Azalea Park volleyball courts get reprieve, commission favors new access road to Mill Beach

Eroding pavement greets pedestrians using the Mill Beach access road. The Pilot/Arwyn Rice

Volleyball courts

City Works Director John Cowan suggested the removal of the courts last month. The courts are overgrown with grass and weeds and rarely used.

The city received seven calls or letters from the public asked that the courts remain, and that more should be done to advertise their location.

However, the site for the court was carefully selected.

“The location is protected from the wind,” said Commissioner Tony Baron. “We need that here.”

The commission voted to keep the courts for another year, create signage directing the public to the courts, and revisit the issue in late 2010.

Mill Beach access

The commission also voted to recommend improvements to the Mill Beach access road, including asking South Coast Lumber to deed additional property to the city.

Currently the access road snakes between a 25-foot strip of land currently owned by the city and South Coast-owned property, City Manager Gary Milliman said.

At the base of the access road several city and state-owned signs are posted on South Coast property.

The city plans to ask South Coast for an additional 25-foot strip of land between the right-of-way currently owned by the city and the Macklyn Cove Condominium property.

There is also inadequate signage directing residents to the beach access road, Commissioner Ken Barkema said.

Barkema, who lives near Mill Beach, said that the access road currently has a “private road” sign posted and the access is not clearly visible behind the condominium complex’s privacy wall, confusing visitors seeking the beach.

Parking for the beach is located a distance from the access road, preventing people with disabilities from accessing the beach and confusing beach visitors who often do not associate the parking area with the beach access.

Noting the lack of handicapped accessible access to  the beach on the south side of Chetco Point and the north jetty beach, one of the commission’s concerns was to create Brookings’ only ADA accessible beach at Mill Beach.

The commission did not make a decision on two other Mill Beach issues the council asked them to consider: the installation of bathrooms at Mill Beach and whether the city should formalize or ban camping at the beach, which is currently allowed under state law.

This  was the first time the commission has discussed the Mill Beach issues and asked for more time to study the bathroom and camping issues before issuing a recommendation.