Construction on the Pea Patch Community Campus has begun

Summer update on site work and fundraising success

||| FROM SUZANNE OLSON for PEA PATCH COMMUNITY |||

Summer is in full swing and so is the site work to prepare the Pea Patch Community Campus for construction! You may have noticed some big piles of dirt: the current work effort by local contractor Island Ex includes utility connections, stormwater retention installation and construction of the new entry road. Special thanks to the neighbors around the Pea Patch for their patience during this dusty and noisy phase of the project!

The old Curtis farmhouse is prepped to be moved into its new location as the commons building for the new OPAL neighborhood of 20 townhomes. There are two existing buildings on the property providing rental housing that OPAL carefully inspected for building integrity, safety and efficiency. The larger home is in good condition and occupied with long-term leases in place. The smaller home is vacant and the assessment showed its condition does not warrant renovation. That building will be taken down this fall. There is a project binder behind the front counter at the Orcas Island library where the community can review permitting documents, studies and plans.

Vertical construction on the 20 townhomes will begin in September. The homes are designed by Environmental Works and will be similar to the buildings at April’s Grove. Construction on the new Food Bank building is expected to begin in the Spring. Campus completion is projected by the end of 2028.

“We are excited to be able to provide the stability of year-round rentals to 20 more island households,” said Lisa Byers, OPAL Executive Director. “These townhomes will be affordable for household of very low income and applications will be available in late 2027.”

On the fundraising front, the Pea Patch Campaign has raised approximately $33M to date with about $7M left to go for project completion. The majority of the funding has come from public sources (state, county and one federal appropriation); private foundations and individual gifts make up the rest. A donor has offered to match up to $250,000 in gifts of $10,000-25,000 over the summer and $114,000 has been contributed to date toward that match.

The Pea Patch Community Campus is under development at 55 Pea Patch Lane is a community collaboration led by OPAL Community Land Trust, the Orcas Island Food Bank and the Orcas Island Community Foundation. The unified social services campus will include a new permanent building for our Orcas Island Food Bank with greater capacity to meet the growing needs of the community and twenty new long-term townhome rentals with supportive services to serve households with very low incomes. Learn more at peapatchcommunitycampus-campaign.org