LATEST NEWS 

Mar 20, 2026 By SCOTT UNGER The Yamhill Board of Commissioners officially removed the Yamhelas Westsider trail from future county plans on Thursday, March 19. Two-thirds of the board advised the community to move on from the controversial planned 15-mile pedestrian trail. “The county tried for many years to get this project done. The Land Use Board of Appeals said it’s not passing muster and it just kept costing us more and more money and more and more people filling these ro

By Scott Unger • Of the News-Register • February 27, 2026 The Yamhill County Board of Commissioners held the first reading of an ordinance that will officially remove the Yamhelas Westsider trail from county planning documents at its meeting Thursday. The board voted in January to eliminate the long-planned 15.25-mile trail from the county’s Transportation System Plan. The ordinance and findings will make the decision official when the second reading and a vote is held at a

The Yamhill County Board of Commissioners voted 2-1 Thursday to remove the Yamhelas Westsider Trail project from future plans. In opposition, Commissioner Bubba King argued 80% of people who submitted testimony wanted to keep the long-planned 15.25-mile trail in the county Transportation System Plan and motioned to send the matter to a public vote.

November 23, 2025 Who will be using the Yamhelas Westsider Trail, the YWT?   For over 13 years of planning there have been public meetings, summer festival information booths and even a professional survey to gage how the community is thinking regarding the YWT.  A frequent concern is who we will be using the trail. That topic is almost always brought up by someone who is in a degree of opposition to the trail.  The assumption seems to be that we will be invaded by people fro

November 25, 2025 To: The Planning Commission of Yamhill County From: Steve Harloff Yamhill, OR 97148 Re: Repeal of Ordinance 880 re: Yamhelas Westsider Trail During a recent visit to Utah’s great natural areas, I discovered a state covered with easily accessible pedestrian and cycling trails, but I found out something more important. Paralyzed and severely handicapped people want to get out and share the Utah’s lengthy trails with “Advenchairs,” a bicycle-like adaptation th

November 14, 2025 The Yamhelas Westsider Trail, a 17-mile foot and bike trail over a long-shuttered Union Pacific rail line, would connect three small towns along Highway 47 from an eastern terminus near McMinnville. The right-of-way was purchased by Yamhill County in 2017. The trail would eventually link up with the popular Banks-Vernonia State Trail and connect Gaston to Forest Grove, providing pedestrian access to Henry Hagg Lake. What vision our commissioners had back in

February 24, 2022 Jeff Knapp  Executive Director Visit McMinnville To Whom It May Concern: Visit McMinnville enthusiastically supports the completion of the Yamhelas Westsider Trail. Completion of this important project will connect the county’s recreation assets, will create a new visitor draw that will also serve our community’s families, and support the expanding recreation needs of our growing workforce. Research completed by Travel Oregon in 2015 shows that cyclists who