Waldport crews begin cleanup of former middle school as city slowly works to turn it into recreation center

 

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews

WALDPORT – The city of Waldport is taking the first major steps this week to clean up the former school gymnasium, cafeteria and kitchen it bought five months ago.

Public works crews sorted scrap metal for recycling and threw years worth of accumulated junk into Dumpsters on Tuesday, the first day of a planned three-day cleanup.

Once cleaned out, the goal is to have the crew begin making fixes to the building so the city’s insurance company can do a more thorough inspection and outline what repairs must be done before the public can use it, said city manager Dann Cutter.

At $475,000, the city was the winning bidder in April for the massive facility on North Bay Street after the Lincoln County School District put it up for sale. The city used federal pandemic relief funds to make the purchase.

The former elementary and middle school structure housed Seashore Family Literacy programs from 2014 to 2022, when the nonprofit was forced to give it back to the school district.

Cutter envisions it eventually becoming a community recreation center adjacent to Louis Southworth Park. The city received a $750,000 state grant a year ago to develop the park, held a groundbreaking in July but is still waiting to release construction proposals to begin work on various parts of it.

The city plans to keep the nearby community garden intact and hopefully one day build a new, modern library alongside the gym.  The property encompasses 2.81 acres.

The city had Seashore representatives go through the old building to reclaim any valuables before crews arrived with Dumpsters and trailers Tuesday.

“It’s not as though we’re getting rid of significant assets,” Cutter told YachatsNews. “It’s junk that even people at flea markets don’t want.”

Two pianos still might find new homes. But the metal was headed to recycling and the rest to the dump rather than opening up the building to community members to sort through the debris and possibility of it being dumped in the forest when they discovered it was of little value.

Cutter said the city has some money available to make some of the repairs – drywall that’s collapsed in one entrance, restroom fixes, better exterior doors, some siding replacement, examining the heating system — and then general cleanup and some painting.

“Much of this can be done in house,” he said. “We’ve got some very skilled people in Public Works who can do much of this.”

A representative of the city’s insurance company did a walk-through of the building recently and said to clean it up and make repairs before they would come back to see what major fixes are needed to open it safely to the public.

Cutter hopes the gym can open first, but the floor needs refinishing and the heat turned on to protect it from cold, damp weather. But the bleachers are intact, the scoreboard looks to be in working order, and there’s a full stage at the south end.

“There’s lots of demand for the gym,” he said.

But at some point, the community will need to rally behind the city’s effort to refurbish and open the building with contributions, elbow grease and work.

“For awhile it’s going to be like putting lipstick on a pig,” Cutter admitted. “But if we can fix it up, solve the insurance issue, and then get some major grants we can get some contractors in here to fix the big issues.”