By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNew.com
The Yachats City Council got some push-back Wednesday night as it sought comments on changing traffic flows on Ocean View Drive east and north of Yachats State Park.
Lincoln County is in the process of planning repairs to Ocean View Drive through Yachats before turning the road over to the city. The county plans to pave the road by the end of June, refurbish culverts and – once archeological studies are done – put new guardrails along portions of the bluff overlooking the ocean.
In preparation for that, the city is considering a one-way traffic pattern on portions of the street in order to make room for the 804 Trail and to keep cars farther away from eroding cliffs.
A Parks and Commons Commission hearing last May on the one-way idea drew more than 100 people. Mayor John Moore said Wednesday night that two-thirds of comments favored making Ocean View Drive one way northbound from West Second Street to West Seventh Street and one way westbound along the Yachats River from Pontiac Street to Yachats State Park.
Even though the park is poorly maintained, its sweeping views of the ocean and Yachats Bay still attracted more than 675,000 vehicles in 2018, according to the state, making it the 19th most popular state park in Oregon.
Wednesday night’s meeting drew about 30 people, seven offering comments – and most asking for changes to the city’s proposal.
Kerry Kemp, the city manager for Waldport who lives on Ocean View Drive immediately east of the state park, gave the council a 10-page report showing conflicts between cars and pedestrians and maps offering alternative traffic patterns.
Kemp, who has 30 years experience in urban planning and local government, said his chief concerns were the poor condition and narrow width of Ocean View Drive along the river and creating worse traffic flow through the state park. Because most vehicles already use it, he proposed making Second Street the main entrance and exit for the park not Ocean View Drive from the south. He also proposed that Ocean View between Beach Street and the park be closed to all but local homeowner vehicle access, and to create a turnaround at the south edge of the park.
“Creating a clockwise circulation looping pattern would put exorbitant vehicle demands on Ocean View Drive along the bay as it would be the only safe or viable entrance to the state park,” he said. “Most cars are entering the park from the north. Why change that? You’re going to force people to do something they’re not used to doing.”
Kemp said West Second and Third streets are better able to handle the park’s traffic and also have much more commercial zoning designations along them compared with the residential zoning along Ocean View.
In a followup with YachatsNews.com on Thursday he pointed out that the original 1913 plat map of “Yahutes” identifies the ribbon of land along the riverfront/bay and the coastline as “The Esplanade”?
“This eloquent descriptor conjures up imagery of a nice walking path along the bluff, not a heavily traversed vehicular route,” Kemp said in an email. “While over time the car has become ubiquitous in our society … this does not mean that we cannot refocus our efforts on the natural and aesthetic. While entirely eliminating vehicles may be problematic north of the State Park, there are positive and immeasurable reasons that the city should work with the state to create a turnaround at its southern terminus, eliminating vehicles from exiting or entering. This fairly straightforward measure would create at least a portion of “the esplanade” milieu and meet the city vision that says ‘Our village is a place where natural resources are valued and protected…’.”
Gerald Stanley, who finished a two-year term as mayor in December, told the council he opposed making Ocean View one way northbound between Fourth and Seventh streets because it would inconvenience homeowners in the area. He also said it would hamper traffic getting to the cluster of venues – the Lions Club, the Yachats Ladies Club and the Little Log Church and Museum — to the east.
“If the one-way grid stops at Fourth there would be much easier access to those venues,” he said.
Janette Square and Jenny Hafner both urged restricting commercial truck access on Ocean View and worried that truck drivers would use neighborhoods to the east to avoid the one-way grid.
“There are no guidelines for trucks and no enforcement of driving and parking,” said Hafner, who left the city Planning Commission last year.
City Manager Shannon Beaucaire said the city is considering weight limits on Ocean View Drive.
Moore said the council plans to discuss and make a recommendation on the one-way grid proposal at its May 1 meeting.
“You’ve brought up a lot of good suggestions,” he told the audience. “Not all of them have easy answers.”
