PORT TOWNSEND — A ceremonial groundbreaking at Building 202 at Fort Worden has brought the idea of a fully functional college campus in Port Townsend a step closer to reality.
“The popular saying is that Port Townsend is a college town without a college,” said Scott Wilson, member of the Fort Worden Lifelong Learning Center Public Development Authority and publisher of the weekly Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader, just before the golden shovels were put to use Tuesday afternoon.
“Now we’ve got one.”
More than 100 people gathered on the lawn of Building 202, the dilapidated barracks that will be turned into a Peninsula College campus through a $6.1 million renovation project.
“This will not be a branch of Peninsula College,” said Luke Robins, college president.
“It will have its own identity, one that reflects Port Townsend.”
Pease Construction of Lakewood was awarded the contract in March over six other bidders.
Construction will begin in June and take around a year to complete, college officials say.
Once construction is finished, the installation of equipment will take several months, with expectations that classes will begin in September 2016.
Turning 14,000 square feet of space — about 70 percent of Building 202 — into a home for Peninsula College had been planned since 2011, but action had been postponed because of funding availability and a change in the management of part of Fort Worden.
The public development authority took over management of the campus portions of the 434-acre park for educational purposes last May.
That jump-started the process, according to Roger Schmitt, a Port Townsend resident who serves on the State Parks board.
“They stuck to their guns and put a lot of effort into this project when success wasn’t assured,” Schmitt said.
“If any other nonprofit was involved in this, it would have stepped away a long time ago,” he said.
“This was a risk for everyone, but taking risks is how we get things accomplished.”
During the 15-minute ceremony, Port Townsend Mayor David King presented an outsized check that represented the $500,000 the city is contributing to the project.
“This is a great accomplishment,” King said.
“We want to assure the college of the continued support of the community during the future that is finally upon us.”
“I’ve learned about the relentless execution by this community to get this project done,” said state Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Sequim. Tharinger represents the 24th District along with Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, also of Sequim, and Sen. Jim Hargrove of Hoquiam.
“The reality is that we are going to have an education center here, a state-of-the-art higher education facility, but we need to what that means about how that grows and improves our community,” Tharinger said.
“Education for its own sake has some value, but we also need to think about how we turn that vision into reality and move forward.”
Work will entail construction of four general classrooms, a science classroom, a studio-art room, a learning lab, a workforce training room, a student study space, faculty offices and a reception space.
Video-equipped classrooms are planned so classes can be conducted in one location and viewed in another.
Robins has said the new space will continue current course offerings, general adult education and associate degrees — and eventually expand the curriculum.
The current space used by Peninsula College at Fort Worden is an old schoolhouse that offers two degree programs: an associate of arts transfer degree and an associate degree in early childhood education.
The college shares a space with Goddard College, which offers two Master of Fine Arts: in creative writing and in interdisciplinary arts.
The space has been inadequate for several years, Robins said.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
