By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The repaving of Ocean View Drive through Yachats won’t happen this month and likely not occur until the fall.
That, in turn, will delay the county’s turning over ownership of the road to the city of Yachats – and converting two portions of the road for one-way traffic.
Yachats and Lincoln County signed an agreement 18 years ago to turn the road over to the city. But it was only in the past year that any headway was made to bring it up to current standards and complete the deal.
The county was aiming to pave the road and give it over to the city by July 1. But an informal paving bid came in too high, so now the county will issue a formal, statewide bid invitation.
Yachats City Manager Shannon Beaucaire told the City Council on Wednesday night that the entire process – paving, paths, new guardrails, striping and pedestrian areas – should now be finished by the end of the year.
In preparation for paving, county road crews spent much of last week patching the worse areas of the road, widening a couple of spots, and spreading gravel on much of the 804 Trail. The county has agreed to pave two sections of Ocean View Drive, said county public works director Roy Kinon — a 1,000 foot section from West Seventh Street south to Yachats State Park and another 1,000-foot section from the park to U.S. Highway 101.
Kinon said paving should only take two days and could be done by late September “depending on who’s busy and who wants to do it.”
Beaucaire praised Lincoln County officials for their cooperation on a project that could cost it $250,000 and that the county was hoping to finish everything by the end of its 2018-19 budget year.
“Everyone was really pushing to finish by June 30 because budgets can change,” she said.
Delay also means delay in one-way grid
But the delay also means that the city can’t proceed with a City Council decision to turn two sections of Ocean View Drive into one-way streets.
That is a temporary relief to residents of West Second Street who have just recognized a month-old council decision, have been peppering the council with emails and showed up in force Wednesday night to argue against making Second Street the only entrance to Yachats State Park.
After two hearings over the past year, the council voted in May to make Ocean View one way northbound between Second and Seventh streets and one-way eastbound between the park and Pontiac Avenue.
That makes Second Street the only entrance into the state park, which last year had a traffic count of 625,000 vehicles. The Second Street residents are opposed to reducing other access roads to the state park into just one and pushing for a traffic study before the changes are made.
“With these changes the residents of Second Street will bear the brunt of all traffic into the park,” said Dominic Sharp, who has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years.
Shannon McCarthy, Patricia Armstrong and Morgan Brodie told the council that Second Street is now the only route large delivery trucks can use to turn into the C&K Market because of the tight intersection created by the 2-year-old U.S. Highway 101 project.
Armstrong said she previously supported the highway improvements, including new sidewalks and crosswalks “but only now understand the ramifications it caused.”
The council has talked about weight limits for trucks on Ocean View Drive, but coupled with its one-way decision doesn’t know the effect of that on deliveries to downtown businesses.
Beaucaire said she walked Ocean View Drive this week with the city’s engineer and discussed traffic patterns. The engineer said while the county did a traffic study of four Ocean View Drive intersections two years ago, the city lacks an overall transportation system study.
Beaucaire said the state often has grants for such studies, but the grant cycle just passed and another round of grants won’t be issued until next summer.
But she said, a larger study could “provide an opportunity for us to address some of these now infamous intersections.”
In other business Wednesday night, the council:
- Unanimously approved the city’s 2019-20 general fund budget of $1.25 million. The only objection came from Drew Roslund, part owner in the Overleaf and Fireside motels, who had an employee read a statement objecting to the city using $53,000 in lodging taxes to help expand the Yachats Library. State law restricts how lodging taxes can be used, Roslund’s statement said, and the library does not meet that definition.
- Approved a grant application to the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeking $50,000 to help it remodel the 501 Building for city offices and council chambers.
- Approved moving 154 hours – or about 19 days – of Beaucaire’s unused 2018-19 vacation time into the new fiscal year. Beaucaire said improved city staffing will allow her to take planned vacation time in July and August.
