PORT TOWNSEND — The Fort Worden Public Development Authority plans to go to the Port Townsend City Council with a request to dissolve the organization.
“The PDA, as it’s currently configured, has made itself obsolete,” board chair David King said.
The board passed a resolution during a special meeting Thursday to authorize interim Executive Director Celeste Tell to request dissolution.
As per city code, the city council is responsible for setting a hearing no sooner than 60 days. At the hearing, the council will deliberate on dissolving the organization.
After it formed in 2012, the PDA signed a 50-year master lease with state parks in 2013. The lease said the PDA would assume full responsibility for daily operations and maintaining structures as needed. The organization also was made responsible for vision and development.
The termination of the lease would return the responsibility of overseeing the campus to state parks.
In June, representatives from the PDA, state parks, Fort Worden Hospitality, Centrum and the City of Port Townsend met for several days at Peninsula College to work through steps for implementing the recently acquired PROS plan, a strategic 10-year vision put together over the last six months by PROS consulting LLC.
It was during that time, and in response to findings of the PROS plan, that it became clear that the PDA was no longer a tenable part of Fort Worden overcoming its significant challenges, Tell said.
The PDA was to be self-sustaining through leases, concessions, hospitality and capital fundraising. This plan proved flawed with incoming revenue not meeting the needs, King said.
Financial challenges were exacerbated when the COVID-19 pandemic forced hospitality to close for a full operating season.
In 2021-22, both Fort Worden Hospitality and the Fort Worden Foundation became separate entities from the PDA, further impacting the PDA, which continued to shoulder expenses with less authority and income.
The PROS report estimated a $150 million to $350 million need for infrastructural investments on the historic property over the next 10 years.
Fort Worden Hospitality, along with all other campus partners, are to remain functioning and operational.
“Fort Worden Hospitality and the PDA are two separate organizations,” said Natalie Maitland, director of operations Fort Worden Hospitality. “We are continuing operations. Our CEO has been working very closely with state parks on continuity and our highest priority is the service of guests and park visitors.”
The PDA’s dissolution would terminate current lease agreements. Among the lessees are Centrum, Northwind Art, Peninsula College, Copper Canyon Press, Rainshadow Recording Studio, Port Townsend School of Woodworking, Madrona MindBody Institute and others.
New lease arrangements would be negotiated by state parks. Notably, they are legally obligated to charge rent at market rate. Fort Worden’s tenants, many of them non-profits, have historically payed very low rent and are currently paying no rent.
In 2022, tenants signed agreements with the PDA for a shared-cost model wherein tenants assumed responsibility of ongoing maintenance, repairs and capital investments.
“We’ve been working closely with the PDA for more than a year through a difficult situation,” state parks communications manager Sarah Fronk wrote in an email. “We’ve appreciated their transparency and cooperation throughout this process. We will continue working with the PDA in the coming weeks to ensure an orderly transition.”
Anna Gill, southwest region superintendent for state parks, spoke with Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro and Tell on Mauro’s radio show on KPTZ-FM Thursday afternoon. Gill noted the agencies’ priority of working with current tenants to ensure their continued occupancy at the fort.
The state has created a website to follow its progress at https://parks.wa.gov/about/strategic-planning-projects-public-input/projects/fort-worden-upper-campus-project.
The city council is likely to adopt an agenda item to set a hearing date when they meet at 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 540 Water St.
On Tuesday, the PDA, along with state parks and the City of Port Townsend, will host a public discussion from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Fort Worden Commons, Room A.
To read the PROS report or the economic impact report, go to https://fwpda.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=102.
“What comes through is that everyone wants us to be successful, wants Fort Worden and the things that we all treasure, and the life-changing experiences, and the institutions that are so culturally important to us here to persist, so we’re not walking away from that,” King said. “This is just what didn’t work so far, and we need to approach it in different way.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
