The Oregon Coast Aquarium and the emerging Pacific Maritime and Heritage Center both pitched the Newport City Council for some big bucks Monday night.

The Aquarium said it could draw more visitors to Newport, and once here, make them linger longer if the council gave them $375,000 to build a spectator-type seal and sea lion viewing area. The addition would allow visitors to watch Aquarium staff feed and care for the animals that can only be seen currently through crowded windows in the facility’s original tank walls.

A member of the Aquarium board said they paid off a half-million dollar debt to the city’s urban renewal fund and are financially fit. He suggested that the Aquarium has more than proven its national and international tourist drawing star power and should be seriously considered for their request, which would come from the city’s tourism room tax fund.

Another applicant for a grant from that fund is the Pacific Maritime and Heritage Center which overlooks Yaquina Bay’s commercial fishing fleet, atop a bluff which also looks over the Bayfront. A spokesman for that facility said they’ve sunk some $2,000,000 in grants and volunteer work into the old building and that if awarded a grant for $200,000 they could make the museum shine. They would upgrade the building’s heating, plumbing and electrical systems. They’d replace windows and upgrade siding and outside paint, and generally make the museum a prime attraction for tourists and locals. It would be a place for those who want to learn more about Newport’s cultural and historical roots, filled with commercial and sports fishing, logging, shipping and coastal commerce along with celebrating the area’s rich Native American past and its emerging oceanographic science center at South Beach. It will also serve as a gathering place for traveling exhibits, cultural and arts events, and for social and civic meetings for those who want to enjoy the ambiance of the Maritime and Heritage Center.

The City Council lauded both presentations adding that they will be seriously considered as part of future city budget discussions. They said they would examine the grant applications in more detail, as well as the city’s ability to deliver on one or both applications during their upcoming city council workshop on November 15th, barely two weeks away.

The Tourism Room Tax Fund has a million dollars in reserves that are considered seed money for a new Newport Special Events Center. The rest of the fund goes toward Newport’s national tourism promotion budget, various capital projects and general city services.

Share on Facebook