PORT TOWNSEND — In a move that took the community by surprise, the landmark Boy Scout House and the eight city lots it sits on were sold Friday by Chief Seattle Boy Scout Council to a local builder.
“Chief Seattle told us to come with a proposal,” said Elsa Golts of Friends of the Boy Scout House.
“They gave us two months, and we did that. Never once did Chief Seattle respond.”
Vern Garrison said he paid $480,000 for the property, a city block on Morgan Hill on Cosgrove Street between Quincy and Madison streets, and plans to develop it for residential use.
But he has offered to give the 30-foot by 60-foot log house to the city as a gift, an offer he delivered by letter to the city manager Friday.
“I didn’t buy the property to save the Scout House, but don’t want to see it demolished,” Garrison said.
“I was a Boy Scout, a Life Scout and a member of the Order of the Arrow.”
