November 9, 2017

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While eating lunch at Georgie's Beachside Grill above Nye Beach, I noticed an excavator driving on the beach by the Vietnam Memorial Walk. On further investigation, I found a strip of the cliff beneath the Elizabeth Street Inn (232 SW Elizabeth St. in Newport) bare of vegetation with another excavator at its base. I don't know whether the bank gave way and the excavator was cleaning up the mess (I'd think they'd leave that to the tides) or some kind of construction is under way. (See attached photos.) I don't know whether the small rocks on the exposed slope were remnants of the slide, or were put there by the excavator to shore it up.I followed up on this today (11/13/2017). The hillside has been reinforced with rocks at its base, so I presume that the hillside gave way, not that the Inn is carrying out a building project. I talked to a clerk at the Inn who said that the subsidence happened recently, but he wasn't sure exactly when. He said that management was "bringing stuff in" to stabilize the bank, but he didn't know any specifics. I checked the OPRD website for pending and issued Ocean Shores permits (http://www.oregon.gov/oprd/RULES/pages/oceanshores.aspx#Pending_and_Issu...) today. So far, nothing is listed for this property.