.
“We have granted conditional uses in the past and there have been good reasons,” said commissioner Christine Orchard. “There are none here.”
The commission’s decision drew cheers and applause to the handful of people remaining – from an initial 40 — in a meeting room in the Commons set aside for a group Zoom meeting. Another 60 people attended the online meeting from their homes or offices.
The proposal to build seven structures called a hotel or motel but operated like vacation rentals on a half-acre lot at the end of Shellmidden Lane had drawn widespread opposition from neighbors and others. They were concerned about visitors’ access to the site via a narrow, dead-end city street, more traffic on Yachats Ocean Road, proper access for fire engines and commercial vehicles, and whether it was really a hotel – as labeled – a motel, or a cluster of vacation rentals.
The definition of the project changed what conditions the project had to meet.
After the commission’s 6-0 vote, Jonathan Fletcher who proposed the project with his brother, Chris, said they would have to consider whether to change the project to see if it could pass muster.
“I feel we got tripped up by the hotel/motel designation,” Jonathan Fletcher said. “We have to consider re-working this.”
Both thanked the commission for their work, their patience and to the community for their comments.
“It’s a little hard on this side (to hear the opposition),” Chris Fletcher said after citizen comments. “… we always assumed there would be changes later to get the conditional use permit. We realize there’s more work to do and we intend to do that.”
There has been growing opposition to the plan from neighbors and others in Yachats since last July. The city received more than 100 letters or emails objecting to the proposal and it spurred the formation of a citizens group called the Yachats Action Alliance that hopes to get more involved in planning and other city issues.
During their discussion, commission members said they considered the project to be a motel, which would require a wider street than Shellmidden and that the property needed a larger turning area for emergency vehicles.
Allowing a hotel or motel would also require an exception – called a conditional use permit — to Yachats’ ordinances that require them to be on one acre and have direct access to U.S. Highway 101. Some commissioners seemed OK with that, but had concerns over many other issues, especially traffic and emergency access.
Commissioners were also concerned that the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District or the state Fire Marshal’s office had not commented on access issues, and that Oregon State Parks – which owns Yachats Ocean Road – had not weighed in on traffic impacts from the development.
“All in all, I’m not convinced this facility is a good fit for the neighborhood,” said commissioner Loren Dickinson. “I can’t approve this; there’s too much missing.”
The meeting got off to an awkward start when technical glitches kept the audience in the Commons from hearing much of what was going on for the first 30 minutes before more portable speakers were hooked up.
During that time two newly appointed commissioners acknowledged they had written the city last October opposing the Agate Point proposal. Tod Davies, who was appointed in May, determined it was best if she not participate. Julie Bailey, who was appointed in April, said she could hear the testimony, consider it impartially and vote.
Trying for new type of traveler
The Fletchers sought a conditional use permit to build seven modular structures containing eight rental units and one office on .57 of an acre at the end of Shellmidden Way, overlooking Yachats Ocean Road. Like most of the properties in the neighborhood, the land is zoned R-4, which means it could be used for anything from a motel, to a four-plex to a house.
But the Fletchers needed a conditional use permit because Yachats ordinances require that motels be located on at least one acre of land and have direct access to U.S. Highway 101.
Outside of the commission’s purview but affecting the project – and drawing neighborhood opposition — was a determination by the state that 5,662 square feet of the 24,829 square foot lot was a wetlands. The Fletchers would need a state permit before any development.
In their testimony, Chris Fletcher said his brother “fell in love with the area” after buying a vacation home in Yachats in 2018 and that he felt the same way after visiting from California. But they were surprised at the area’s older stock of motels and that just three pieces of land – their small parcel and two large lots adjacent to the Adobe – were the last vacant sites in the city zoned for motels.
Fletcher said their project aimed at a new demographic of traveler who wants more than a motel room can offer and the ability to rent more than one unit for family events or gatherings. He said the project met city requirements for lot coverage, density, height restrictions, and number of parking spaces. In a revision to original plans, the Fletchers added a rental office and a small meeting room.
“What we are proposing is a new product … this is what people want and we’re doing it on a small scale,” Jeff Weber, the Fletcher’s development consultant told the commission. “This concept is new. It doesn’t fit the (old) codes.”
Lots of opposition
Although all the letters sent to the city will be part of the Planning Commission’s record, 13 residents – and one attorney representing a neighbor — made statements Tuesday opposing the project. Most objected to the traffic impacts on inadequate streets, that it would be incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood, and that if it is deemed a motel it would require an entirely different access.
“Nine months into this application we still don’t know if it’s a motel or a hotel,” said Jas Adams, who argued that under city ordinances motels could not be accessed from a dead-end street. “It’s a fatal flaw.”
Chris Kobach, a land-use attorney for Jo Dee Moine who lives next door to the Fletcher’s property, said the seven structures were clearly vacation rentals that would have to meet entirely different conditions for a single-family dwelling or duplex. He said a recently added meeting room “is a ruse” to help it qualify as a motel.
“This project is a vacation rental masquerading as a motel,” said Jude Toler, one of the organizers of the YAA group. “… this is the very antithesis of the comprehensive plan.”
Traffic, mostly
During their deliberations, commissioners said it appeared the Fletchers would need to re-work the parking lot to accommodate emergency and commercial vehicles, and if made smaller does not work.
Commissioner Jacqueline Danos said the project seemed to meet every city standard to allow a conditional use permit until the issue of vehicle access.
“The big sticking point is ingress and egress,” she said. “I feel they met all the requirements (for a conditional use request) except for the fact that it’s a dead end. It doesn’t work in that location.”
Commissioners decided the project was a motel – not a hotel in the Fletchers’ application – and that it had to meet access requirements, which it did not.
“No matter if it’s a motel or a hotel, there are obviously standards that have not been met,” said Dickinson.
- Quinton Smith, a longtime Oregon journalist, is the founder and editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com