Soil tests for Yachats library project throw a monkey wrench into $1 million expansion plans

By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews

YACHATS — The plan all along had been to renovate and expand the 50-year-old Yachats Library on West Seventh Street with a $1.09 million makeover.

But soil tests have dictated a “course correction”, in the words of one project leader.

In early September, Foundation Engineering of Corvallis discovered it had to drill down 20 feet to find bedrock — sitting below a mix of sand, clay and water too unstable to support the planned expansion. In late October, project managers met to consider how to make the building safe and durable.

Since the ground underneath the addition had never been compacted “We knew that the addition would have to have structural support, mostly long rods called ‘helical piers’ ”, said David Rivinus, chair of the city’s Library Commission. But since any settling or movement would affect both the new and old library sections and they needed to shift simultaneously, the same support would need to be applied to the old section of the building. 

However, any change to the original, 1973 structure would mandate bringing it fully in compliance with current building codes. 

“That means updating the floor, electrical, plumbing, heating and roof” of the library, said Rivinus. 

The soaring, high-pitched roof has no insulation, and no place to add any. Which puts a new decision on the table — is it better to stick with the current plan and all its associated costs, or to start from scratch and build a whole new, bigger library?

“In the world of home remodeling, if a house needed this much work, the rule of thumb is that it’s a lot cheaper to knock it down and start over,” Rivinus told YachatsNews.

The expansion and remodel project was being funded by two bequests totaling $300,000, several years of capital project funds from the city, a $250,000 grant from The Ford Family Foundation, and fundraising by Friends of Yachats Library. The Library Commission and city had hoped to break ground on the project early this fall.

So now what? Renovate or rebuild? 

The ultimate answer will depend on cost estimates expected to come from the contractor, King West of Corvallis, by Nov. 16 — the date of the next Library Commission meeting. After studying those estimates, a special steering committee and the commission will develop a recommendation to bring to the City Council.

Rivinus stressed that the library project is “not on hold.”

“This is a course correction,” he said. “Everything is still going forward.” 

Citing issues that cropped up with new apartments under construction along U.S. Highway 101 in downtown or the new Yachats fire station on the north end of town, he called the library situation “par for the course.”

Yet another consideration is the potential use of the library as a temporary shelter in case of a city-wide emergency. In that event, “How good a building do you want there?” Rivinus asked.

The new information and decisions to come have also put the library’s plans to move temporarily to the Commons in limbo. “It’s all going to come down to the numbers and what makes sense,” said library administrator Traci Altson. 

• Cheryl Romano is a Yachats freelance reporter who contributes regularly to YachatsNews.com. She can be reached at Wordsell@gmail.com