Over the last several years the City of Waldport and Central Oregon Coast Fire and Rescue have been working together to formulate a plan to transfer ownership of the main fire station in downtown Waldport. At a special District Board meeting held on September 29th, 2022, the board voted unanimously on an offer to purchase the building from the City of Waldport. That offer was finalized on 10/13/2022 at the City of Waldport Council meeting with again a
unanimous vote by all the council members. The agreement makes Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue the proud owners of the Main Station in downtown Waldport that it has operated out of since 1984.
This agreement comes after years of researching many other properties in the area and either
coming up short for ISO requirements or being extremely cost prohibitive to build a new
building. The ownership this agreement gives to the District will allow for the district to move
forward with many grant and funding opportunities not otherwise available. For example, the
district can now apply for a seismic grant for 2.5 million dollars to seismically harden the
building.
Under the terms of the agreement with the City of Waldport, the District will have 5 legislative
sessions to work with this areas representative, and the City of Waldport, to request 4 million in funding from the State of Oregon to upgrade the fire flow needs of the City of Waldport water system. This will increase the safety and ability of the District in the event of a Structure,
Vehicle or Wildland Fire.
Once this funding is secured, the City of Waldport will no longer be held under the ORS requirement to sell the property and building and will forgive the 5 year owner carry agreement for purchase of the building. During the course of the funding process
the District will be making annual interest only payments to the City of Waldport for the
purchase of the building which is already part of the Districts annual operating budget.
