Four Lincoln County projects worth $5 million on Rep. Hoyle’s congressional appropriations list this fall

Quinton Smith The Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue District has an agreement to buy the city-owned station in downtown Waldport and then upgrade it into headquarters for firefighters, Pacific West Ambulance and Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies.

By Lincoln Chronicle staff

Four Lincoln County projects totaling more than $5 million are once again on Rep. Val Hoyle’s wish list to be funded – if Congress passes a full appropriations bill in the fall.

A very similar list from Hoyle, D-Ore., for 15 projects across the 4^th Congressional District went unfunded in March when the House and Senate narrowly approved a continuing resolution to keep the federal government running through September.

That resolution – called a “Christmas tree” bill by some and “Congressional pork” by others — eliminated $15.9 billion in earmarked projects across the U.S. that had been included in fiscal 2025 House and Senate appropriations bills.

Oregon Coast Community College **Oregon Coast Community College lost a $1 million congressional appropriation in March to expand its welding shop in Toledo. It’s hoping to win a $1.1 million appropriation this fall.**

Each House member is allowed to submit 15 community projects to the House Appropriations Committee to be considered for funding on behalf of their congressional district. Last year Hoyle selected projects seeking $29 million and the House Appropriations Committee staff winnowed those down to $14.2 million.

Hoyle’s new list contains many of the same projects across Lincoln, Benton, Coos, Curry, Douglas and Lane counties and this time totals $16.6 million.

In Lincoln County they include:

$1.01 million to remodel the downtown Waldport station of the Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue district. The appropriation was on Hoyle’s list previously. Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, has said he also plans to seek the same amount during the 2026 Legislature;
$1.01 million for the Siletz Valley Fire District to construct a building to hold its equipment and turn the city-owned fire station into an emergency shelter. The money also was on Hoyle’s previous list;
$1 million to help Oregon Coast Community College develop a seafood workforce training facility. The college was on Hoyle’s last list but to expand its welding program into a new building in Toledo; and
$2 million to the city of Lincoln City for its Fernwood Village affordable housing project, which would develop 84 affordable housing units within a mixed-income community of apartments and market-rate townhomes. This is a new request.

In announcing the selected projects last week, Hoyle said she had secured these projects in relevant funding bills, but “the money is not guaranteed until Congress passes the final appropriations legislation and the bills are signed into law.”

Other projects on Hoyle’s list this time around include:

City of Corvallis: $1.03 million to purchase equipment for a backup 911 center;
Port of Coos Bay: $1 million to restore and enhance capacity in the Charleston shipyard;
Umpqua Community College: $3.15 million to help turn a Roseburg building into an affordable housing complex;
City of Cottage Grove: $800,000 to support efforts to enhance community policing;
City of Florence: $250,000 to help construct a wall to stabilize a landslide on the banks of the Siuslaw River;
Springfield Police Department: $858,000 to purchase body and car camera systems;
Lane County Rural Fire Radio Network: $1 million to support upgrades to the radio network supporting rural fire agencies in Lane County;
Mapleton Water District: $875,000 for water system upgrades;
Curry County: $1.03 million for improvements to the county jail;
City of Brookings: $1 million to replace a water line on Easy Street; and
City of Glide: $800,000 to help revitalize its community resource center.