Waldport will use $7,400 grant from Lincoln County to help create food cart pod at community center

 

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com

WALDPORT – The city of Waldport has won a $7,400 grant from Lincoln County to help create a food cart pod in the parking lot of its community center.

The grant was one of eight the county awarded in late December to help spur economic development

Waldport’s project is expected to cost $15,000 to $20,000. The city plans to install four 50 amp 220 volt connections in part of the center’s parking lot to entice food cart operators to set up shop there and then not have to use their own generators for electricity.

“We want to create a place for food carts to come to our Wednesday market … and then be there other times of the week,” said city manager Dann Cutter.

Cutter said the city hopes to have its work finished in April so interested vendors could be there in time for the opening of the weekly Wednesday market in May.

Cutter and the city council have been interested in creating a food cart pod after seeing the success of Chubby’s, which set up along U.S. Highway 101 for seven years before leaving last August. Other cities – including Lincoln City on the coast – have used them to feed both locals and tourists.

The city plans to use its public works crews to do much of the work involving trenching and installing conduit, then bring in electricians to establish the four stations, Cutter said.

There would not be water or sewer to begin with, he said. Those more expensive additions could come if the idea takes hold. Other later additions could include restrooms and a covered shelter with tables.

“There is a synergy to a type of project like this,” he said.

One of the City Council’s goals for 2021 is to help increase “food options” in Waldport. A way to do that is establish a permanent space for a food cart pod somewhere downtown.

The city also believes that a pod of food carts won’t affect the business of the sit-down restaurants in town. Carts usually attract a different type of customer, aren’t always open in the evening and having more offerings in town brings more people into the city to find meals – be they takeout or sit-down dining.

Food carts can also be a stepping stone into traditional restaurants. The owners of Chubby’s left to follow their dream of opening a full-service restaurant. The owners of Skosh, who bought Vicky’s Big Wheel in downtown Waldport, started as a food cart in Walla Walla, Wash. The owners of the Radical Radish, which set up shop along Hemlock Street last summer, are using their food cart to transition into a building they plan to erect overlooking the ocean in downtown Yachats.

“This is an experiment,” Cutter said. “We don’t want to create a subsidy for transient businesses who could undercut existing businesses. Everything we’ve seen says this actually helps existing restaurants. But our eyes are wide open; we don’t want to hurt them.”

And if the food cart pod doesn’t work? There is a Plan B.

Cutter said the city would simply convert the four outlets into stations where owners of electric cars can charge them.

“There aren’t any public charging stations in town,” he said.

Other county grants went to:

• $60,000 to Pioneer Connect to help build a high-speed cable network to 211 businesses and residences around the Port of Alsea in Waldport;
• $5,376 to View the Future, a Yachats nonprofit, to design, construct and install wooden “portals” on the north and south ends of a new suspension bridge over the Amanda Trail;
• $12,525 to help pay for an electrical vehicle charging station at the Oregon Coast Aquarium;
• $10,000 to Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon for its “second home” project in Lincoln County for homeless students;
• $7,000 to the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts to help fund a study of the importance of arts to the economy;
• $13,200 to the Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce to establish websites for small, local businesses;
• $14,499 to Lincoln City Parks & Recreation to conduct childcare training for youth aged 14-17.