WALDPORT – After some blustering, an attorney’s investigation and an appraisal last year, the board of the Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue district has quietly approved a five-year lease to use the station it currently occupies in downtown Waldport.
The station is owned by the city of Waldport, which has been renting it to the district for $1 a year for the past 20 years. But that lease ends June 30.
Five years ago the city told the fire district that rent would increase to a more up-to-date commercial rate — something in the range of $5,000 to $6,000 a month – on July 1.
Under the new lease the district will not have to pay rent if it spends at least $40,000 a year for building maintenance and repairs.
COCF&R Chief Jamie Mason said he has $50,000 in the district’s proposed 2022-23 budget to replace the building’s siding. The station also needs new doors for the equipment bays and a new roof, whose estimated $89,000 replacement cost may have to be spread over two years, he said.
The fire board has been seeking land out of the tsunami zone to build a new station – estimated to cost $12 million – but has been unable to find a suitable site. The five-year lease gives it more time to either find a new location or make plans to remodel and expand the current station.
The fire district also considered buying the building, but board members Buster Pankey, Todd Holt and Kathryn Menefee last year thought the city’s estimate that it was worth $1.1 million was too high. So the board hired an appraiser and paid a lawyer to suggest a different value and approach. The outside appraiser said the building was worth $750,000.
An architectural company working with the district on the design of a remodeled station also weighed in with a building estimate. McKenzie Architecture said if the current building was remodeled, the equipment bays – 56 percent of the existing space — would need to be demolished to build a modern one that could withstand a moderate earthquake.
But with the July 1 approaching and not having heard anything from the district since last summer, Waldport city manager Dann Cutter sent the fire board a letter in early March saying that if the two entities could not agree on a lease by April 30 the district would lose use of the building June 30.
That was enough to get the attention of Pankey and Holt, who had been put in charge of negotiating with the city but had not met with the city since getting the appraisal. They met with Cutter, ran the lease by attorneys and the fire board unanimously approved it without discussion Thursday night.
Cutter told the Waldport city council in March that based on the rental market for commercial space, a 10,000 square foot building could get up to $6,000 a month in rent – or $72,000 a year. He said the city’s $40,000 offer was based on the council previously saying it should offer some kind of a discount – but to also get needed maintenance done.
“The city does not expect it will receive rent, but expects that the fire district will wisely invest in the building, which is what we wanted from the start,” Cutter said in an email to YachatsNews.
The fire district has the option to buy the station and property if it gives the city six months notice. The purchase price would be based on a commercial appraisal, which the city council is scheduled to get in May and would increase yearly by the rate of inflation.
The fire district is allowed to keep the $14,400-a-year rent paid by Pacific West Ambulance for living quarters for two paramedics and use of one equipment bay.