It has come to our attention that our proposal involving the construction of a runaround track in downtown Rockaway Beach has raised some important questions. In their presentation to the Port of Tillamook Bay on removing the tracks north of Rockaway Beach, City of Rockaway Beach staff was supportive of this long-standing proposal. As of now, city leaders have come out against the project, stating that the railroad’s proposal would take away 56 parking spaces in downtown Rockaway. This is not correct information. We want the residents of Rockaway Beach to better understand what we are proposing, our reasoning for doing so and the actual effects of these plans so that the situation can be better understood by everyone.
OCSR first sent its concept plan for the Rockaway Beach runaround to CORB staff in May of 2024, which is backed up by email records and the date of 3/12/2024 on the plans that have been shared online. At this same time, the proposal was sent to Port of Tillamook Bay, Salmonberry Trail Foundation, ODOT and other important stakeholders. In July of this year, OCSR reiterated its concept plan for the runaround track in a meeting with City of Rockaway Beach staff members during a meeting regarding the Salmonberry Trail situation. When we proposed this idea, we did this with the understanding that there would be some loss of parking as a result of this project. OCSR made it clear that we want to work with CORB to develop replacement parallel parking along the location of the runaround track to supplement parking taken by the railroad’s construction activities.
Using the permanent diagonal parking that is across from the Rockaway Beach Chamber of Commerce as a reference, none of which is affected by the railroad’s proposal, there are approximately 42 parking spots in an undeveloped gravel area along the tracks on the west side of Hwy 101. The railroad’s plan that includes parallel parking would replace approximately 24 parking spaces in this area. Total parking loss would therefore be approximately 18 spots — 56 parking spaces would not be lost. OCSR’s proposal shows opportunities to build permanent parking spaces along the runaround track with minimal parking loss to Rockaway Beach. Furthermore, there is a whole right of way through town that is largely undeveloped to the north and south of the core downtown area. These are areas that parking could be expanded to if stakeholders forge a path forward together as the railroad, the trail and the City all develop.
Some may wonder why OCSR is putting forward a proposal that would take away any parking spots, and that is a valid question. We have long intended to have a runaround track in Rockaway so that we no longer have to push the train back from Rockaway to Garibaldi. Putting the locomotive on the leading end of the train has several advantages, including increasing our operational capabilities and efficiency while vastly improving the passenger experience and maintaining safe train operations. This track would not be used to store any equipment. Its sole purpose would be for the expansion and growth of OCSR’s operations to both the north and the south of Rockaway Beach. The runaround’s footprint would be happening within the railroad right-of-way, which extends to either side of the centerline of the railroad track by 30’. Ultimately, we want to collaborate with our community, which is why we chose the route we did and informed all the stakeholders of our plans well over a year ago. This is also why we made sure to include replacement of as much parking as possible in our engineering drawings, as parking is important to our train rides along with many other businesses in town. Finding ways for Rockaway’s biggest tourist attraction to grow and better serve the community as well as our guests is also important. The fact is that this proposal has been out in the open for over a year, and the only thing that has changed in that time is that OCSR has opposed the removal of the railroad tracks north of Rockaway Beach.
See the draft plans below, and for more information go to https://oregoncoastscenic.org/ or a new Facebook page – Trac:k Tillamook County Awareness Campaign:Keep the Rails
