PORT TOWNSEND – Although the state Parks and Recreation Commission would like to take over the Point Wilson Lighthouse, the cost and liability may be too great to do so, said the commission’s director, Rex Derr.
“We are trying to decide whether it’s worth taking ownership, considering the fact that the water is closing in on it,” Derr told about 20 people at the Friends of Fort Worden annual meeting at the Fort Worden State Park Commons on Thursday.
Derr said the Coast Guard, which owns the lighthouse now, commissioned a study that placed a price tag of between $1.3 to $3 million to relocate the lighthouse to a safer location.
“We’re just not sure it’s financially prudent,” said Derr.
State parks officials have long wanted to acquire the lighthouse from the Coast Guard, said Kate Burke, Fort Worden State Park manager.
Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 147 members oversee and maintain the lighthouse, facilities and grounds.
Burke believes that moving the lighthouse and lightkeeper’s house farther away from the shoreline is the only long-term solution for saving the structures.
But it would be no simple task to relocate the light house and take over management duties, she said.
The shoreline around the lighthouse and lightkeepers house is eroding.
Last week, high westerly winds and tides off the Strait of Juan de Fuca send waves crashing through and over a rock wall built within 100 feet of the buildings.
Although flood damage to the buildings was minimal – the worst being the shoreside basement of the lightkeeper’s house – the grounds were heavily swamped with sand, rock and driftwood debris.
Derr said the state Parks and Recreation Commission plans a work session in June to discuss the issue and weigh the realities of acquiring the historic lighthouse.
The Parks and Recreation Commission will then make a decision about purchasing the lighthouse at it’s Aug. 9 meeting.
