By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The Yachats Library Commission has decided to put an expansion of the 47-year-old building on West Seventh Street on hold indefinitely, citing the recent quadrupling of building materials.
While the commission still has a $150,000 bequest in hand, an agreement for another $150,000 – and hopes to raise more – it has decided to wait awhile to begin design work.
“It’s a blip. I don’t see this as anything more than that,” commission chair David Rivinus told YachatsNews. “We still can afford to do this building … but let’s wait it out a bit.”
Anyone familiar with the price of lumber knows that the building business has been rocked with the spiraling price of materials. A single sheet of standard plywood that cost $20 last year is now $80. Experts say the cost of materials has added an average of $36,000 to the price of a new, standard sized home.
“The issue is that we don’t know what it’s going to cost,” Rivinus said.
But since the commission’s decision, other developments at City Hall have also meant that the project would have stalled.
Rivinus said the recent resignation of community services coordinator Heather Hoen, who had been helping the commission with the process of soliciting architects, bids and other details of construction, means it has no one to work with on those issues. The commission, under Rivinus’ leadership the past year, has been aggressive in using a consultant to lay out future plans and getting the City Council in March to agree to spend $14,000 on design work.
“We’ll have to wait for some direction now from city offices,” he said. “Hopefully this will settle out.”
A consultant had already suggested a 1,200- to 1,400-square foot expansion of the 2,300 square foot library.
But an architect and/or designer has not been selected, so that process is also on hold. If that drags out too long, Rivinus said, the commission may just seek advice locally on how to proceed with getting drawings, engineering and interior design done. Once that is done, it can seek bids on the project – and see what builders estimate it would cost.
The City Council in 2019 had approved a 400-square-foot expansion of the library, using some city funds and a $150,000 bequest to the city several years ago from the Hall family. But that plan was halted after Marguerite Peterson of Yachats surprised library supporters with a similar $150,000 bequest, and the commission sought to leverage both gifts to seek more donations and grants to make the library a bigger and better place.
That goal was supported in December with the completion of a consultant’s report that suggested a host of improvements for the organization and the city library – including a 1,380-square-foot expansion.
Perhaps the community could donate trees to be sawn into lumber. Maybe some timber companies would donate trees. The lumber would then need to be graded. Maybe a mini saw mill would volunteer. Time to think outside the box.