After studies, grants, lots of volunteer help and delays, Yachats finally seeks formal bids for $1.5 million library

 

By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews

YACHATS — The design is ready. The budget is set. The county permit is in. Now all that’s needed for a new Yachats library is someone to build it.

Years in the making, the slow-paced saga of a new library looks to be headed into its final chapters, with bids now being sought from contractors to construct the facility.

Under the hand of new project manager Rick McClung, who also serves as the city’s water supervisor, a request for proposal has gone out to solicit contractor bids on the library re-build.

It should take about a month to get bids in, McClung estimates, adding “We’re hoping to have a contractor by Feb. 1.” Shortly after a builder is under contract, the 51-year-old original building on West Seventh Street will be demolished to make way for a new, larger and updated library.

Effective on the signed contract date, a clause stipulates that the work will be completed in 270 days, putting completion into late 2025. Budgeted at $1.5 million, the new library will offer some 3,600 square feet of books, magazines and DVDs, plus a community meeting room and an area for teenagers and children. The old structure measures 2,400 square feet.

City now in charge

For several years the project’s oversight had been the often full-time task of Library Commission chair David Rivinus and other volunteers. Last month the city — which owns the library and the land it sits on — took over hands-on oversight. McClung, who also heads up the reconstruction of the Little Log Church Museum, was tapped by city manager Bobbi Price to take the project through its building stage.

“I do a lot of capital projects in town, and have years of experience working with contractors,” McClung said.

McClung complimented the work of Rivinus and other volunteers.

“I just can’t say enough good things about David, the Library Commission and Friends of the Yachats Library,” McClung said. “While the city’s been in transition the last few years, it’s the volunteers who’ve kept it going.”

If the builder who has been serving as an adviser, King West of Salem, is selected as the winning bidder, principal Gordon King has indicated that he’d start work a week after the contract was completed. The demolition would be done by K&E Excavating of Salem.

When McClung met with King in November, it was a surprise to discover that the builder didn’t have a contract.

“We thought the architect would be hiring the general contractor,” he said, referring to MD Architect + Design of Coburg. Due to an oversight, however, that didn’t happen.

Crediting Price with detecting the lack of a contract, McClung noted “We caught it in time to put it out for bid. We’ll look back on this as a hiccup.”

As with public projects in most municipalities, there have been other hiccups on the route to a new library.

Rivinus knows this better than anyone. Now in his sixth year on the Library Commission, he’s currently the longest-serving chair among Yachats’ four commissions. Like all commission members, the retired expert in musical instrument restoration is a volunteer and now able to step back and take a broader view of the library saga.

“It’s complicated”

 “You’ve got a cadre of volunteer, private citizens, mostly retired; plus non-profit organizations granting money; plus for-profit construction companies — all overlayed with city, county and state government,” Rivinus said. “It’s complicated.”

When he joined the commission in 2019, moving or expanding the library had already been talked about for 20 years. The city had planned to start a small, 400-square-foot expansion, when Friends of the Yachats Library got a $150,000 bequest added to another $150,000 the city had received years before.

Things got more serious in 2020. That’s when a formal study conducted by library consultant Penny Hummel concluded that the city needed a 3,750-foot library to serve into the future.

However, the Covid pandemic intervened, and staff turnover and turmoil in City Hall combined to slow down plans. Meanwhile, the Library Commission tapped MD Architect + Design to work on the expanded, remodeled structure recommended by Hummel.

More funds came in. First, a $250,000 grant from The Ford Family Foundation secured by Friends of the Yachats Library. Then more, smaller grants and donations joined the kitty. A big boost came last April, when the city released $600,000 for the new library, tapping urban renewal district funds.

Along the way, there were more hiccups. A soil test on the West Seventh Street site revealed that the ground was too unstable to support the planned expansion. And if foundation support was laid under the expanded section, the original structure needed support, too. However, any change to the original building would require bringing all the old library into compliance with current building codes.

The commission considered building a new library on a different site. That was too expensive. The least expensive option turned out to be tearing down the original building and starting all over on the current site.

While demolition was hoped to happen last summer, a few more issues arose. There was an asbestos report needed before the building debris could be disposed of safely. No asbestos was found. Then a structural engineering report was required to gauge things like the floor strength needed to support large, heavy bookcases.

Building permit OK’d

One crucial item did sail through — the permit from Lincoln County, issued in October.

“Ordinarily, the county comes back with questions and changes before issuing a permit for a project this size,” said Rivinus. “But this time, the county had no issues or comments; they just said ‘You guys did this right’.”

When autumn rolled around and it looked as though demolition and construction could begin, the city took over the project and discovered the absence of a builder contract.

While Rivinus says the project handover to the city is “bittersweet” after all the work he’s contributed, “It avoids having lots of different entities running around.” Now, he says, “I look forward to having time for my own projects.”

The library continues to operate in temporary quarters in Room 8 of the Commons from noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The room contains the library’s most popular books and newest titles, children’s books and some periodicals, along with two public access computers.

Patrons can scan the available collection and put a hold on titles via the library’s website.

• Cheryl Romano is a Yachats freelance reporter who contributes regularly to YachatsNews. She can be reached at Wordsell@gmail.com