By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
YACHATS – An ambitious proposal to build a 350-foot-long boardwalk overlooking the Yachats River is reaching its first critical test with a key Yachats commission asking the city council to have engineers firm up the project’s design and cost.
A preliminary estimate by a Newport engineering firm says the boardwalk along Ocean View Drive from Beach Street to U.S. Highway 101 could cost up to $923,000, with an additional $200,000 needed to put unsightly utility poles and electrical wires under ground as a separate project.
While some sort of improvement to the narrow, gravel stretch of the 804 Trail along Ocean View Drive has been discussed for years and even sketched out, group of advocates came together last year to get the project moving with the added help of a volunteer landscape architect from Eugene. That design team has worked closely with city street supervisor Rick McClung, and kept the city’s Parks & Commons Commission regularly informed. Last week that team unveiled a preliminary design and cost estimate from Civil West Engineers of Newport.
The city council has generally been kept apprised of the project and during one briefing last year Councilor Greg Scott said the boardwalk could transform downtown. While the council seemed to give support for the project during a special, finance-related meeting Wednesday it has not formally discussed or voted whether to proceed.
The city has not tackled a major construction project in at least four years, but it is now being asked to by volunteer-led commissions eager to get work done around Yachats.
The Parks & Commons Commission voted unanimously last week to ask that the council hear a presentation on the project in May then authorize seeking proposals from companies to engineer and design the boardwalk. From there — if the city decides to proceed — the report would be used by contractors to bid on it.
The city already has $125,000 allocated in its 2021-22 budget for engineering.
“To date, there really hasn’t been any roadblocks,” said Bob Langley, a member of the design team.
Unsafe, broken link of coast trail
There’s a narrow gravel path along the narrowest portion of Ocean View Drive between Beach Street and Highway 101. Residents and visitors alike must dodge cars as they navigate the trail overlooking the Yachats River and bay.
The path is part of the 804 Trail and the state-recognized Oregon Coast Trail. The 804 Trail starts along the beach one mile north of the city and winds through town and is maintained by Oregon State Parks and Yachats volunteers. This last stretch is the only broken, unsafe link of the trail through Yachats.
It was that mix of walkers and traffic that spurred the design team and the Yachats Trails Committee to begin looking at more than throwing additional gravel onto the path.
Loren Dickinson, a retired architect and member of the design group, painted a widely distributed picture of what a true boardwalk could look like. Langley said that drawing is what really got people excited.
The committee was already working with another retired architect, Kevin Shanley of Eugene, on another project when he volunteered his services to create possible trail or boardwalk designs.
“He had really good ideas and helped bring the concept to fruition,” said Langley. “And we just batted things around … and brought it to the Parks & Commons Commission.”
There were two designs under consideration. The first was a series of large, interlocking concrete blocks forming a retaining wall to support a concrete sidewalk or wider gravel path. The second was a pier and post system to hold up a boardwalk made of composite material.
The design group recommended to the Parks & Commons and the Public Works & Streets commissions that the pier, post and boardwalk would be the least invasive, especially to not disturb possible archeological sites along the river and not running afoul of other state or federal restrictions.
That design also allows for a viewing platform with seating that extends 18-22 feet out from the boardwalk.
Money is available
The initial design of the boardwalk calls for it to start at a curb that would run along the edge of Ocean View Drive’s asphalt. The boardwalk would be eight feet wide and made of composite material held up with composite posts. Forty-four concrete footings eight feet apart would be built into the hillside.
Civil West engineer Tim Gross told the Parks & Commons Commission last week he estimates the project could cost $923,000 — which includes a higher-than-usual 30 percent contingency because of the many unknowns a contractor could face.
The Parks & Commons Commission hopes the city council can consider the next steps in May, have Civil West finish preliminary design documents in June and approve final construction documents in August. If the council OKs the project in September, bids would go out in October and the city would select a contractor in December. Construction could then begin in January and take 6-7 months.
But Dickinson said the timeline “will be changing almost continuously.” The biggest issue is whether the council senses an urgency to get moving on the project, he said.
The project would be the most expensive the city has tackled since completing a $1.03 million water storage tank in 2018. A reluctance to spend, a turnover of city hall staff and council members and the effects of the pandemic has meant few city projects the past four years.
But now the city has $8 million in overall reserves and $1.1 million in “visitor amenity” funds just for parks and trails that is fueled by steadily rising lodging taxes that can be used on tourism-related projects. The city also expects to get up to $250,000 from Lincoln County as part of a long-running 804 Trail settlement.
Joanne Kittel, a longtime trails advocate and trails design team member, said there are also plenty of grants available from coastal tourist organizations and the state to help fund the boardwalk project. View the Future, the Yachats nonprofit, already has $26,000 in donations dedicated to the boardwalk, she said.
But Langley worries that the city will slow the project while seeking grants.
“My hope is that the city wants to fund it fully and if grants come in, then that’s a big help,” he told YachatsNews.
But even if the council gives the go-ahead soon, there are still undecided issues. The current proposal does not include developing the east end of the trail where it runs into five city-controlled parking spaces. That easternmost section leads to the former Landmark restaurant site that is on the market for $525,000.
The Parks & Commons Commission has recommended the city buy the property for use as a small gateway park to the boardwalk and has said a Yachats resident has committed at least $100,00 to help with its purchase.
The two commissions and the trails design team believe they’ve come up with a good project that will not only make the last stretch of the 804 Trail safe, but also enhance the Yachats experience for residents and visitors alike.
“The people on the Trails Committee and design team are extremely smart, hard-working and want to do things,” Langley said. “But we’re just a design team. We have no authority. That’s why we have to communicate our best with everyone.”
- Quinton Smith, a longtime Oregon journalist, is the founder and editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com