MARROWSTONE ISLAND — Fort Flagler State Park is one of two in the state parks system that could be tapped for a pilot program to bring in more private business development.
Staff members gave a report to the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission last Thursday on possibly seeking proposals for private development of some park visitor amenities such as cabins or food service in two state parks — Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island and Millersylvania, 10 miles south of Olympia in Thurston County.
As proposed, the property would stay under state ownership, with leases granted to private investors.
The next time the state commission could consider voting on the pilot proposal would be in September.
“We have concession agreements with commercial ventures already and have for years,” said Virginia Painter, State Parks spokeswoman.
As Brian Hageman, the manager of Fort Flagler, Fort Worden and four other area state parks, said: “Normally with parks we tend to sit back and let someone come to us and say, ‘Hey, we’d like to put an ice cream or a hot dog stand in your park.’ ”
The difference in that and the present proposal, according to Painter, “is we’ve scanned the system to find properties that might be good sites for more development where we would put out a request to find out what the interest might be.
“Part of the reason we are doing this is to provide services people have said they would like to have and we don’t have money for them,” Painter said.
If the commission approves the idea, Washington State Parks would reach out to private industry with a competitive process “to gauge what interest there might be,” Painter said.
“We want to see what kinds of ideas the private sector has, or if they are even interested,” she said.
Depending upon that interest, assessments of the environmental impacts and other factors would have to be done, and permits obtained, she noted.
“I’ve heard people in the program saying it could be two years before anything is developed because of the many steps we still have to take,” Painter said.
Fort Flagler occupies 1,454 acres at the north end of Marrowstone Island of which 20 acres are open for development, according to state documents.
Hageman said that any contract “would have to be the right fit” and not conflict with the historical nature of the park, which began as a military installation that was established in 1897.
One idea might be for a school that taught historical preservation skills and used the fort’s buildings as a laboratory.
“There are not a lot of people who have those skills,” he said.
“We could teach people a craft and they’d get some fantastic work experience.”
A lessee could agree to renovate buildings and adapt them to its business in exchange for reduced rent, he said.
“Once we get the building restored and get it in good working order we might start charging a fair market value,” Hageman said.
Fort Flagler’s rehabilitation would be less complicated than what is occurring at Fort Worden State Park under the auspices of the Fort Worden Lifelong Learning Public Development Authority.
“We are looking at just a few buildings, while the PDA runs the whole campus section,” Hageman said.
Any new venture could provide revenue in places where parks now barely break even.
“No park makes a profit,” Hageman said.
“They always need some public help.
“It would be nice if we could use some of these old buildings that need some work and maybe bring in some money.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
