PORT TOWNSEND – A state parks proposal to acquire Coast Guard-owned Point Wilson Lighthouse and surrounding property for Fort Worden State Park has been delayed, state officials say.
The state Parks and Recreation Commission was expected to consider purchasing the historic lighthouse at a meeting earlier this month.
Instead, the proposal is “going to be presented to the parks commission within the next year,” state parks spokeswoman Linda Burnett said Thursday.
“It’s still pending. It’s still a possibility.”
Until then, the Coast Guard has contracted workers to fill holes in the $250,000 worth of quarry rock armoring that was built to protect the 93-year-old lighthouse.
High winds and waves have pummeled the property especially hard during the past two winters.
Last winter, storms thrust waves over the rock wall, flooding the lighthouse grounds, including the basement of the adjacent lighthouse keepers home.
Like the lighthouse, the house is within 100 feet of the water, with only the rock wall to protect it.
The foghorn was ripped from its soundwall and lost in the storm.
This week, rock was planted to shore up the area of the soundwall.
