By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
YACHATS – To get a handle on what’s required to maintain a city’s buildings and public spaces while also looking to future needs and wants, a community should have a plan.
Yachats does not have a plan.
That does not mean city officials are not taking care of those things. Yachats now has plenty of projects underway and in the pipeline. Repairs and upgrades to the Commons and its pavilion are humming along. A new library is in the works. The Little Log Church Museum is a contractor away from rebirth.
There is a new skatepark. A new electronic roadside reader board. New pocket parks with ocean views. An estuary boardwalk with a viewing platform is on the horizon. And then of course there are master plans for water, wastewater and soon one for storm drains.
And now, if all goes as expected, by next May the city will have a 20-year civic campus master plan to manage public buildings and open space.
With $120,000 set aside in its budget, the Yachats city council reviewed proposals from three companies during its Sept. 18 meeting before choosing Ashland-based Scharen Design Studio in partnership with arkitek design & architecture to create what amounts to a community-informed blueprint for the future.
The council’s decision to hire a contractor, all of whom attended the meeting, was prefaced with a memory-jogging discussion about why hiring a planning firm is necessary.
“A lot of the pieces that are included in some of these proposals are things we’ve already been working on, already doing,” said councilor Catherine Whitten-Carey. “And I guess I want to understand a little better – why are we looking at spending $120,000 … I want to know more about the purpose.”
Whitten-Carey also pointed to previous plans, ideas and surveys and wondered aloud if they had been “lost in the wash.”
Mayor Craig Berdie asked Scharen Design principal Shelby Scharen about not seeing the city’s existing plans mentioned in its proposal.
“As Catherine mentioned, I think there’s some frustration that we do a lot of planning and we don’t necessarily implement really well and we get stuck … ,” Berdie said. “But we do have a lot of plans. And we’ve asked our citizens multiple times, at considerable time commitment … to help us think through different projects that are collateral if not fully integrating into this particular master plan …is that included in your pricing? Is that something you are thinking about?”
“The answer is absolutely,” Scherin said. “We look at all of that past material because we don’t want to re-invent the wheel here. If you already have things, aspects of plans that you like and you want to move forward, absolutely let’s bring those in to what we’re doing now so that we’re not starting over.”
Councilor Anthony Muirhead expressed reservations about spending money for a master plan while the city also looks to raise water rates on commercial users, build a new library and find money for the boardwalk.
“I just think spending this money right now is a little irresponsible,” he said. “We could potentially spend $120,000 for planning that we may struggle to fund.”
“Yes, I think it’s fair that we may struggle to fund it,” Berdie said. “So, I think we need to be very careful as we’re working through what the plans are going to be, what the financial implications are of the plans.”
But the mayor argued that paying for a master plan is different than funding water reserves year after year.
Councilor Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessy then expressed confusion on how it had come to pass that three vendors with bids on the table were before them and council was discussing whether they should go through with it.
“I’m not saying that’s not a good discussion,” she said. “But how did we get here? … What is the recent history of this getting before us?”
The city receives a lot of “disjointed projects and costs” from different individuals and groups proposing everything from public restrooms to outdoor pickle ball and basketball courts, Berdie answered. So during the budget process this spring – which included councilors – it was decided the city needed a master plan to prioritize, stage, fund and fit projects together cohesively.
When councilors asked Price’s opinion about whether to move forward or postpone a decision, she did not hesitate.
“I think it is the right time for the vote and to put this into place and to execute the goal,” Price said.
In a 3-2 vote, the council favored Scherin proposal, with Berdie, Whitten-Carey and Barry Collins voting yes. O’Shaughnessy favored a different company.
Coming up with a master plan
Scherin’s proposal says it will “find solutions for the myriad of issues facing the city’s facilities and public spaces while simultaneously revealing the essence of Yachats’ unique personality.”
The company also said it will undertake a collaborative approach with city staff and community members to develop a “balanced and cohesive master plan.”
Reaching that goal will be divided into four sections. First will be meeting with city staff and residents to develop a shared vision. Second will be developing three concept plans to review with city staff and get feedback before sharing them with community members during an open house to solicit more input. Then will come a draft master plan followed by a completed plan in May.
A chart on the company’s proposal shows a community workshop in October and a community meeting in December.
Sorting out the past
Price met with YachatsNews this week to help sort out the fate of past plans mentioned by council and to explain how the civic master plan is different.
Most recently there were community workshops that led to written plans to create an energy-resilient civic campus during emergencies that would incorporate renewable energy, particularly solar panels. That work was funded by a $100,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Energy.
But the city learned last week that a $1 million follow-up grant to implement those plans was denied. The city has requested feedback to find out why it was denied.
“Then three or four years ago, there was a big effort by the Parks & Commons Commission to do a study on green space and parks,” Price said. “They did surveys and gathered feedback from the community. It was very green specific. And they looked for companies to do the work. It got a lot of momentum and then it met the axe.”
Price isn’t sure what happened, but speculates it may have been turmoil within city hall as well as relationships between commission members and city hall.
“So it didn’t make it to funding or the execution point,” she said. “It was all grassroots.”
Fast forward to the present where there are numerous projects in the works combined with a steady flow of individuals and groups proposing new projects and grants that must be applied for immediately to pay for them.
“There’s just all these needs and wants,” Price said. “And those can be very emotional things for some people.”
There was an obvious need for a holistic approach to figure out how to make it all work now and into the future, she said.
In March 2023, while working on the capital improvement projects budget, $30,000 was set aside to develop a civic master plan. But as more and more projects and wish lists were added it became clear more money was required.
It was during the capital improvement budget process this spring that the budget committee and council approved adding a civic master plan line item for $120,000.
The budget was adopted in June and in July the city began seeking bids for a company to create the plan. It got five responses. Price forwarded those to the Parks & Commons Commission in September with instructions to pass the top three along to the city council.
“This is something the city really needs,” Price said. “And it will allow a third-party to come in and hear everyone’s needs and find out what a lot of people want and what just a few want. Then they can massage it all and present some ideas.”
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
I have a question about roads and streets in the city limits. I understand that the city is working on projects and I appreciate hearing about them. It has been a long standing concern of mine that we have not had any significant work done on our streets since I have lived here going on 23 years. I keep hearing about rural funding grants that support infrastructure concerns. When will the city focus on maintaining and repairing our many streets our an important part of our quality of life? I think we can all agree that the condition of our streets affects each and every resident. While I approve of facility improvements, I feel that our streets need to have priority. Our trails committee has done an outstanding job using volunteer resources creating and maintaining amazing paths that lead to roads that are in disrepair. I think it is time for the City to lead by example and spend some our funding resources on a critical element that bridges the visitor and resident walking experience in Yachats. Our roads connect us all and have a direct impact on accessibility and livability. Please take this editorial to heart and move this into discussion at the next council meeting and make it a priority. The funding is available and road improvements are long overdue.
Thanks Yves, I totally agree. Many of us living south of the bridge feel neglected by city government with regard to road maintenance. Drainage, potholes and badly eroded surface issues will be exacerbated by the coming winter weather. Dumping gravel into holes eroded by water and heavy vehicles is a total waste of time as you point out in your postscript…
As a postscript I want to add that patching and gravel is not a solution anymore. I work for a well established HOA community with 268 homes that owns its own roads. They have a reserve fund that funds repair and replacement. I would hope that the city of yachats has a line item that funds our streets.
Many of our streets are in my opinion in need of replacement, not just patching on an as needed basis or in response to a citizen complaint.
I couldn’t agree more. On several portions of King Street that I frequently drive or walk, road deterioratiion increasiingly makes it more and more difficult to walk safely. This is especially true when it is dark and intersections are poorly lighted.
“Price isn’t sure what happened, but speculates it may have been turmoil within city hall as well as relationships between commission members and city hall.”
There were three different city managers during the period in 2021 when people were trying to move this forward. It got lost in there.
Head hits desk emoji…
Picture dollar bills with wings flying away over the horizon.