To the editor:
The city of Yachats’ comprehensive land use plan and its supporting documents outline the protection of our scenic and visual environment as a guiding principle of the plan. There is currently, however, a big loophole in that protection.
Inexplicably, Title 9 in the Yachats municipal code does not regulate the height of fences, hedges, walls and other unroofed barriers, even though they are explicitly defined as visual barriers in our municipal code. Obviously, the city cannot protect the scenic environment, while simultaneously allowing unregulated visual barriers to propagate across the city. This situation is particularly detrimental when unreasonably tall visual barriers are placed in side-yards between residential uses such as houses or apartments, obscuring scenic views from neighboring properties.
The scenic environment is the reason people visit Yachats, and is the driving force of our economy. It is why the Yachats community made protection of the scenic environment a top priority for our land use plan. The City Council should close this loophole by establishing standards for fences, hedges and walls that protect visual access to our most valuable natural resource – the scenic environment.
— Doug Conner, Yachats
(Note: Conner is a member of the Yachats Planning Commission)
