By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Yachats is looking for its fourth city planner in 18 months – but who should it be and what qualifications should they have? How much should they work, and what are the planning issues facing the community?
Dissatisfied with turnover of planners, the new City Council wants to try to find someone local to have regular office hours, work more closely with the Planning Commission, react to immediate issues, and be able to deal with the public.
But getting there is no easy task.
The city has been contracting with Albany-based Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments for planning services for 18 months, under which it sent a planner to Yachats at least one day a week and worked remotely for 8-12 hours. But that agreement is coming to an end March 1, with CoG cutting back to “on demand” services and charging $80 to $125 an hour for remote staff work from Albany.
Justin Peterson, a CoG planner who also works in Toledo and Sweet Home, had been covering Yachats for parts of the last year.
Last fall, another CoG planner splitting time between Yachats and Waldport last year grew dissatisfied with that months-old arrangement and became a part-time Waldport employee. Before her, the city contracted for 1½ years with a planner living in Tillamook who drove to Yachats one day a week and worked from home a second day.
Now the City Council thinks a more local hire – if there is one – might bring stability to the position. In January it halted a December CoG recruitment process for a 30-hour-a-week planner that attracted five applications.
One person in the community with planning experience has approached Mayor Leslie Vaaler and one other council member about interest in the position.
Planning commissioners weigh in
On Thursday, the council asked six Planning Commission members to give it advice on what they felt was needed. It was the first time in years the commission had been asked to weigh in.
“In the past it’s been ‘Here’s the planner’,” said Vaaler.
Planning Commission Chair Lance Bloch said finding someone familiar or comfortable “with the Yachats way of governing” would be helpful. A planner working two days a week is enough, he said, but the position could be combined with other positions or take on other tasks if the fit was right. But finding a planner who would also do a good job at code enforcement is unlikely, he said.
“The rapid changeover in planners has been extremely disruptive to the Planning Commission,” he said.
Commissioner member Loren Dickinson, a retired architect, thought having a degree in planning or having worked in a planning department is important for any candidate. But how the person “works with people and the public is extremely important,” he said.
They were generally echoed by commission members Helen Anderson, Christine Orchard and Ariana Carlson.
Jacqueline Danos is the only commission member who has advocated that the city can use a full-time planner. Yachats needs someone to help it with larger projects, in addition to the daily business of checking building plans and other chores, she said, and a full-time planner could help the city deal with issues like growth and workforce housing.
Councilor Greg Scott said the 45-minute long discussion with the commission “exceeded his expectations” and that he was more comfortable moving forward with the city seeking candidates.
In other business Thursday, the council:
- Decided there was no immediate need to develop a demolition permit, which neither the city or Lincoln County requires to take down a house or other structure. The issue arose mostly due to the partial demolition of a large stucco house on Radar Road property that had never been occupied, was falling apart and been purchased by its adjacent property owners, Dennis and Janie Snyder. “Demos are rare in Yachats,” Scott said. “This is a rabbit hole we don’t need to go down.”
- Took no action on a Parks & Commons Commission recommendation to allow the Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program to move out of the basement of the Commons this call and into the former city offices upstairs. That came after a 30-minute discussion about how to empower and communicate with the city’s four commissions. Instead, it asked Councilors Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey and Ann Stott to spend a month or two brainstorming and asking residents how to best return the Commons to a community center once the city reopens it.
- Received a letter from the regional council of governments saying it’s financial services contact with the city ended Jan. 31, but agreed to continue on a month-to-month basis while the city decides whether to officially terminate the contract and hire its own finance employee. The council has indicated – but has made no decision – that it wants to end the contract and hire its own person.
- Asked for more time to decide whether to open up the seven-member Parks & Commons Commission to allow a second member to live outside the city limits.