FOLLOWUP: Inside fire-ravaged Camp Long Lodge, city and state officials learn what’s happening, and not happening, with it

(WSB photos by Torin Record-Sand)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

One year and nine months after a deliberately set fire tore through Camp Long‘s beloved century-old lodge, the rebuild is still years away – now projected for completion in 2032.

That’s part of what we learned this afternoon during a short tour with District 1 City Councilmember Rob Saka and two of the 34th District‘s state legislators this afternoon.

Seattle Parks deputy superintendent Andy Sheffer led the tour and provided the updates to Councilmember Saka, State Sen. Emily Alvarado, State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, and more than a half-dozen other state and city reps, including members of the elected officials’ staffs.

Sheffer explained that they’ve done some stabilization/preservation work to keep the lodge from completely falling apart during these years of disuse, with the help of ~$1 million insurance money. And the rebuild is in “pre-design.”

But the funding on hand is only enough to get them a third of the way through design, let alone cover the estimated $10 million cost of construction (and Sheffer said he suspects that’s the very low end of what it’ll cost – the rebuild will likely have to be “something better,” electrified and brought up to ADA standards, among other things).

The state legislators were there in hopes the city can get their support in pursuing about $700.000 in funding to for design. As for where the construction funding might be found, Sheffer said the next Seattle Park District funding cycle is one possibility, and they’re pursuing a variety of sources. Saka wondered if community funding via, for example, the Seattle Parks Foundation were an option, and Sheffer said, that too.

He also said that this remains of intense public interest – one of the leading inquiries they get from community members is, what’s up with the Camp Long Lodge? He briefly recounted its role in park uses from an event venue to a support facility for people using other parts of the park, like its rustic cabins, which are rented for camping and used during park festivals.

He noted that it’s not an official city landmark, but the rebuild will have to deal with features of “historic significance, such as “cobblestone masonry” and “heavy timber”:

WHAT’S NEXT: Besides the quest for funding, they will be starting design work and taking it as far as they can with what they have, so, Sheffer said, watch for community-engagement events early next year. They’ve hired a consultant to start the design work.

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