Nehalem Bay State Park to close for upgrades starting October

More than $11 million in upgrades are scheduled to take place at Nehalem Bay State Park between this October and June of next year, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department officials told Manzanita City Council on August 7.

The upgrades will focus on restoring and upgrading existing facilities at the park and will necessitate its closure for the duration of the work. The council also moved forward on selecting the design for a new city logo at the meeting.

Funding for the work at Nehalem Bay State Park is coming from a pot of $50 million in general obligation bonds approved by the Oregon legislature in 2021 to revitalize parks and campgrounds across the state. Work will include upgrading the park’s water main, replacing water and electrical services in the park’s campgrounds, adding a new restroom, renovating nine campsites for improved accessibility, repaving the park’s entry road, connecting a day use restroom to the sewer system and improving equine facilities at the south of the park.

Tracy Johnson, a senior project manager at Oregon Parks and Recreation, appeared at the meeting and discussed the decision to close the park for the duration of the work. Johnson said that the project team had investigated the possibility of leaving part of the park open during the work, but due to the limited roads in the area decided it would not be possible to safely allow public access during the project.

Johnson also said that an outside firm has done extensive archaeological surveying of the site and been retained for monitoring throughout the project.

Efforts to update Manzanita’s logo are being undertaken in conjunction with a Tillamook Coast Visitors Association led initiative to revamp the city’s wayfinding signage.

Stephen Schlott from Partners in Design, the firm doing the design work on the logo, appeared at the meeting and presented four preliminary options for the logo.

Each option incorporated Neah Kah Nie Mountain, the ocean and beach, with one taking a more impressionistic approach, while the other three varied slightly in their color palette and inclusion of local flora and fauna.

After Schlott reviewed the designs and showed them in a variety of different settings, including on signage, in an official seal and on merchandise, the councilors discussed their preferences.

All councilors gravitated towards a common design, featuring the beach and mountain, a manzanita bush and bird soaring above in a semi-circular frame. Councilors decided to proceed with that logo option and to survey the public about which bird should be included in the logo.