By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews.com
WALDPORT — It could have been an episode of “House Hunters.”
The hunters — the nonprofit Green Bike Co-op of Waldport — needed to leave their dark, chilly 600-square-foot home.
The house? A former museum with twice the space, loads of light and ample parking for anyone who would like to rent, sell, buy or have repairs made to a bicycle.
The happy ending to the Co-op’s long search came courtesy of the city of Waldport, which last month approved the group’s bid to occupy the former Waldport Heritage Museum at Northeast Third and Grant Streets. The museum moved to the Alsea Bay Interpretive Center last year.
When no other civic group proposed to occupy the space, the city considered turning the building into apartments. Then longtime Green Bike volunteer Rick Hill of Seal Rock stepped up with a proposal, and within weeks the city had a grateful new occupant for the building.
“It’s given us a new lease on life to serve the bicycling needs of the community,” said Hill, gesturing to racks of bikes and clean, new workstations.
As he spoke, sunlight poured through the windows lining both sides of the 1,200-square-foot space, which is open for business from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. “We’ve had customers already,” said Hill, noting that 95 percent of their business comes from residents of south Lincoln County.
In late March the group moved from the a former garage it shared with a coffee kiosk along U.S. Highway 101, which had been on the market for much of last year. Green Bike had looked at several potential sites, including the old Yachats fire station, but nothing clicked until Hill approached the city of Waldport.
Not only did Green Bike snag the keys to the museum, but they also gained access to a small building in the parking lot, which will be used for storage.
“The roof doesn’t leak”
“We were very fortunate that this came along,” said Hill. “We’ve had great support from the mayor and city council of Waldport,” which took all of five minutes to unanimously approve Hill’s proposal. A part of that document was a feature story in YachatsNews last year detailing the group’s long history of service and its need for a new home.
Green Bike administrator Curt Werner of Waldport is succinct in describing the new space: “Plenty of light, the roof doesn’t leak, it’s warm, and we’re not working in each other’s hip pockets.”
The new space offers four workstations, a wall of pegboard to hang tools, overhead lights and electrical sockets, a kitchen, bathroom and office space.
Green Bike is an all-volunteer group and a subsidiary of the nonprofit Seashore Family Literacy, which recently relinquished its main location to the Lincoln County School District but now has moved its operations to the DaNoble House.
Under its arrangement with the city, Green Bike pays for all utilities and assumes upkeep and maintenance of is new building. Hill said the move and upgrades in the museum probably cost $2,000 but the Co-op is saving $575 a month in rent from its former location. The city wasn’t looking for rent payments from any prospective users of the building, according to city manager Dann Cutter, “just a program that’s useful for the entire community.”
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Green Bike Co-op, 320 N.E. Grant St., Waldport. Open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday. Phone (541) 563-7328; or visit the Co-op website.
