Posted on November 9, 2021
DEPOE BAY — With $1.8 million from the state legislature deposited into the city’s account this week, the Depoe Bay City Council spent time during its regular meeting Tuesday evening discussing a request for proposal (RFP) for the city’s Harbor Renovation Project’s design.
The $2.9 million project is meant to replace the decaying docks and pilings at the Depoe Bay harbor, which have eroded to the point they will soon become unsafe to use.
The main question regarding the RFP was whether to focus on renovating the current dock and piling setup at the harbor based on the city’s current design plan, or ask for alternative designs that could expand on the renovation and accommodate different purposes, like being built to house more boats or being built with future expansion in mind.
The current plan for the project estimated it would cost $2.9 million, and a limiting factor for requesting an alternative design is that it might add costs to the project, which Depoe Bay can only currently afford thanks to support from the state.
Ultimately, the discussion was tabled to give the Harbor Project Steering Committee time to meet Wednesday, when it planned to consider design criteria for the project and make a formal recommendation. The committee, which is still in the process of forming, would then bring a recommendation to the council at its next meeting later this month.
Councilor Fran Recht thought arranging a competitive RFP process for the project night be too time intensive and was concerned that the money currently secured for the project was on a very strict timeline that requires it to be committed to be spent by 2023.
That said, Recht noted that any changes that would help the with the harbor’s sediment circulation would be helpful, stating that dredging the harbor every decade was heavily reliant on hard-to-get federal funds and maybe something as simple as the placement of the docks and boats could make an impact.
Councilor Jerome Grant currently serves as the council representative for the Harbor Project Steering Committee, and noted the committee had reached out to two members of the business community to fill seats and were waiting to hear back.
Other items from the Tuesday night meeting:
• The council denied Eric Sherman’s application for the Depoe Bay Planning Commission after he failed to appear for an interview scheduled during the meeting.
• The Depoe Bay Community Hall’s renovation should be finished by the end of the month, with the city planning to reopen it for reservations shortly thereafter.
• The council briefly discussed providing internet service to the Living Pacific Seafood fish processing plant, which rents space from the city at the harbor. The council instructed city staff to look at the feasibility of adding internet at the location. City Recorder Barbara Chestler asked that the item be tabled so the plant’s manager could speak to the council in more detail about its needs.
• The council approved a $118,000 capital improvement expenditure.
