By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
WALDPORT – New information about the cost of remodeling its fire station in downtown Waldport has the Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue District board looking elsewhere for land to possibly build an entirely new facility.
The board discussed the updated information and its current options after a presentation by a Portland architect and engineering firm during a workshop this month.
The former and current boards have been studying what to do about its current station since the city of Waldport moved out in 2020 and offered to sell the building and land to the district. The district currently pays $1 a year for rent, but that lease runs out in July. The city has said the fire district should expect an increase to market rates that could be as much as $5,000 a month.
If the district wants to buy the property, the city believes the building and land are worth $1.1 million. But the three newest board members have balked at that price.
The board hired a commercial appraiser to give it a value of the property; he submitted a report Nov. 5 saying it was worth $725,000.
The fire district had been hoping that an Oregon seismic grant could pay for at least $2.1 million of a station estimated to cost between $12.6 million and $14 million for the land and an extensive remodel.
But architects from Mckenzie Architects & Engineering told the board that the engine bays of the current building — which make up more than half of its square footage — would have to be demolished and therefore would not be eligible for a seismic grant. That lowers the potential grant to $368,000.
“When you take away the seismic grant, you have to upgrade a 40-year-old building and demolish 60 percent of it … and that’s not a good situation,” Jeff Humphreys of Mackenzie told the board Nov. 3.
Mckenzie estimated the cost of a new building the same size of the proposed remodeled one at $11.1 million to $12.5 million – including $675,000 to buy land.
That’s a potential difference of $1.5 million and enough for board members to consider an entirely new option for what has been under consideration for more than a year.
“This sheds a new light on things,” said board chair Buster Pankey.
Chief Jamie Mason told the board that, given the new information, it would seem to make sense to look for property and build a station that would last for 50 years rather than remodel an old building.
“From what we’ve learned tonight we need to take a new route,” said Todd Holt. “It’s less to actually build new.”
The most likely site for an entirely new station is a flat, empty 2.5 acres of land for sale at the intersection of Northwest Spring and Cedar streets just north of the Dollar General store.
Previous searches for land determined that building a station out of the tsunami zone south of Waldport High School would affect insurance ratings, require a substation downtown, and would disrupt a mostly residential neighborhood with the more than 1,000 calls the district responds to a year. A change in Oregon law by the 2019 Legislature allows local governments to build in tsunami zones, if they choose.
Mason said the Spring Street site is much larger than the current one-acre site and would allow the district to building a training center and tower in the future.
Waldport city manager Dann Cutter said the city is happy that the fire district is doing its due diligence on whether to remodel the current structure or seek land to buy for a new station.
“Whichever option they pursue, the city is a partner in this process — we want the best outcome for the fire district and the citizens of Waldport,” he said.
The district is trying to find other sources of money for its new station and not rely as much on asking voters to approve a bond for it. It plans to apply to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which awards grants for local government buildings in rural areas, for up to 35 percent of the total cost. Grants of $1 million to $2 million are available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mason said.
Mason and the board have also discussed a proposal from a private company that finances public safety buildings via loans that it then sells to investors for tax credits.
A bond measure, Mason told YachatsNews, would “be a last resort.”
“Right now we’re trying to pull as much money as we can out of grants to alleviate the cost to the public,” he said.
hopefully the people of waldport dont get conned into some giant oversized firehouse way to big for the area like yachats did.