By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
YACHATS – After a warning that the Little Log Church could literally fall down if nothing is done, the Yachats Parks & Commons Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend the City Council commit to replacing it this summer.
And, after hearing how a church support group apparently missed out on a $125,000 grant this summer, the commission also recommended the city hire a grant writer to find money to help pay for the project.
“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” said Larry Thornton, a Yachats engineer who is working on plans and a schedule to replace the deteriorating church. “If we don’t step up and save this building this summer, we’re going to lose it.”
The group’s recommendation comes after the council this fall approved spending up to $10,000 for a construction plan and up to $12,000 to winterize the church to protect it from further deterioration. But any decision on the church could face competition from other projects that the city has not moved on in the past two years and new ones — a boardwalk along Ocean View Drive, major landscaping on the grass field behind City Hall, expanding the library — and yearly work on water and sewer infrastructure.
The commission’s recommendation Tuesday comes after at least two years of study, debate and then inaction by the city to come up with a plan to fix the structure and find – or commit to – a way to pay for it. There was money in 2019 and 2020 budgets to begin work, but that stalled when the Parks & Commons Commission asked the Friends of the Little Log Church to raise $100,000 via grants or donations to show community support for replacing it.
The Friends group has raised $30,000, but board member Carl Miller contended to the commission that it missed a $125,000 grant this year because he could not get a letter from the city committing to rebuilding the church.
He said Yachats – which has been without a permanent city manager since April and lost its facilities manager in June – dragged its feet on helping with the grant application.
“It’s not our property. It’s the city’s property,” Miller said. “You can’t get anywhere. It’s been a fight from the word ‘Go.’ We don’t have a schedule and we need the help of the city. We’re trying.”
The City Council hopes to have a permanent city manager working by early January and the city recently hired a temporary employee to oversee facilities.
“If we miss this window to get this work done, we may not have a choice (but to replace the church),” he said.
There is currently set aside $208,000 in capital reserves in the 2021-22 budget to help pay for a project estimated to cost $400,000. The Parks & Commons Commission on Tuesday suggested the city use that money to begin work and then allocate the remainder in the 2022-23 budget that takes effect in July.
Thornton said repairing the church is separate from work that needs to be done on the attached museum. He estimated that to cost $130,00, but said it is less urgent and can be done in 2023.
“There are a lot of floating issues which has made it easy for the project not to move forward,” said Friends board member James Kerti, who also holds the city’s contract for tourism marketing. But he said there appears to be growing momentum to begin moving on the project now that there is a construction plan, the winterization completed, and the urgency outlined by Thornton.
Commission member Michael Hempen urge the commission to send a strong statement to the City Council to act on repairing the church next summer.
“The fact is that the city hasn’t moved on this in years,” he said. “The previous city council didn’t have the will to do anything and I’m not sure this one does either. I think we need to state a stronger case.”
Board chair George Mazeika said he had “no concern about community support” for the project. But the city needs to make a commitment to rebuild and the Friends group needs to get help with fundraising, even though it has raised one-third of its goal during two years of a pandemic which has closed the church and museum.
“The church has been part of our community for quite some time,” he said. “I would hope that community support doesn’t get too narrowly defined.”
While Thornton acknowledged that some people might be uncomfortable with moving ahead without a larger community discussion, it the city waits too long it will cost three times as much to replace instead of repair the church.
“There is significant damage to the church that has just accelerated over time,” he said. “This can has been kicked down the road — and we’re past the end of the road.”
- Quinton Smith, a longtime Oregon journalist, is the founder and editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com
Thank-you for this news update on the “Little Log Church”. When my brothers and I were kids, now we’re in our 70’s, we attended Sunday School there. I still have the bible they gave me. It means a lot to me, and I’d hate to see it torn down, like what happened to Beulahs Seaview Inn. That was a big loss. The Yachats of my youth is gradually disappearing, but unfortunately that’s to be expected. We don’t last forever, buildings or people. The current residents of Yachats don’t have the connection to the Little Log Church that I have, but hopefully can see the value in keeping it. Thank-you.
Thank you for sharing your story, Jon.