Pea Patch awarded $824,000 from state budget

Thanks to Rep. Debra Lekanoff for her sponsorship and support

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

When Governor Ferguson signed the capital budget last week, it included $824,000 for completion of the first phase of site work for the Pea Patch Community Campus! This means that site preparation work, installation of utilities, stormwater detention, a new entrance road, signs and the first phase of landscaping – everything needed to complete sub-division of the property — can be accomplished this year. Site preparation and utility installation work has already begun on the property.

Representative Debra Lekanoff has championed the Pea Patch Community Campus from the beginning and has helped to secure a total of $5,824,000 for the project with strong support from her District 40 peers Representative Alex Ramel and Senator Liz Lovelett.

“Strong communities are built by people who know who they are, where they come from, and what their community truly needs,” said Lekanoff. “As a Native American who has lived through generations of paternal decision-making—where institutions came in to build for us rather than with us—I understand the difference. The Pea Patch stands apart because it was shaped by the community itself—rooted in their knowledge, their responsibility to the land, their stewardship of resources, and their commitment to the people who call the San Juan Islands home—not just for today, but for generations to come.

This work reflects the values of the community, and I am deeply grateful. I also want to recognize that I could not have focused on this project without the generosity and leadership of my colleagues, Rep Alex Ramel and Senator Liz Lovelett. As I carried this effort forward, they carried so many capital projects across the 40th District. This is what it means to be a team—the 40th District dream team—and they deserve our heartfelt appreciation.”

Construction on the new OPAL rental neighborhood on the Pea Patch is expected to begin in September. Food Bank construction will follow after sufficient funds are raised to build the Food Bank’s building.

The fundraising campaign to build the Pea Patch is making progress this spring with a series of major gifts and matching challenge grants. To date, more than 80% of the estimated $40M has been committed. Please reach out to Suzanne Olson at suzanne@opalclt.org if you’d like to learn more about the campaign and ways to support the project.

The Pea Patch Community Campus is under development at 55 Pea Patch Lane, on the historic Lavender Farm, north of Eastsound Village. 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. The Pea Patch Community Campus is a collaboration of OPAL Community Land Trust, the Orcas Island Food Bank, the Orcas Island Community Foundation and the Orcas community. Learn more at peapatchcommunitycampus-campaign.org.