By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Two city of Yachats commissions gave their approval Wednesday to a $158,000 street and parking project for a 100-yard length of road between the Yachats Commons and West Sixth Street.
But it wasn’t approved until after complaints from some commission members – and push back from others – that they either didn’t know or understand the project or recognize its size until Wednesday.
The project is fairly simple. But it’s location and size gave some commission members, and possibly two City Council members, pause.
The city won a $100,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation last fall to reconstruct the street – really a continuation of Driftwood Lane – that connects West Fifth Street on the north side of the Yachats Commons to West Sixth Street adjacent to Yachats Community Presbyterian Church. It splits the 501 Building and the four-acre former ball field to the west.
It’s now a mix of broken asphalt, gravel, and grass but used extensively when there are events at or near the Commons or by people walking into town or using the grass field.
Engineering plans call for a two-lane street with sidewalks on either side and creation of 18 parking spaces that would extend 5-8 feet into the field beyond the current gravel spaces.
Both the Public Works and Streets Commission and the Parks and Commons Commission had informally or briefly discussed the project since last fall. It had been mentioned in the city’s newsletter and at least twice in stories on YachatsNews.com.
Questions and push back
But several members of both commissions meeting jointly online said they either knew nothing of the project or had questions.
Those questions included the direction of and the need for more parking spaces, why two sidewalks instead of one, worries over speeders, the effects on traffic near the church, and at least one City Council member wondering why more people didn’t know of the project and how to possibly remedy that.
As background, Bennett explained that – despite some detractors – the 3-year-old sidewalks along Highway 101 were designed to improve the walkability of the city. The result, he said, is that the city needs off-street parking for visitors and residents so they can more easily access downtown shops and restaurants, use the boardwalk through the wetlands, and access trails throughout the city.
“We really have a nice space here to park and wander around town,” Bennett said. “This is not a highway. It’s a safe street.”
The city’s portion of money for the project was already tentatively approved by the city’s Budget Committee in the first of its two meetings last week. (It met again Thursday morning to go over other portions of the budget.) The city’s share – $58,000 – would come from $225,000 set aside more than three years ago for parking projects but which has never been used. That money was generated by lodging taxes that must be used for tourism-oriented projects, including parking.
But Linda Johnson and Dawn Keller of the Parks and Commons Commission said Wednesday’s meeting was the first they had heard of the project. They wondered if the project should be slowed so that more residents could weigh in.
They were supported by City Council member Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey, who said she didn’t want the project to be a surprise to residents who may not have heard about it. She said the city should have done a better job of getting the word out and soliciting comments.
“If this project is worth doing, then people will follow,” she said.
That drew responses from members of both commissions.
“I’ve been hearing about this for 6-8 months; I’ve read about it,” said Michael Hempen, a Parks and Commons Commission member. “It’s not out of the blue. It’s something that’s needed … but we can also do a better job of letting people know.”
The Public Works commission voted 4-0 to recommend the project. The Parks and Commons Commission voted 5-1 to support the Public Works commission’s recommendation to the council. Keller was the no vote, saying she disagreed with calling the meeting to hear ideas on the project only to have them rejected for the engineer’s plans.
But Councilor Leslie Vaaler told the group that she and O’Shaughnessey listened to concerns and that she had taken seven pages of notes.
“I’m going to be thinking of all the things you’ve said,” Vaaler said.
What a waste of money and not needed. The city has done nothing about the dangerous curbs on U.S. Highway 101 put in by ODOT and done very little for proper signage on Ocean View Drive, but wants to do this ridiculous project. There is no justification for this pork barrel project by the city.