These yurts and a travel trailer owned by Linda Hetzler and Thomas Smith were hooked up to a septic system designed to serve a three-bedroom house on their 20-acre parcel north of Yachats. They have now been removed, leaving only a single-family home on the property. (Lincoln Chronicle file photo)By Lincoln Chronicle staff
The Oregon Court of Appeals has ruled against a Yachats restaurant owner who has fought for three years with Lincoln County planning officials over attempts to build employee housing in land zoned for timber conservation.
The court ruled Wednesday that the county was within its rights to enforce zoning ordinances and that circuit judges Marcia Buckley and Sheryl Bachart were not in error when they sided with the county in the dispute.
In February 2025 Buckley denied an appeal by Linda Hetzler and her husband, Thomas Smith, to keep four yurts and two trailers housing workers and their families on 20 acres of property they own off Starr Creek Road north of Yachats. Hetzler and Smith own the popular Drift Inn restaurant and motel and related businesses in Yachats.
Lincoln County had gone to court in 2023 to limit the development to one existing dwelling allowed under the county and state rules for timber conservation zoning and because of septic and electrical issues.
Hetzler’s attorney, Russell Baldwin, argued unsuccessfully in 2025 and before the court of appeals this year that Hetzler and Smith’s operation fell under Oregon’s forest practices act, that the county had no jurisdiction over the act, and that the yurts and a travel trailer were temporary structures allowed under the act. Baldwin also attacked what he called procedural errors in Lincoln County circuit court.
The appeals court denied those claims and said Lincoln County has the right to regulate “dwelling units” like the yurts and RVs and that Buckley was correct in saying they were not a temporary forest labor camp as might be allowed under state law. It also said only one dwelling is allowed on the property and that septic and electrical connections to the yurts and RVs are illegal and constitute a nuisance.
Land zoned as timber conservation zones in Oregon are designed to protect forestland under the state’s rural land use laws and there are limited exceptions for dwellings, Lincoln County said in a news release.
“I am gratified by this result,” county planning director Onno Husing said in a statement. “It is important that the county enforces its land use and other codes when it is warranted.”
Hetzler declined to comment Thursday on the court’s ruling.
Good. Housing is one thing, sub-standard “housing” in a conservation zone for one’s personal gain is something else entirely.