Thursday, October 13, 6:30 p.m., School Cafeteria
— from Jackie Daigle, Friends of Moran State Park —
Next Spring (2017) the old KVOS building at the summit of Mt. Constitution will be razed. During the 2015-2017 biennium, funding was granted to renovate the existing building. Upon inspection, the State reconsidered renovating and determined that razing it instead would be more cost effective. Unfortunately, existing funding will not replace the building – it will only provide for three ADA-compliant restrooms until further funding can be obtained.
The approximately 40’ x 70’ structure was originally built to house radio equipment and some administrative functions for KVOS. Friends of Moran repurposed the building in 2009 when KVOS moved from analog to digital transmission and no longer needed the building. With the help of many volunteers and donations, Friends established a make-shift Summit Learning Center. This allowed visitors to the summit to come in from the cold and rain, get a complimentary cup of Local Goods coffee or tea and have their questions answered regarding geography, geology, hiking trails, etc. from our summer college interns and the summit hosts. Children at the summit enjoy taking a nature hunt or hiking with a loaner explorer backpack. In inclement weather, they can explore the center, which displays maps, books, posters and other learning tools and toys.
This is all about to change. Plans are in the works to build a new Summit Learning Center if funding is approved by the legislature next July 2017. A Seattle architect has been engaged by the State to design both phases and will be presenting a draft of the design to the public on Thursday, October 13 at the school cafeteria at 6:30 p.m. Unfortunately, this meeting conflicts with another very important meeting regarding the Eastsound Urban Growth Subarea Plan. However, your comments and input are very much welcomed. To see additional renderings of the proposed design, please visit: https://patanostudio.com/featured-projects/project/moran-state-park-learning-center.
If you are unable to attend the meeting but would like to submit comments or questions, please forward them to Jackie Daigle summitgiftshop@friendsofmoran.org. We will submit all comments to the State on Oct. 13. Or, if you are reading this electronically, let’s start a dialog here. Thank you.
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What unfortunate timing! Is it possible to shift the meeting time to accommodate the Vision for Eastsound mtg, perhaps before or after, at the Senior Center?
Moran State Park is an important resource to Orcas Island!
Please consider working with our Vision mtg.
Thanks
Gretchen
Thank you for your suggestion Gretchen. When we learned of the timing conflict, we brought it to the State’s attention. Here is their response:
“Thank you Jackie for the information. It is unfortunate that these two events fall on the same night. We will not be rescheduling our event on that date. In the future, we will be hosting a public meeting/startup design charrette for the Learning Center if we get the project funded by the legislature next July 2017. This meeting was set up to address your concerns about the direction of the design language for the summit.
Barbara Alten| AIA | LEEDAP
Construction Project Coordinator
(360) 755-2815”
So, Gretchen and any others who are curious about this design but plan to attend the Vision meeting, if you could take a few moments to review what the State has proposed thus far (for the bathrooms, which are funded), Friends would be happy to pass this along to the States’ architect on Oct. 13. Otherwise, our next meeting on this project may not happen till the Learning Center itself is funded – the earliest being July 2017. By then, the new bathrooms, with the design featured above will have already been built. To see other renderings including elevations, please go to: https://patanostudio.com/featured-projects/project/moran-state-park-learning-center.
Thank you,
Jackie Daigle