WALDPORT – It looks like the popular Green Bike Co-op could have a new home and the former Waldport Heritage Museum a new occupant.
The cooperative, which has operated for more than 15 years in a portion of a former garage along U.S. Highway 101 in downtown Waldport, has asked to move to the city’s former museum building at Northeast Third and Grant streets.
The Green Bike Co-op is looking for new quarters because the building it currently uses has been on and off the market for the past year. The city of Waldport has been looking for a civic organization to occupy the former museum since it moved to the Alsea Bay Interpretive Center last year.
“I think this is a really good idea,” Waldport city manager Dann Cutter told the city council last week. “I think Green Bike Co-op would be great in that building. They’re very enthusiastic about it.”
Once the museum moved out of the building, the city of Waldport sought proposals from civic groups to use it. There was initial interest in it by the Alsea Bay Center for the Arts, Waldport Lions and some others – but none responded to the city’s request for proposals by a Dec. 31 deadline.
That led the council Jan. 27 to give Cutter the go-ahead to see how much it would cost the city to remodel the building into two apartments that it could rent on a short-term basis to new employees or interns. Two weeks later longtime Green Bike Co-op volunteer Rick Hill submitted a proposal for it to move into the museum.
Cutter said the remodeling into apartments would be very expensive and the building would be put to good use by the Green Bike Co-op. He said he would drop his remodeling estimate inquiry and bring an agreement to the council next month to let Green Bike Co-op use the museum.
Cutter said the city was not asking for rent from any prospective users of the building “just a program that’s useful for the entire community.”
Council members expressed relief that someone was going to move into the building and that the Green Bike Co-op was staying in the city.
“It’s been a great program forever,” said Councilor Susan Woodruff.
Hill’s proposal to the city said the co-op, which is a subsidiary of the nonprofit Seashore Family Literacy, would continue its full array of services – bike sharing and loaning, repairs, rentals and sales of used and restored bikes. After replacing the interior floor, Hill said the group would pay for all utilities and assume upkeep and maintenance of the building.
In the co-op’s proposal, Hill said the organization brings in $15,000 to $20,000 a year in donations and has expenses of $4,000 to $5,000 a tear.
“All dollars, after expenses, go to Seashore Family Literacy for operation of their various programs for kids and families.”
In other business last week, the Waldport council:
- Voted 6-1 to give Cutter the go-ahead to see how much it would cost to install a bank of 170 locked mailboxes on the north side of the City Hall parking lot to serve downtown residents and businesses. Cutter said the boxes, including large boxes for packages, was the only way to get the Postal Service to expand its mail delivery in the downtown area and could help alleviate demand for boxes and crowding of the nearby Post Office. Councilor Jayme Morris voted no, saying it seemed “outside the scope” of the city’s business.
- Approved a $9,000 expenditure to Civil West Engineering Services of Newport for preliminary engineering report for the proposed Southworth Park. “This is the piece that gets us moving in the park,” Cutter said, because it gives the city plans and estimates for various features that could be in the park.