Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Fort Steilacoom Park forces, assemble
There's been much discussion about what to do with the old farm barns at Fort Steilacoom Park.There's a community meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday the 17th in Lakewood City Hall that would be worth going to. People, including hopefully maybe even you, will brainstorm and discuss ideas for the barns' reuse. Right now, they're pretty much storage and thoroughly dilapidated.
There have been a lot of these 'town hall' meetings about various resources here in town. It's always interesting and fun to watch our parks department and volunteers collect comments and get people talking about what could and should be done for a park, a project or something else
A commercial firm is studying a number of issues including the structure and safety and cost of fixing up individual barns, and whether there is a market for, say, a Farmer's Market. That's an idea thrown out by a number of folks including Sen. Mike Carrell, who helped save the barns several years ago. One of the barns has some internal bracing, thanks to his advocacy, and the saveable ones all have relatively new roofs.
But the Farmer's Market is just one idea. I think Sen Carrell and I pretty much just want to see the barns used somehow, whether it's for a Farmer's Market or something else. I've always fantasized it would be meaningful if there was more interpretive information for the amazing Native American, English pioneer, American pioneer U.S. military and mental health care history in the Fort Steilacoom National Register Historic District. But that would take a bunch of doing and is probably not a first step.
One of the more intriguing ideas notes that the barns are located near a lake and a scenic hill, and somehow turns the largest twin-winged one by the parking lot into a catered dining facility that could be rented for community enjoyment. Could such a place pencil out? Does the community even want that? Who knows? But these are good questions to ask.
I should note the photo above comes from the wonderful Tacoma Public Library web site.
