Oregon Coast Waves - 1.8

Beach area, and the disaster punctuates a topic the county has
been preparing to discuss publicly soon. Husing said many
local properties are facing imminent danger from erosion, and
their one lifeline would be for the county to pursue Goal 18
exceptions, which would be no small feat. Talks would take
time and, even if approved by the state, could still be challenged
by environmental groups.
Grant has battled with Goal 18 restrictions for the last 30
years as he’s tried to get approval to put riprap onto the beach
below his property several times. He claims that via written
correspondence between him, the county and state, he was
assured he’d be eligible before he even purchased the property
in 1991.
Grant said for the first 14 years he owned the property, he
repeatedly applied for riprap and was told he was eligible, but
there needed to be an imminent threat to his property. In
2005, when signs of erosion became more clear and something
needed to be done, Grant said he was told by the county there
was a mistake and he had never actually been eligible. With few
other options, he installed the pilings instead, which showed
signs of erosion over the next 16 years before finally collapsing
last weekend.
“I’ve been here 30 years as of Feb. 13. We got permission with
the county to do riprap before we bought the house and did
probably more due diligence with it then any other piece of
property we’ve bought,” Grant said. “We got county and state
approval in writing that said we could have riprap for those 14
years and the only reason we couldn’t have it at the time was
because the house wasn’t in imminent danger. It made sense to
me. They didn’t want more rocks on the beach for no reason.
Then 14 years later, they decided, ‘Oh, well, we’re wrong.’ They
said they made a mistake and shouldn’t have allowed it.”
Husing said after reviewing saved correspondence between
Grant and the county, there is no clear indication that Grant
would have ever been eligible for riprap. However, Husing
noted that during the early 1990s, when Grant built the house,
there was less clarity about how Goal 18 would be applied
and enforced, so it’s possible he cold have slipped through the
cracks.
Husing said the county is open to working with Grant and his
attorney to find a viable, legal solution and hopefully save his
property by doing so, but as of right now, he said there’s no
legal option the county is aware of aside from the upcoming
talks about potential Goal 18 exceptions. It’ll be up to Grant to
provide a viable legal avenue, if it exists.
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