The Ocean Shores/North Beach Chamber of Commerce celebrated with several new board members, a new president in Jeff Daniel, and upbeat economic outlooks from Ocean Shores Mayor Crystal Dingler and Grays Harbor County Commissioner Vickie Raines.
About 70 people also were on hand at the Chamber’s annual banquet at the Shilo Inn Nov. 30 to give a sustained round of applause to Oyhut Bay and project manager Patrick Brunstad, who received the Business of the Year award.
After the Chamber reportedly reached financial crises earlier last year, Executive Director Piper Leslie and Daniel both indicated that the business-oriented civic organization was making a comeback in membership and commitment, as well as financial stability.
Daniel, managing broker at John L. Scott Real Estate in Ocean Shores, noted he was not a Chamber member when he was asked to be on the board. In October, there was an emergency meeting at which it was announced that there were not enough funds to pay Leslie’s salary.
“We came up with some ideas to fix our immediate crises, and the next meeting they elected me president,” Daniel said. That followed with the addition of five new board members.
“Right now, we’re up to 10 board members and we hope to be up to 14 by February,” Daniel said of the effort to bring in new membership.
The Chamber also currently has a request for sponsorship funding before the City Council. Several Council members also were in attendance — Bob Peterson, Lisa Griebel, Holly Plackett and Jon Martin.
In presenting the yearly award to Oyhut Bay, Daniel said the vacation home development is one of the most important businesses to open in the 15 years he has lived in the area.
“In the past year, this business has truly changed Ocean Shores,” he said. “It’s changed our community. It’s given us a lot of hope, inspiration and excitement about what’s going on here.”
When the development was first proposed by other developers, Daniel acknowledged he was not a big fan. The old Villages concept catered to 55-year and older owners, and it was to be an all-condo development.
“Now, I’m a believer,” Daniel said of the new cottage-style project that also includes new retail, with a market set to open at the start of 2018.
Brunstad, a longtime Ocean Shores builder, cited the efforts put in by his Oyhut Bay team.
“We try to make Oyhut Bay a place where people want to spend time at, and eventually say, ‘Hey, I want to be part of this community,’” Brunstad said.
“I can tell you there are some great things coming for 2018. We are opening a market. We’re excited about the operators of that. We have some spas going in. We have retail that we are working on, bringing that in,” Brunstad said.
Oyhut Bay’s Phase 2 of the development will include construction on another 51 lots.
“We started out with a plan, but we are adapting to what we learn as we go along,” Brunstad said.
The concept originally was modeled after Seabrook, but “we’re not Seabrook,” Brunstad said emphatically. “We are definitely part of Ocean Shores, we want to be part of Ocean Shores. We want to make the south side (of the city) relevant. We want to make Oyhut Bay relevant.”
Brunstad was one of the new board members introduced at the banquet. Another was Eric Noble of WorldMark Mariner Village, Deana Poole of the Bank of Pacific, Bob Hugo of the Shilo Inn, Ron Lambert of Bennett’s and the Ocean Beach Grill, Miles Longenbaugh of Edward Jones, and Sarah Walton of Salon Volante.
First speaking on the topic of women in leadership, Kim Roberts of Westport Winery described how the winery is now branching out from the local area into the Oregon beach market, with wine tasting in the Cannon Beach/Seaside area to the south. She admitted harboring some jealousy about the business climate in North Beach and Ocean Shores, saying they “seem to have it a little more together than Westport.”
“We’re doing so well here in Grays Harbor County, and it’s really a vibrant community,” she said as a word of encouragement “to all of you who work so hard to make this beach community successful.”
Mayor’s report
Dingler also addressed the topic of her leadership role as mayor, noting her motto: “The biggest help for me is to surround yourself with people who are smarter, more nimble and more efficient than you are. I have been so fortunate to find people like that and bring them to Ocean Shores as we were able to create one job after another.”
She called for more collaboration from the community and businesses on upcoming projects such as the proposed Point Brown Avenue project to add sidewalks, bike lanes and street crossings, or the effort to create a pedestrian trail and firebreak access along the dunes, or the Safe Routes to Schools pathway that will soon be extended down Pt. Brown. Dingler also pointed to the nearly completed Razor Clam Bridge replacement project as another one that doesn’t get much attention: “It’s a gorgeous bridge, and we have been working on it quietly in the background. It’s probably the biggest project we have done in a while.”
The mayor shared some statistics from 2012-2016 to indicate how the city has grown:
• Visitors per year since 2012-2016 has increased 32 percent, from 3.6 million to 4.8 million people coming to Ocean Shores.
• Lodging tax proceeds increased from $731,000 to $975,000, “and we should go over $1 million this year,” Dingler said.
• New housing construction starts in that period went from 33 a year to 79 last year, with this year’s expectation to be about 100.
“Oyhut Bay plays a big part in that,” Dingler said. “… There’s all this buzz about Oyhut Bay, and that helps all of us.”
• Gross sales went from $80 million in 2012 to $120 million in 2016, a 50 percent increase with about a 5 percent increase figured for 2017.
• City debt has been cut 27 percent from $54 million to $39 million.
• Ocean Shores has grown from 3,795 people in the 2000 census to about 6,000 people this past year.
“That’s a huge amount of growth in 17 years, and Ocean Shores has been up to the task,” the mayor concluded. “I admire everyone who has done their part — the businesses, the people who bought homes here or who built here, the campers and everybody who has made a difference to this community.”
Raines also painted a positive picture of the future of tourism and economic development in the Harbor as a whole, citing events such as the inaugural Hood to Coast relay race that has committed to returning with even more teams and participants.
“We are seeing a significant change at Seabrook with their Main Street development and that should be finished in 2018,” she said.
Raines considers herself an elected official more than a politician, and offered encouragement to other women: “As leaders, and as community servants, public servants, we all are volunteers in a certain way and we give back to our communities.”
Leslie said the new motto of the Chamber would be, “Not where we’ve been, but where we’re going. And we’re going in some amazing places.”
Daniel concluded with remarks that the Chamber needs to prove it is relevant: “Be a member of the Chamber because the Chamber is doing something for you, your business community and for Ocean Shores.”
New Chamber President Jeff Daniel address the crowd at the Shilo Inn.
Scott D. Johnston photo: Members of the Oyhut Bay team pose after receiving the Business of the Year award from the Ocean Shores/North Beach Chamber of Commerce.
