Bad weather forces postponement of Tuesday afternoon meeting on future of county park along the Alsea River

A meeting scheduled Tuesday afternoon to discuss the future of Lincoln County’s Don Lindly Park in Tidewater has been postponed for two weeks.

County parks and the Oregon State Marine Board scheduled the meeting to gather public input on a redesign for a boat launch and parking lot planned for the largely undeveloped park along the Alsea River at about milepost 7 on Oregon Highway 34. The county can’t get permits for the most recent design because the proposed parking lot would encroach on mature wetlands.

County parks supervisor Kelly Perry said a representative from the marine board was snowed in and unable to make the meeting, prompting the postponement. It will now be held at 4 p.m. March 16 at Central Oregon Coast Fire and Rescue’s station in Waldport.

An online meeting is still scheduled for 4 p.m. March 9. To register to participate via Zoom, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1b5aD1oCQ9y1cbTi0m1YGg

 

 

 

 

By KENNETH LIPP/YachatsNew

TIDEWATER — A new multi-million dollar boat ramp and major renovation planned for a county park about eight miles up the Alsea River is back on the drawing board for a third time – and officials want comments from potential users.

Lincoln County has a 40-year lease of Don Lindly Park, a 10-minute drive east of Waldport on Oregon Highway 34 at the first bridge crossing the Alsea River. It’s named for Lincoln County’s longest-serving commissioner, who resigned in 2012 two years into his sixth term and died in 2021.

Lincoln County, the Oregon State Marine Board and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife started looking for a place for a pulic boat launch in the upper Alsea tidal area in 2011 after receiving significant input for years that one was needed. They located the 10-acre Lindly property in 2013, and ODFW purchased it the next year for $300,000.

While there are several private, pay-to-launch boat ramps along the lower Alsea, there are no public launches in the 12 miles of tidewater east of the Port of Alsea’s marina in downtown Waldport.

Funds for the purchase came through two grants and a private donation. ODFW provided one grant using money from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the second grant came from the marine board’s boating facility program. The Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation contributed $35,000, about a third of which came from individuals who donated to the non-profit specifically for that purpose. Naming rights went to the two largest private donors, who dubbed it the Pioneer boat launch.

The marine board first proposed a design in 2016 — a single boat ramp, about 25 trailer spaces and 10 car parking spots. They also planned a restroom with plumbing and a fish-cleaning station.

But people at a public meeting said that design was too limited — vehicles would swamp the parking lot during the busy fall salmon season, leading to heavy, dangerous parking along the highway.

A redesign featured a boat ramp with two lanes, about 50 trailer spaces in the parking lot and spots for 20 vehicles. Flushable bathrooms and the fish-cleaning station were eventually eliminated from the plans when it was determined that a well on adjacent property purchased for that purpose was not feasible.

But the new design also hit a snag.

The county hired Pacific Habitat Services to complete a permit application to the Oregon Department of State Lands and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but those agencies said they would not approve it if the parking lot encroached on a section of a mature tidal forested wetland. Another redesign was required.

Tuesday meeting

“The basic goal of this meeting is for the marine board and the county to present the current saga of Lindly, so to speak, and find out what current users want to see in a redesign,” Lincoln County parks supervisor Kelly Perry told YachatsNews.

The park sits on an elbow of a 90-degree bend in the Alsea River. It is fairly rustic — a gravel parking lot, a camp host during the summer but not an actual campground, a large day-use area with benches carved into Douglas fir logs, and an old floating dock and kayak launch.

The remaking of Lindly promises to be a major undertaking.

At the time of the 2016 design, ODFW estimated it would cost $2.5 million. With inflation and changes to the plans, it could easily cost twice that if built today. Perry said she believes ODFW has allocated about $1.5 million toward the project.

A new design will produce an updated estimate, at which point the county will seek the remainder of the funding.

Even if a new design is approved soon after the meeting next week at Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue headquarters in Waldport, Tidewater residents shouldn’t expect to see bulldozers at the park any time soon.

According to a 2021 progress report from former parks supervisor Keith Andresen, pre-purchase of some construction materials such as docks and pilings was expected to happen during 2022-23, with construction of some elements like the highway approach and parking starting this year.

In-water work on the ramps, docks and pilings — which requires a special time-restricted permit from the state — was expected to continue through 2026.

Perry said she was eager to hear from people with varying ideas of how the park should be used.

The only firm point in the design, she said, is that it has access for boaters, as that was the original purpose, and the marine board and ODFW would likely want some access for motorized craft. Previous designs have only included motorized boat launches, and she said she expects and wants to hear from kayakers and other types of users who have a stake in the future of the recreation site.

“I like working with different groups with different viewpoints,” she said.

A Portland-based conservation non-profit is urging people to attend the meeting and speak against the project.

Kelly Fuller of Depoe Bay, the western Oregon field coordinator for Oregon Wild, said in an action alert post on Facebook that the county plans “a ridiculously oversized parking lot” that will require cutting down Sitka spruce and paving over wetlands, and that a boat ramp and rip-rap will displace harbor seals. Fuller told YachatsNews that Oregon Wild got involved after they were contacted by Lincoln County residents who were worried about the park being paved over and big sitka spruce trees being cut down.

“We are responding to locally raised concerns,” she said.

Tuesday’s meeting is open to the public. It starts at 4 p.m. in the board meeting room of the Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue station in downtown Waldport.

The county has scheduled an online meeting for 4 p.m. March 9. To register go to https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1b5aD1oCQ9y1cbTi0m1YGg

• Kenneth Lipp is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at KenLipp@YachatsNews.com