City of Yachats - Page 26

Want a coveted vacation rental license in Yachats? How lucky do you feel? The Yachats City Council has approved a plan for a vacation rental license waiting list and lottery to choose who might get one – once the city drops below a 125-license limit, likely later this year. Worried about the growing number of vacation rentals in Yachats,

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com Two Yachats City Council members objecting to plans to pave a 100-yard-long street adjacent to the city’s 4-acre ball field used a rare parliamentary maneuver Wednesday to pull a final vote on the project from the council’s agenda. Now the council will again discuss the $165,000 Driftwood Lane paving project at its Aug. 5 meeting. The

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com Motels and short-term rentals in unincorporated Lincoln County are now the only lodging facilities that have to wait 24 hours before housekeepers can enter to clean them. The county and many cities adopted the rule in mid-May to help protect lodging employees and visitors from getting or spreading the coronavirus. But under increasing pressure by the

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com The Yachats City Council approved a 2020-21 spending plan for the city on Wednesday, agreeing on a $1.43 million general fund operating budget that maintains services and possibly add employees by dipping into reserve funds. The approval comes as City Manager Shannon Beaucaire is forecasting a dramatic drop in lodging taxes from the coronavirus pandemic, which

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com Yachats is moving ahead with a $158,000 project to rebuild a crumbling street between the 501 Building and large, grass field but not without another contentious discussion about how the city makes decisions – and if it can really make hard ones at all. The council voted 3-2 Thursday to approve the project that would pave a

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com Ken Williamson wants to study Yachats’ poop for traces of coronavirus. Until Thursday the city of Yachats was reluctant to cooperate, questioning aspects of Williamson’s study powered by a $100,000 National Science Foundation grant, and the possibility that bad coronavirus publicity could scare off tourists. But forced to discuss it at Thursday’s meeting by Councilor Leslie