Yachats boardwalk hits major roadblock when bids come in at $2.1 million — double what was expected

By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle

YACHATS – It’s back to the drawing board for the long-anticipated boardwalk overlooking the Yachats River estuary after the lowest bid to build the pathway along a portion of Ocean View Drive came in at more than double what the city budgeted.

The news was delivered by city manager Bobbi Price during the city council’s monthly meeting Wednesday, which was attended by both the engineering firm hired by the city to draw up the plans and the project’s low bidder.

While the city budgeted $1 million for the 248-foot walkway stretching from Beach Street to U.S. Highway 101, the low bid submitted by Cascade Civil Corp. based on designs by Verdantas engineering came in at $2.1 million.

“That’s a big difference,” Price said. “So we’re here to talk about what we can do next.”

Before Price outlined three options, Mayor Craig Berdie, who said there had been a brief internal meeting to discuss and get recommendations from the engineer and contractor, cut to the chase with questions.

“I guess the essential question is why?” Berdie said. “What are the drivers? Why did it come in twice what we had anticipated and the engineering team had told us? And then what do we do? What can we do?”

Verdantas senior consultant Matt Wadlington pointed to the geotechnical analysis of the riverbank where the piers would be placed that were finally conducted in August.

“And that came back and said that the soil on top was not good for holding up the piers or the boardwalk,” Wadlington said. “And so we had to redesign those foundations. And they go much deeper than they did originally. The original cost estimate was done a year ago before this change had been made. I think that’s probably the biggest driver of cost increases. And after talking with the contractor yesterday, they confirmed that was a big, big cost of this project, those foundations.”

The original designs were created by Civil West Engineering Services of Newport, which Verdantas acquired in 2025. But for some reason, Wadlington said, Civil West used a design for decking and homes, not for a structure that would have numerous people walking on it at one time.

“Our structural engineer said we really need geotechnical data,” Wadlington said. “So that’s when we came back to the city and said ‘We’d like to amend our contract to include the geotechnical data.’ And so we did that … and based on the results of that investigation, the design had to change.”

Verdantas senior project manager Sherwin Gormly said the piers need to rest on bedrock, which varies in depth between four and 12 feet. The engineering plans were adjusted before going out for bid, Wadlington said, but a new cost estimate was not provided to the city.

The options

Because money set aside in the city’s capital improvement budget is now $1 million short of covering the boardwalk costs, granting go-ahead for the project is no longer an option, Price told the council.

“So we have some discussion that needs to happen,” said Price, who added she believes that after meeting with the engineer and contractor there is a way forward.

“I think we all want to make this happen,” Price said. “And just some of our original conversations with the low bidder and the engineer team that we had on Tuesday, I feel like we could get close to there. Something that maybe we can have an appetite for as a council and as a city.”

But she cautioned the city would need to be careful with negotiations to be sure Cascade Civil is not given an unfair advantage over other bidders. The other bids were approximately $2.8 million from Baldwin General Contracting, $2.6 million from MJ Hughes Construction and $2.6 million from R.L. Reimers Co.

Price said she identified potential sources where additional money could come from and that reserves for parks and trails and visitor amenities were expected to have balances to carry forward into the 2027-28 budget. But, she said, if those were used it would impact future projects that may need to be paused while the reserves rebuild.

And while there may be some wiggle room in negotiations, Price said the city will still likely need to look to other sources of money.

“We can approach this thinking we want to come out of this today feeling like we can move forward towards an award, but only after we identify what that funding source is going to be,” she said.

Another option is to have a broader conversation about the project and “really dig into the accounts that we will be utilizing funds from,” Price said. “And really digging into what those CIPs are, and then maybe seeing if we need to do a redesign and what that would take would then lead into a rejection of a bid and a whole redesign project.”

The city won a $733,000 grant from Oregon State Parks last year to help pay for the project, the Yachats land conservation group View the Future is contributing $60,000 and the Three Rivers Foundation $10,000.

Contractor thinks it can work

Cascade Civil Corp. president Paul MacClanahan attended the meeting online and told councilors the company built the Amanda Creek suspension bridge and specializes in water work, marine environments and foundations.

“We do see and saw prior to the bid, pretty substantial opportunities to value engineer the foundations,” MacClanahan said. “We see pretty substantial $400,000 or $500,000 range opportunities with the ability to redesign, come up with a more optimized foundation design for this boardwalk.”

Gormly reiterated the increase comes down to placing the piers on bedrock.

“I mean, obviously, the contractor has some interesting suggestions and we would like to pursue them,” Gormly said. “But again … we have to check them out against whether they really are sufficient.”

Another cost-saving option would be to shorten the length of the boardwalk, MacClanahan said after Berdie asked about that option.

“I see the most value in alternative foundations,” MacClanahan added. “Perhaps some alternative materials. But I think the material selection was carefully done and it makes a lot of sense. The foundation and the general structural design has a lot of room for optimization, just in our opinion.”

Price suggested moving forward with instructions for city staff to work with the two companies to see how far costs can be brought down. Then, if the city council feels comfortable, figure out where the money would be drawn from and how it would affect future projects.

“At what point does the value engineering expose us to somebody saying, ‘Well, this is a completely different project, and you have to open it up for bid’?” Berdie asked. “And what are the guardrails?”

Berdie said the city attorney’s advice was to negotiate but not significantly alter the project so that it wouldn’t be fair to the other bidders.

City recorder Neal Morphis added that the city would need to issue an intent to award before negotiations could begin. That begins a seven-day window where other bidders can protest.

The council unanimously approved a motion for intent to award the contract to Cascade Civil, with the understanding it will work with staff and Verdantas to evaluate ways to make the project more affordable. Price said she would schedule a special council session to discuss the findings before its regular Nov.18 meeting.

View the Future co-chair and original boardwalk work group member Joanne Kittel told the council that the group has been working on the project for “nine years, three months, two weeks, and two days” and she worked with Cascade Civil on the Amanda Creek bridge and found them to be highly competent, collaborative and excellent at problem solving.

“But the other thing is, and I have to just say this out loud, which makes me very upset,” Kittel said. “Back 4½ years ago, when we had a face-to-face with Civil West … I asked specifically do we need to have a geo tech because we were doing a geo tech for the Amanda. That’s why I asked the question. And they said ‘No’. That would have made all the difference because that would have certainly affected everything that happened since.”

• Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]