Current Listing

It’s easy to forget how recent the rules are that prevent us from building new projects. The cottages, courts, and small mixed-use blocks that define Oregon’s beach towns were built before the zoning codes that now make them illegal. The cumulative effect of those codes, written and enforced over four decades, is a country where the younger generations of families and potential small business owners are locked out. Refusal to respond to change is causing harm across all sectors of our economy. Fifty-one percent of household wealth is now held by people aged sixty and older, who make up about a fifth of the population. None of that is the natural order of things; it’s the product of decisions made. In Tillamook County, twenty percent of the workforce drives fifty miles each way to get to work. We need jobs in Wheeler. The project in front of the Wheeler council is the most contextual form of new construction this town has; resort cottages have defined Pacific Northwest beach towns for a century. The council’s reluctance to approve new building permits will not preserve Wheeler but will freeze Wheeler in a state where businesses on the bay struggle through the shoulder seasons, storefronts thin out, and people who would like to develop the local economy have to move to Tillamook or inland to find work. The north coast runs on kayak rentals, cafés, guide services, shops, and restaurants. Wheeler already has tourism. The question for the council is what shape it takes here. When a town refuses purpose-built lodging, visitor demand does not disappear; it spills into other markets. Foot traffic near the few blocks of central Wheeler will keep this place alive. Overnight guests will walk to coffee, to the bay, to a restaurant for dinner, and spend money in town.

Every permit Wheeler council refuses is a signal to younger generations of families and potential small business owners who might have moved here. The reason a place feels like a place, to the people who live there and the tourists who come to visit, is that something is still happening in it. Council can keep saying no; that is a choice with a future attached to it. That future is a Wheeler where businesses that need year-round customers close, investment shifts to Manzanita and Cannon Beach, and visitors who came for a living town find nothing but a row of dark storefronts. We have another choice: rewrite zoning to fit the town’s character and let projects that meet it move forward as soon as possible.

This post is intended to add perspective and encourage a more complete community dialogue.
Community participation matters. Written and verbal testimony are both important parts of the public process.

Wheeler Planning Commission Meeting
Thursday, May 14, 2026 – 6:00 p.m. Leila Salmon Community Meeting Room, Nehalem Bay Health Clinic 885 Nehalem Blvd (Highway 101) Wheeler, OR 97147

Development Scale Matters
The current proposal before the Wheeler Planning Commission is not a minor infill project. It proposes 26 units on a sensitive waterfront.

For a city the size of Wheeler, this represents a substantial expansion of tourism intensity and utility demand. The discussion is not whether Wheeler should welcome visitors. The question is whether this particular scale and form of development is compatible.

Tourism Is Already Part of Wheeler
The suggestion that Wheeler must fundamentally transform itself into a larger tourist destination overlooks the reality that tourism already exists here. Overdevelopment risks weakening the very character that attracts residents and visitors like.

Waterfront Land Has Special Importance
The proposed development site lies adjacent to sensitive shoreline areas near Lower Nehalem Community Trust conservation lands. While some tourism lodging growth is healthy, more than doubling current transient lodging will most likely be overwhelming. The current two lodging businesses in town have a total 0f 17 rooms (down from 20 due to conversion of 3 to long term rentals). And even with those 17 rooms the occupancy rate is at or below 50% on an annual basis.

The Community Vision Still Matters
Wheeler’s adopted planning documents repeatedly emphasize:
– Protecting natural beauty
– Preserving small-town character
– Encouraging compatible development
– Maintaining livability
– Respecting the scale of the community
These goals deserve equal weight alongside economic discussions. (As a matter of note: Wheeler approved the fish facility the land owner applied for once safety issues were addressed.)

A Respectful Public Process
The upcoming public hearing is an opportunity for careful and respectful discussion. The future of Wheeler should be shaped by the people who live, work, volunteer, and invest their lives here — not by simplified narratives that frame large-scale development as the only path forward.

Clarifying the “Weak Economy” Narrative
This conversation will be held at the May City Council Meeting. Tuesday, May 19th. Nehalem Bay Health Clinic, Leila Salmon Community Room. 6 pm

The recent article suggests Wheeler’s financial challenges stem primarily from insufficient tourism growth and a lack of larger-scale development.. These pressures exist regardless of whether a town aggressively pursues hotel development.

QUESTION: Are we are simply living above our means? In recent previous times Wheeler had 2.5 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) and we are now at 3.75 FTE. A proposal has been made to cancel our police contract. We need community policing.

For More specific/detailed information:
www.northcoastbbq.com/2026/05/11/response-to-manzanita-today-newsletter/