Depoe Bay panel approves small covered seating expansion at waterfront restaurant

The Depoe Bay Planning Commission voted Dec. 11 to approve a request to add covered outdoor seating at an existing restaurant on the city’s shoreline.

City staff told the commission the applicant was seeking an exception to the coastal visual-setback requirement — reducing the 25-foot visual-setback to seven feet for a modest covered seating area. "Staff supports that requested exception because we think it's a pretty negligible increase in area that won't, really, affect the appearance of the site as viewed from the coast," a staff member said during the hearing.

An architect for the applicant confirmed the project will match the existing roof line and materials and said the total building addition is roughly 722 square feet; staff had described a smaller additional outdoor seating area in the packet, which prompted commissioners to ask for clarification. "It's actually 722 square feet," the architect said when asked to repeat the figure. The architect also said parking adjustments included in the plans will meet the city's dimensional and count requirements.

No members of the public spoke in opposition during the meeting or on Zoom, and the commission moved into deliberations before adopting the staff recommendation. The chair announced the motion carried.

The approval allows the restaurant to build the modest covered seating area subject to conditions in the staff report. The commission’s action followed the city’s coastal-shorelands review process and included the exception the applicant requested to the visual-setback standard.