By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
YACHATS – With an independent timber appraisal in hand, the Yachats city council on Tuesday approved making offers totaling nearly $152,000 to stop an impending clearcut in the in the middle of one of Yachats’ post card views.
Based on the appraisal, the offer would pay the property owner $76,667 and the logging contractor who owns the trees another $75,150 to leave them for the next 25 years.
The 25-year lease or covenant land agreement would cover not just the 20 acres planned for cutting, but the entire 40 acre parcel owned by Clemente Rocha of San Jose, who has made clear he is not willing to sell the property.
The parcel is located near the base of the Yachats Ridge immediately south of the Yachats River bridge. It lies just outside the city limits and is zoned for forestry practices.
The council discussed whether to move forward with a lease offer for two hours during an executive (closed) session before voting 4-1 in a following public meeting to have city manager Bobbi Price present the offer and begin negotiations with Rocha and logging contractor Joshua Howard of Dallas, Ore.
Councilor Anthony Muirhead was the only dissenting vote.
“We have had considerable discussion in our executive session as to how to proceed with this,” Mayor Craig Berdie said prior to the vote. “I want to make clear that the city council understands that we have many projects and many needs within the city, including the Little Log Church Museum, the library, the delineators, our expected purchase of the O’Neil (Landmark) property, as well as additional projects. So we are taking this very seriously.”
The mayor then noted most of those needs can be planned and budgeted over time, while stopping the clearcut has become an urgent matter.
“The parties in this are ready to start logging and we need to act now if we are going to do anything at all,” Berdie said.
A community-organized online petition has gathered more than 800 signatures in favor of stopping the cut.
In approving the offer, council members expressed concerns about the safety of residents living below the proposed cut, as well as the importance of the view, but also expressed reservations about setting a precedent and spending tax money needed for other projects.
“I think it is appropriate to spend some city funds on maintaining the beauty of our surroundings and the safety of anybody effected by the consequences of clearcutting that piece of hillside,” Councilor Barry Collins said. “So there’s a value to that. How much value is very much debatable.”
Councilor Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey said councilors also have taken into consideration the fact that some people in the community live paycheck-to-paycheck and struggle to pay bills.
“And so anytime we make a decision like this, I think we need to realize that this is what’s best for the whole community,” she said.
Muirhead said he was voting against it because city funds should be used to secure city services and that with so many projects in the works, several of which are costing much more than anticipated, it is just not prudent.
“Spending this amount of money to postpone somebody from doing something with their land for 25 years, I don’t see as a good enough reason … I don’t see it as a solution for the city. They shouldn’t start a precedent of spending that kind of money for something they don’t really control, (it) just postpones the problem.”
While the council gave Price some room to negotiate the offer with Rocha and Howard, all those who voted in favor of it agreed there was very little room.
“…We’re starting at a point that seems fair from the appraised value…and we’ll see how they respond,” Berdie said. “And depending on how they respond, we’ll have to come back and decide what to do if the offer is something near to what we are offering them.”
Price emailed the offers to Rocha and Howard after the meeting. As of Wednesday afternoon, she had heard back from Howard with a higher counter offer but not from Rocha. The counter offer has not yet been made public.
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
Possibly, this has been previously covered and I missed it. But ballots are being sent out, and to my knowledge YachatsNews has not surveyed anyone in our area running for county, state or federal office about this situation. This land is out of the jurisdiction of the city of Yachats and our city representatives are in a weak bargaining position. Before I vote, I would like to know what is Dick Anderson’s position on this issue. Is he into clear cutting? Does he even care about Yachats? He’s spending some $500,000 on his campaign. That happens to be considerably more than what is being offered to Rocha. It says online that the salary for an Oregon State Senator is $35,000 a year. What gives? The same questions could be asked of others seeking office. If county, state, and federal candidates are turning their collective noses up on our city and can’t be bothered to help resolve this situation, I’d like to know about it before I vote.
Spending city dollars outside the city Limits to defer logging is crazy. I think I’ll not stop and spend any dollars in Yachats.
Thank you for the invitation to be on your mailing list. Thank you for a well-written review.
If the property is logically accessible, could the following idea be entertained?
Could this 25-year lease of the property include an amenable usage agreement between the City and the property owner for walking trails and rest areas?
The question of how the City could source monies for liability insurance, maintenance costs, etc. may not have a practical solution.
Thank you for your time.
I agree with Mr. Muirhead completely, and will add that if they go ahead and get it logged now then imagine how it’ll look in another 25 years? Perhaps we should ask ourselves if it’s that smart to build down below an area that is very likely to be clear cut?
It is somewhat odd that the city leaders are worried about the view. The city approves construction projects which destroy or seriously impair the views of their neighbors with seeming no problem. Next time you are driving past Dollar General turn your head and look at the military barracks going up across the street.
Taxation without representation. What non city of Yachats endeavor will be next? This is difficult for me to understand.