Renovation Plans for Odlin Park to be Unveiled November 3

By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager

Plans for a project Park Board Members began endorsing nearly 35 years ago and which attracted intense public comment this summer, will be unveiled at a community meeting at the Lopez Library on November 3.

The renovation of Odlin Park on Lopez Island will provide a larger picnic and day use area near the shoreline, reduce congestion near the beach and boat ramp, add amenities to the campground and create a new camping area which can host group activities, events and provide overflow space during the busy season.

“This has literally been years in the making,” said San Juan County’s Parks and Fair Director Dona Wuthnow. “Getting to this point has not been easy, but it is gratifying to see the results of the efforts of a committed staff, members of the Parks and Recreation Commission and an involved community.”

The $400,000 renovation project is being funded with grants from the state and the Public Facilities Financing Assistance Program. Community interest in the project produced spirited public meetings earlier this year, with groups lobbying hard over the location of a World War II vintage cannon and expressing concern about the ball field at the park, which is located on a wetland.

“The project design team listened to the concerns expressed at those meetings and we believe that the community will be pleased with the final plan,” Wuthnow said.

Wuthnow said that creation of the plan does not end the need for community involvement in this project. She wants to involve volunteers in many aspects of the work  including building trails, a new picnic shelter, planting native plants in the constructed wetland needed for project mitigation, and to work out final details on the location and display of the cannon.

The unveiling will take place at an open house at the Lopez Library from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. November 3. The project schedule calls for construction to begin on the group camping area in the spring of 2011 and for the entire renovation project to be completed by the end of next year.