Work on $11 million in infrastructure upgrades that began last November at Nehalem Bay State Park is on pace for completion in late June, which will allow the park to reopen, as planned, on July 1.
In addition to the project, work is also nearing completion on five cabins that will house seasonal staff at the park and rangers have been taking advantage of the closure to work throughout the winter on regular maintenance projects and spiffing up the park. Park Manager Ben Cox said that while the infrastructure upgrades might not excite, he hoped people would appreciate the cumulative impacts of work done during the closure.
“There will be some people that come in and go, well, it wasn’t worth the shut down and I’m not happy, that’ll happen,” Cox said. “But I’m hoping that the majority of people will come back and see that, ok, here’s some cool stuff plus oh, that bench in that shower room was always just ragged and needed to be refinished and you know little things, and it’s the little things that people interact with on a daily basis when they’re in the campground that can make the biggest impact.”
Funding for the $11 million in infrastructure work that is being undertaken is coming from a general obligation bond approved by the Oregon legislature in 2021 to help improve state parks. At Nehalem Bay, the primary thrust of the improvements will be to bring the entirety of the park’s facilities up to the same, modern standard.
The park’s camping facilities consist of six loops of campsites, one with yurts, arranged north to south just east of the beach, with additional campsites available for equestrians and pilots who frequent the park’s small airstrip, totaling about 300 campsites. The park previously had four bathrooms for the six loops, as well as a day-use bathroom near a beach access point.
The three northern campground loops were upgraded from 30- to 50-watt power during a 2015 project and the three southern loops have been brought up to the same standard and are awaiting the installation of new pedestals that will house the upgraded power and water hookups.
Water and sewer systems at the park were also completely redone during the project, with PVC pipe replaced by high-density polyethylene pipe. The park’s day-use restroom and one for the horse concessionaire were also connected to the sewer system while new restrooms were added at the equestrian camp and a new bathroom is being added between the C and D campground loops.
The new bathroom facility between C and D loops at the park.
Work is currently still underway on that new bathroom and workers are waiting on electrical equipment to arrive to complete the installation of new electrical hookups in the southern loops. Repaving of a section of the park’s main road between the entrance and airstrip was completed in early April. Changes to the campground infrastructure also led to the relocation of several camp host sites and an increase in the total number from six to nine.
At the same time as the bond project has been progressing, contractors have also been working to complete five cabins that will house seasonal staff. The cabins will be around 400 square feet and have an efficiency kitchen, sans oven, living area, bathroom and bedroom. The cabins will be available to employees, with a specific intention to dedicate them to seasonal employees.
Cox said that he has 17 seasonal positions budgeted each year, but that he struggles to fill them all, with a dozen positions filled representing a successful season. Typically, seasonal staff consist of coastal residents who live between Tillamook and Seaside, and Cox said that he hopes having the cabins that will rent for around $500 a month might help him to fill all his positions.
“Even though there are only five cabins and it’s five people, if you take last year as an example where I hired 11 or 12 out of 17, had I those cabins last year, I might have filled my crew,” Cox said.
The cabin project is slated for a mid-May completion and a sixth site that was originally intended to host a cabin will be available to site a camper or fifth wheel with hookups after cost escalations prevented the cabin’s construction.
Park staff also stayed busy during the park closure, clearing trails of fallen trees after winter storms and completing a bevy of maintenance work, including regrouting and fixture replacements in restrooms and the removal of worn-out decorative features.
While Cox is optimistic about the project hitting it’s June 30 deadline for total completion, he is holding off on taking reservations for the entire year at this point. Cox said that he plans to reopen a limited number of reservations once the reopening date is more certain but that he also wants to do soft opening of sorts to test the park’s new infrastructure under load before returning completely to normal operations.
“We want to put some strain on the system and make sure it’s all working right, that we’re not having any problems,” Cox said, “then I can open the dam, you know pull the lever, and let folks book a full six months out. I just don’t want to pull that lever and have six months of reservations booked and then have to cancel.”
Cox thanked the public for their cooperation during the closure and said that while the staff did not like having the park closed, they wanted to make sure visitors had a favorable experience when they were allowed to return.
“I think it’s a better customer service option to say we’re going to open when it’s ready and when we really, really think that you’ll be able to come and have a good experience,” Cox said.
