Oregon Government Turning Family’s Home into A Sandcastle

Having been fortunate to live on the beach for the last seven years, we are keenly aware of how the sand on a beach can move. After a storm in particular, things can shift fairly dramatically, but even over a period of time without a storm, things will subtly shift.

On August 13, a man named Joseph Niedermeyer from Cannon Beach, Oregon, shared a lengthy post on X about a major problem he faces with his family home of over 50 years. Niedermeyer, who lives on the beach, explained that he has always hired a team to clear the sand that the wind blows into his backyard. However, in 2025, that all changed because this simple remedy became an issue for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.

“Last year, out of nowhere, the Oregon Parks & Recreation Department (OPRD) went over the head of our own city and denied us permission to keep doing it. Nothing about the sand changed; only the permission did. Overnight, cleaning the sand off our own property became illegal.”

Although Cannon Beach gave him permission, which shouldn’t matter since this is his property, the state overrode that authority, claiming they had jurisdiction over the “ocean shore.”

This is another example of blue-state officials being so incompetent that they’re more of a hindrance to the average resident than a help. In California, another inept Democratic nightmare, barely 1 percent of the thousands of structures destroyed in the devastating January 2025 Los Angeles-area wildfires have been rebuilt. While debris removal and lot clearing are largely complete, construction remains extremely low because of insurance shortfalls and regulatory delays.

Local officials were initially extremely slow to issue permits; now, almost 19 months later, they have still only issued around 7,000 permits, representing about 12 to 15 percent of the destroyed properties.

In his long post on X, Niedermeyer wrote that a judge sided with the state on the issue. The state argued that they, not our local town, get the final say, and that letting us clear it is bad for the beach. That's ridiculous, because there hasn't been a single local complaint in 50 years of approvals from the town. We argued the obvious: this is our property, our town approved it, and we’ve done it responsibly for half a century.

“In April, an administrative judge sided with the state. The simple, maddening reason we lost: a judge gave the state bureaucrats, not the local town, the benefit of the doubt.”

Niedermeyer says an appeal is in the works, but those take time, and his home does not have it.

“But here’s the trap: an appeal takes YEARS. Our house does not have years. The sand climbs higher every month—roughly 10 feet of sand has now buried our seawall, lower deck, and staircase. If this grinds through the courts at the state’s pace, we may ‘win’—but on a home that’s already gone.”

The OPRD is totally out of bounds on this

In his post, he urges those following his dilemma to write to Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek.

“Two minutes from you actually matters. We want people to reach out to Oregon Governor Tina Kotek by name because OPRD answers to her; by law, it is appointed by the Governor and serves at her pleasure. She sits on top of the agency doing this and has the power to step in. She simply has to care—and enough public pressure gives her the reason.”

He also includes a link to Save Our Cannon Beach Home, a website where supporters can donate to the cause or get involved in other ways.

If Niedermeyer were to excavate the sand himself, he would face significant consequences: a $1,000 fine from the city, potential jail time, and $ 10,000-per-day fees imposed by the state. He also adds that, as outrageous as it sounds, the state could require him to return the sand to its original location.

Thousands of examples of government overreach exist, most of them senseless and counterproductive. Here is a family home being overtaken by sand, and some pinhead has decided that returning the sand to the beach from where it came from would somehow damage it.

Niedermeyer and his family have chosen to live on the beach for 50 years, and he has never done anything to harm it; why would he? It’s his home.

The OPRD is totally out of bounds on this. They are overriding a project that has worked successfully for 50 years and has hurt no one. However, their actions have now put a family’s well-being at risk.