When will rubber meet the road for Yachats’ tourist trolley — or are the costs just too much?

 

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews

YACHATS ­– The idea of bringing a tourist-style trolley to Yachats rolled into town a year ago.

Behind the wheel was the Yachats Area Chamber of Commerce which pitched it as an eco-friendly way of easing congestion and parking in town by shuttling people to and from motels and campgrounds to shops, restaurants and attractions like Cape Perpetua.

To gauge interest the chamber surveyed residents and visitors to see whether they were on board with a ride-for-free, hybrid trolley to serve visitors and residents during busy summer months or perhaps year-round.

While there were skeptics, the idea picked up enough momentum that the chamber and the city, which had some concerns about operating costs, applied for $100,000 grants under Travel Oregon’s accessible and inclusive program.

The chamber received a grant. The city did not. The reason given was that the city is not a “tourism-facing entity.”

Not to be detoured, the city council voted in January to apply for a U.S. Department of Transportation grant worth $1 million to $25 million. That was also denied and the city is awaiting feedback as to why.

But with a $100,000 grant that must be used by April or revert back to Travel Oregon, chamber staff has been busy brainstorming about options to move forward.

Chamber director Nichole Lippincott brought two of those options and a possible third before the Yachats city council on Wednesday. The first option is for the city to cover the $100,000 grant it missed out on along with the operating costs — fuel, maintenance, insurance, a driver and storage — it was already looking to fund for a total estimated city startup cost of $222,544.

The cost of the 14-passenger trolley with wheelchair lift is $230,000. The chamber would apply its $100,000 grant and ante up another $39,000 of its own funds.

Lippincott said a second option is to purchase a Sprinter 12-passenger van with a wheelchair lift, which would still meet the Travel Oregon criteria. The estimated cost of the van and lift is $102,000. In this option the chamber would cover the purchase of the van and the city would pick up the costs from there.

Both options are based on the trolley or van operating year-round. The annual operating cost to the city in subsequent years is estimated to be $170,000 for the trolley option and $157,000 for the van option.

A third possible option, Lippincott said, is to partner with Lincoln County Transit, which has expressed interest in the van option. The transit district would want to add a few extra loops into town but would not operate into the evening – which was something touted by proponents as a way of transporting people to local restaurants for dinner and drinks.

A woman who attended last week’s council meeting online said she did not want to be negative but said it sounded like a lot for such a little town and asked “What is the goal?”

Mayor Craig Berdie answered by saying the initial proposal was to eliminate traffic and parking congestion with the added intent of making Yachats “greener” and accommodating people who do not want to drive.

Councilor Catherine Whitten-Carey suggested waiting for feedback from the department of transportation about why the city’s grant application failed while also investigating the county’s interest – which Lippincott had said would take over the operation and assume all the cost and liability.

Berdie agreed with Whitten-Carey.

“I mean I’m very supportive of it, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I think it’s an excellent idea. But it’s tough, because we didn’t budget for it. And we just spent a great deal of time hearing about how moving money (for) the sheriff … puts a hole in our reserves for water and sewer.”

Council kicked the tires on a few other ideas including using money from the city’s plentiful “restricted funds” to possibly asking hotels and restaurants if they would be willing to pitch in more than they already do. But in the end it was the county transit idea that had the most appeal.

“Let’s engage in more conversation with the county,” Berdie said to Lippincott. “How deep do they want to get into it? What the cost is of them doing it in terms of control … So let’s bring it back to the next meeting with that additional information.”

YachatsNews reached out to Whitten-Carey and councilor Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessy on Friday to ask what they thought about the continued effort to bring a trolley or van to town.

“I kind of sit here with mixed feelings still,” Whitten-Carey said. “On the one hand if it’s helpful and useful and well done, it could well be an asset. But I still have a piece of me from when it first came to light about the idea of it. I don’t want to turn (Yachats) into Disneyland.”

O’Shaughnessy said options one and two would cost the city a considerable amount of money and asked for what – to drive a few people around?

“I just don’t know if the cost supports this type of spending,” she said. “That is my concern. I just see it as a lot of money and I’m not exactly sure what the benefit is. I just have misgivings about it. The bottom line is I don’t think it’s the best use of our finances – of the city’s money.”

• Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com