PORT TOWNSEND — A proposed transfer of ownership of Fort Worden State Park from Washington State Parks to the Lifelong Learning Center Public Development Authority is off the table.
“We have heard from the community they want Fort Worden to remain a state park,” said Dave Robison, executive director of the public development authority, at a special meeting Monday afternoon.
“People are uncertain about handing over control of an iconic facility to a local entity without a lot of resources,” Robison said.
Instead, the public development authority will propose that State Parks continue running Fort Worden aside from the buildings that would constitute the lifelong learning center campus, which would be leased to the PDA.
‘Blessing in disguise’
“This could be a blessing in disguise,” said Fort Worden Advisory Committee Chairman Gary Cummins.
“Having a long-term lease with 30 new concessions could be a great success.”
The PDA’s decision is on the eve of two meetings — a public hearing tonight at 7 and a meeting of the state Parks and Recreation Commission on Thursday — pertaining to a proposal that the public development authority take over all or part of the management of Fort Worden State Park and develop it into an academic campus, called a lifelong learning center, that offers a series of educational and recreational options.
While the public development authority has scaled down expectations, it remains committed to the idea of developing a lifelong learning center at Fort Worden and still seeks to manage that component of the park, Robison said.
Thursday’s meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in the Wheeler Theater on the Fort Worden grounds.
Staff members said last week they would ask the commission to consider providing more time for the public and the state Legislature to learn about options for creating a lifelong learning center at the state park and express their views to the commission before a final decision on governance of Fort Worden State Park is made.
Public hearing tonight
A public hearing to gather testimony about the future of the park, the public development authority and the lifelong learning center concept is planned at 7 p.m. today — also in the Wheeler Theater.
During public meetings Feb. 17 and March 15, several members of the public said they felt the public development authority was not ready to assume ownership and management of the park and that Fort Worden should remain under state control.
There also was nearly universal support for establishing a lifelong learning center at the park.
Buildings making up the lifelong learning center, according to the public development authority, would include those housing the Peninsula College branch, Goddard College, the Port Townsend School of Woodworking, the Madrona Mind Body Institute and Centrum.
The public development authority will propose a 99-year lease so it can offer stability and consistency to prospective tenants seeking to open a business at Fort Worden.
Letter to Gregoire
To facilitate this idea, the public development authority Tuesday sent a letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire requesting her support in reaching a lease agreement by the end of 2012 instead of waiting until the 2013 legislative session to take action.
In the letter, the public development authority commits to providing an updated business plan to the Legislature and State Parks commission no later than Oct. 1.
It seeks a fixed commission deadline of Dec. 31 “to determine the governance structure best suited to implement and manage the Lifelong Learning Center.”
Thursday’s meeting has a number of items on the agenda, and the time when the Fort Worden discussion will take place cannot be predicted, said parks commission Vice Chair Rosdger Schmitt.
Rename Commons
Among those agenda items is a proposal to rename the Fort Worden Commons after the late Nora Porter, a Port Townsend civic and political leader and supporter of Fort Worden who died in October at the age of 75.
Also on the agenda is an item to consider a policy for managing special events in state parks given the Discover Pass requirement created in 2011.
Since July 1, visitors on state-managed recreation lands — with certain exceptions — are required to display a $30 annual or $10 one-day pass on their vehicles.
For more information, visit www.discoverpass.wa.gov.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
