YAQUINA HEAD LIGHTHOUSE WORK

"WORK BEGINS ON YQUINA HEAD LIGHTHOUSE"

Lighthouse at Yaquina Head will receive paint job this coming summer to return the structure to its original colors, Joe Ashor, manager of the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, told the Newport City Council this week."Over the last several years we've had an assessment of the lighthouse and the lens on top," Ashor told the council Monday, "and the assessment is: the lighthouse is in good condition, but it looks pretty shabby."

The 132-year old lighthouse and associated oil-house will go from their present red, white and green to black, white and gray.The top, now red, will be painted black. The tower will remain white, and the walls on the adjacent oil-house will stay white too. But the window trim on the oil-house, now spruce green, will be painted "lead gray," he said.Ashor called the change in coloring "a controversial decision," but said that once completed, "it'll look close to the way it was built."The structure has gone through color changes in the past he noted, and the intent now is to return it to its original historical colors. The BLM took a survey of visitors to the Yaquina Head Visitors Center and, he said, "found 80 percent of the comments favored the historic color. The change had less support from people (living) in the county," he said. "They were 60 percent in favor of returning it" to its original colors. But either way, he noted, that gave a clear majority in favor of the change.The Frenel lens inside the top of the lighthouse will not be replaced, but will be refurbished, he said, "for the first time in 132 years, "and then we'll put it back in as a Coast Guard-managed aid to navigation."The Bureau of Land Management, which manages the lighthouse and the Outstanding Natural Area, received a specific appropriation from Congress, as part of the BLM budget, to let out a contract for major refurbishment of the lighthouse. That work, he said, will involve a new paint job and reconditioning of the entire lighthouse, from top to bottom. Each year, some state in the West, Ashor said, gets funding for a major BLM special project, "and this happened to be our year," he said.With $1 million appropriated for the lighthouse, Ashor continued, the contract is not yet be issued, but the work is planned to start in late May or early June and continue for "four, five, maybe six months." Another $20,000 for the project will come from the Yaquina Lights Foundation, and will go towards projects at the oil-house.The lighthouse will be closed for the work this summer.That led Councilor John Rehfuss to ask why it had to be done in the summer, which is the town's tourist season.Ashor replied the winds and rain of the winter make outdoor work on a scaffolding - which will completely surround the structure and be up as much as 100 feet in the air - very difficult.One of the councilors noted it would "be weird having it dark," and Ashor agreed. He said he wants to make sure everybody knows about the change, so that mariners won't be surprised or misled by the absence of the light while it is being refurbished.