By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
WALDPORT – The Central Oregon Coast Fire District board is facing a series of deadlines and decisions on the potential of turning the main station it leases in downtown Waldport into a safe, modern headquarters it owns itself.
And much of it could involve potentially testy negotiations with the city of Waldport, which owns the building and has put a price tag on it of $1.1 million.
Here’s the background:
- The fire district had been leasing the equipment bay and offices behind it from the city for $1 a year. That lease ends next July and the city says rent could increase to the going commercial rate of $5,200 a month.
- Early this year, city employees moved out of offices on the east side of the station and into the former Umpqua Bank building across the street. Fire staff have moved in and Pac West Ambulance has remodeled parts of it for its crews.
- The city wants to sell the entire property, with an initial price tag of $1.6 million, later dropping it to $1.1 million. The city’s explanation of that is on its website.
- Because of insurance ratings and other rules and regulations, the least expensive, central location for the fire district’s main station is the current site. It has hired a Portland architectural firm to study the current building and suggest remodeling alternatives.
- The cost of buying the property, remodeling and new construction to bring the facilities up to current firefighting standards – and making sure it can withstand a moderate earthquake – could reach $8 million.
- The state is offering seismic grants of up to $2.5 million for public agencies to upgrade their buildings, but the application deadline is December for 2022 grants. The district plans to apply for the grant, but needs an agreement to purchase the station.
- Chief Jamie Mason has suggested the board ask voters in May 2022 to approve a bond for the new station – after the district hears if it has won the seismic grant.
Equipment bays need demolishing
With all that in the background, the COCF&R board last week began wrestling with preliminary ideas for the building from Mackenzie Architecture, the timeline, negotiations with Waldport and other issues.
Mackenzie architect Jeff Humphreys walked the board through several potential designs for the station, explaining that no part of the current building meets public safety codes for access, disabilities, fire sprinklers and earthquakes. If the building were to be two stories, there would also need to be an elevator, Humphreys said.
The current equipment bays do not have adequate space for most of the engines and other apparatus inside, he said, and would collapse in a moderate earthquake.
Mason said staff preferred a less expensive single-story plan that requires less engineering, heavily remodels the current office areas but demolishes the current equipment bay and replaces it with a bigger, more resilient space.
But board member Kathyrn Menefee asked if that wasn’t getting too far ahead. “We don’t even know if we’re buying the property yet,” she said.
Mason said he thought it wasn’t a matter of whether the district would buy the property, “but what we’re going to pay for it.” There is a tight timeline for acquiring the property if the board wants to seek a bond next May, he said.
But he also showed the board a letter from Mackenzie that he hopes will help the district negotiate with the city. The letter said the equipment bay – which makes up 56 percent of the building — needs to be demolished.
“… it would seem reasonable that the district only pay for the value of what they will be purchasing and able to keep and seismically upgrade/renovate, not the full asking price,” the letter said.
Board chair Buster Pankey and member Todd Holt have also been given permission to seek outside legal advice on the city’s negotiation stance. Pankey said that advice will be ready for the board’s Sept. 16 meeting.
“It’s a pretty tight schedule, I agree,” Pankey told YachatsNews this week. “But we have to settle the ownership of the building before we can apply for any type of grant.”
The board also agreed last week to get a commercial appraisal of the building and property before its September meeting in order to get an independent assessment of its value.