Fireside Motel Overleaf Lodge

Fireside Motel
Overleaf Lodge
July 23, 2015
Yachats City Council
Yachats, Oregon
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Council,
Some additional thoughts have occurred to me since my appearance at the Council meeting of
July gth. These thoughts fall into two categories which I feel should be considered in your
deliberations.
The first is the increase you are considering to raising the "Yachats Transient Room Tax".
Clearly this impacts three properties in Yachats the most since combined the Overleaf, Fireside
and Adobe contribute approximately 68% of the revenue the City derives from the TRT.
Increasing this tax by 2% will bring the City more money to spend. But let's look at another
approach to this subject and consider how the city can work with us major lodging owners and
yield benefit to both parties and result in more room tax dollars for the City. If you leave the
room tax rate at 7% and the city promotes this idea, using some of the "visitor's amenities
funds", and we as owners promote this in our advertising program, it would send a positive
message to our guests. "Yachats Lowest Room Tax on the Coast"J!JI Help us in our campaign to
increase our occupancies with a goal of say 3% at our three establishments over the next two
years. This would yield the City a considerable increase in revenue and we would be working
together showing our guests we appreciate their visit. The attitude we now have in our
relationship is that the hotels are a big old sow and the City is a population of piglets suckling
from us. Let us try to work together for once instead of leaving us hotel owners feeling abused
by the City.
The second thing I suggest you look at, and think outside the box on, is the condition of the
village core area. I have attached a series of pictures which makes my point better than I can
tell it in words. Yachats could well be the "Gem of the Oregon Coast" but one would be using a
great amount of editorial privilege to represent it as such today. A broad vision is needed by the
City Council. I suggest that you develop a RFP (Request for Proposal) to a select group of three
to five architect/planners to survey the village and present to you proposals for developing a
vision of what Yachats could be. As part of this they would develop a theme of architecture
that would be fitting for our coastal area along with planning for traffic flow, parking and street
scaping. This would be moving In a direction to make the village more desirable for small shops
of different kinds and make guests look more favorably on the community. This in my opinion
would be a good and a worthwhile use for some of the "visitor amenities fund".
As for the bank building, I am concerned with the city purchasing this property after no private
investor stepped up to purchase the building. Under current circumstances it is difficult to
imagine how a $500,000 investment in this property in Yachats can return even 5%? I predict
the City will find the purchase of this building problematic and owning it will result in
considerable cost to the city. How will you consider this purchase a visitor amenity unless you
turn it into a welcoming center with nice rest rooms for visitors? This is quite a significant
expenditure for the City when no identified use has been determined. The City should not be in
the property speculation business! I can sight you examples of what folly this has been for
other cities. Bend, Oregon is a prime example of this exact situation. The City of Bend
purchased a vacant parcel of land, about eight years ago, just north of the downtown area for
$4.8 million and now decided they will not use it. A deal has been structured to sell this parcel
to a private developer for $2.8 million with some contingencies that have yet to be removed.
We as hotel owners are stretched more every year to obtain close to a reasonable return on
our invested dollars due to additional regulations being piled on us by Federal, State, County
and City governments. I see the enormous burdens these have been to our business since 1981
when I bought the Fireside. The city is yielding a great return on our investments and the
intense management we are required to invest. Work with us please!
Sincerely,
~tRoslund
Managing Owner Member
Attachments: Pictures
PO Box 280
Bend, Oregon 97709 Phone (541) 410·1754
I'
email (srroslund@bendbroadband.com)
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After 31 years of visionary planning and strong and consistent
management, this is how the initial purchase of the Fireside property has
evolved.
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