Those who have been eagerly awaiting the reopening of Beverly Beach State Park north of Newport are going to have to wait just a bit longer.
Both the campground and day-use area were closed last September, just after Labor Day weekend, for some upgrades and renovation work, with the hope that it would reopen by the end of this month. However, a press release issued by Oregon State Parks last week said the reopening date has been pushed back and is now set for Aug. 1.
The construction work has primarily focused on moving power lines underground and replacing aging water lines to help better serve visitors in the future. Some of the infrastructure at Beverly Beach State Park is more than 80 years old and presented unexpected challenges, resulting in the delayed reopening.
“We appreciate everyone’s patience as we finish park improvements that will enhance the park for future visitors,” said Park Manager Burke Martin. “Welcoming campers is one of our favorite parts of the job, so we’re eager to open the gate in August.”
Martin told the Lincoln County Leader that at the start of this project, they tried to anticipate how long it would take. “Whenever you’re dealing with a park that has 80 years of infrastructure stacked on top of it, you want to predict as much as you can, but you can’t. We’re not fortunetellers. It has taken extended efforts, more than we wanted to,” he said.
Much of that area had been logged years ago, so when old stumps were uncovered while excavating, they would need to be pulled out, which was part of the reason for delays.
As far was what people will see in terms of improvements, Martin said most of the work has been underground. They have installed new pedestals and upgraded the electrical system, “which will be a lot more beneficial to the people that have the full campers that come in,” he said. “We’ll have better water service to more areas, and we’ve got new paving in the back part of the park … the access is a lot easier. The new paving is amazing. It was like opening up a present on Christmas Day.”
The state park will offer the same number of campsites as in the past, but they upgraded seven sites to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. “Spots are actually up to code, and we have areas that are a lot more accessible,” Martin said. “And we’re trying to make the amphitheater ADA accessible. We’ve really tried to update where we could, and when we did the paving, we tried to make at least the slopes a lot more ADA accessible.”
Martin said some visitors questioned why the park’s day-use area and beach access were closed during this period, since the work was being done in the campground.
“We’ve gotten feedback on that,” he said. “It’s just hard for people to understand why we had to close the day-use area, but construction trucks are going in and out, we have things stored over there, (and) there’s only one entry in.”
Martin said the park’s seasonal staff is just now coming on board and helping to prepare for the reopening. “They’re helping get the park ready, weed-eating, making sure all the bathrooms are open because they’ve been shut down since September, so we’ve repainted doors and repainted interiors.”
Park staff is just was excited as campers and day-use visitors to see Beverly Beach State Park back open.
“We can’t wait to get people back,” Martin said. “That campfire smell in the evening and smelling people cooking in the camp, being able to help people to their site and making sure they get that Oregon coast experience — that’s what we want.”
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