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KEY
FACTS:
In 1969, Camp Fire purchased the Waldo site at
market rate value. It has served as our administrative offices for
almost 40 years.
The Waldo Building was built in 1924, originally as
a sanatorium. In 1937 the sanatorium was converted to a non-profit
institution and became Waldo General Hospital. In 1942 Dr. Waldo
turned the hospital over to the osteopathic profession and retired
from his practice in 1950. In 1959 the north wing was added to the
facility. In 1968 the entire building was converted to office use
with minor building code and amenity improvements. It has not undergone
any structural, seismic or mechanical renovations since that time.
Given its age, maintaining the facility has become an increasingly
expensive burden for Camp Fire, draining resources that are intended
for children not mechanical systems. Camp Fire currently spends
over $60,000 annually in maintenance costs alone.
In 2003, Camp Fire hired several contractors to provide feedback
on the feasibility of renovating the building. The final conclusion
was that the advance age of the building made it too expensive to
renovate. In 2003 dollars, simple repairs would have cost over $2
million dollars and these repairs did not address all the in-efficiencies
of the facility.
In 2003, Camp Fire looked at demolishing the building and constructing
new office space. However, that proposition was too expensive.
In 2006, Camp Fire searched for a broker and listed
the property for sale. The sale of the property was covered in the
following communications:
o Puget Sound Business Journal
o Camp Fire Newsletter
o Camp Fire Email Base
o Major Donors to Camp Fire
o Contact City Council members
o Contact Maple Leaf Community Council
In 2006, Prescott Homes entered into a purchase and
sales agreement to buy the site and develop low-rise housing within
the current zoning.
2007:
- KING 5 story,
February 14, 2007
- KOMO-TV story,
April 25, 2007
- Building was nominated by the Landmark’s
Preservation Board for consideration to be designated a landmark
in Seattle, May 2, 2007
- Speech in support of Camp Fire’s situation
by former Governor Gary Locke at the Leadership Fundraising Breakfast,
June 7, 2007
- Puget Sound Business Journal article,
June 8, 2007
- Seattle Times column,
June 10, 2007
- Landmarks Preservation Board Designation
Hearing scheduled for June 20, 2007, 3:30 p.m., room 4060, Seattle
Municipal Tower. At the conclusion of presentations by both Camp
Fire and the Maple Leaf Community Council, The Landmarks Preservation
Board voted 3 in favor, 5 against designation on criteria B (significance
of a person) and voted 4 in favor 4 against designation on criteria
F (prominence of the site). To have been designated a landmark
they would have had to have 6 votes in favor on both criteria.
Both our submission to the Landmarks Board and our powerpoint
presentation are available below. They are a matter of public
record now and you’re welcome to download them and share
them.
- Seattle
Times story on Landmarks Preservation Board ruling, June 21, 2007
- Seattle
Post Intelligencer story on Landmarks Preservation Board ruling,
June 21, 2007
ZONING:
The site is zoned L2, which means that it can be developed
outright to the following standards:
| Height: |
Twenty-five (25) feet, plus an additional ten
feet if the roof is pitched, for a total of 35 feet. |
| Lot Coverage: |
50 percent for townhouses, 40 percent for stacked flats. |
| Unit Capacity: |
36 units/acre, or 59 units on this site. |
| Parking: |
One surface space per unit enclosed (direct entry for townhouses,
garage for stacked flats) plus visitor parking. |
| Open Space: |
300 square feet per unit for townhouses; a total of 17,700
square feet for 59 units. |
WHY WE NEED TO SELL:
Camp Fire is a non-profit organization with a mission
to build caring, confident youth and future leaders.
We rely on charitable gifts, donations and sales to support our
programs and young people. It is important to us and to our donors
that we be fiscally prudent with our resources.
Our facility is old and has been creatively used past its lifespan
-- we are now at a cross-road. Either we invest millions into a
building, diverting charitable contributions from our programs to
do so, or we sell the property and wisely move to a location that
will cost much less to operate and maintain. As you can probably
understand, the board of directors feels it is our ethical obligation
and stewardship of Camp Fire to sell the property.
This was not a quick decision. We will miss the neighborhood
and facility which has been our home. However, we simply can’t
afford to drain our resources on a building.
TODAY:
Camp Fire has met with community representatives and
we will continue to meet with neighbors who have questions about
the sale. We are mindful of the proposed change and completely understand
the desire for additional information.
In addition, we have encouraged the community to also
meet with the developer, Prescott Homes, to discuss the proposed
development. As the seller, we are not responsible for the design
or construction of the development, but we certainly would never
divorce ourselves from the issue or conversations. We are here to
answer questions and assist when possible.
CONTACT US:
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact
us at:
Jane White-Vulliet, CEO, Central Puget Sound Council,
Camp Fire USA, 206-461-8550 x 237 or jane-w@campfire-usa.org
Jackie Peterson, Director of Marketing &
Communications, Central Puget Sound Council, Camp Fire USA, 206-461-8550
x 253 or jackie-p@campfire-usa.org
Michael Luis & Associates, Prescott Homes,
425-453-5123.
Community Letter - March 2007
Dear Neighbors:
We are writing to you as your neighbor and a property
owner at 8511 15th Avenue NE.
As you may have heard through community discussions
or seen on a recent KING 5 news story, Camp Fire has made a decision
to sell our property this year. Although we reached out early to
communicate about the sale last summer (2006), it has come to our
attention that the issue has confused and concerned some neighbors.
As your neighbor, we wanted to directly communicate
with you, and we are sorry that there has been unanswered speculation
about the property sale. Indeed, we have spent the last few weeks
meeting with community members in order to answer questions. However,
we do not believe that these individuals shoulder the responsibility
of communicating on our behalf – you deserve to hear from
us about our need and intentions to sell our property in the Maple
Leaf neighborhood.
As a non-profit organization, we are charged with
a mission to build caring, confident youth and future leaders. And,
as a non-profit organization, we rely on charitable gifts, donations
and sales to support our programs and the young people we serve.
Last year, we served over 14,000 youth in King, Kitsap, and North
Mason counties.
Although Camp Fire purchased the site 40-years ago,
we can no longer afford to remain. The facility is old, and has
been creatively used past its lifespan. We are now at a cross-roads.
Either we invest millions into a building, diverting charitable
contributions from our programs to do so, or we sell the property
and wisely move to a location that will not cost us as much to operate
and maintain. As you can probably understand, we feel it is our
mission and the ethical stewardship of Camp Fire to minimize administrative
costs. In addition, there are also some inherent health issues for
staff which we feel we must be mindful of.
This was not a quick decision. We will miss the neighborhood
and facility which has been our home. However, we simply can’t
afford to drain our resources on a building.
From our recent meetings, we know the neighborhood
has concerns. What community, with long-term interests, wouldn’t
be mindful of a proposed change? It’s completely understandable.
While we don’t speak for the prospective buyer/developer,
what they have indicated to us is a strong desire to meet with the
neighborhood as well, and we will be helpful, when and if we can.
Lastly, I am sure that you are curious what will we
do with the money when the property is sold? First, move to a new
location but more importantly re-invest any residual proceeds in
the kids and families we serve. Like many non-profits who have weathered
depressions, recessions, 9/11 and the dot.com bust -- it is prudent
to diversify our funding streams to ensure that we survive when
the need is the greatest. With the residual funds, we hope to create
a board-restricted fund for the purpose of stabilizing Camp Fire
and our programs during hard times.
We are very mindful of the need to be good stewards
of the resources we’re given.
We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to carry on the good work
of Camp Fire locally in what we feel is a very prudent and fiscally
responsible way. We hope you understand and support that.
You know, once in Camp Fire, always in Camp Fire!
We hope you stay in touch with us, and continue to support our mission
and the families and children we serve. Please don’t hesitate
to call with any questions or concerns.
Wohelo!
Leslie Rice, Chair
Central Puget Sound Council Board of Directors
Camp Fire USA
Community Letter - August 2007
Date: August 17, 2007
To: Our Neighbors, Donors and Friends of Camp Fire
Re: Sale of our property
First, thank you for your continued support and thoughtful inquiries
regarding the sale of our property. While we’ve been updating
our website (seems that’s what everyone does these days) we
know that everyone doesn’t rely on e-mail as a communication
tool and we wanted to communicate directly.
Second, as you may or may not have heard, the City
of Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board declined to nominate our
property for landmark designation. After careful review and a thoughtful
deliberation on their part, the Landmarks Board agreed with us that
the building does not meet the threshold for a landmark designation.
Thank you to those of you who sent letters and attended the hearing
in support of Camp Fire; your voice and presence made a difference.
We are also very grateful to the Waldo family for
their support of Camp Fire in this process. This has been an emotional
experience for the family and a learning one as well for all of
us. You can read the letter from the family on our website at http://www.campfire-usa.org/press/propertysale.htm
. We also wanted you to know that we intend to work with the family
and the developer to note, for future generations, the history of
this site for both the former Waldo Hospital and Camp Fire USA.
Third, although we are selling the administrative
building and property, we wanted you to know that we will still
be a positive presence in the Maple Leaf community. We will continue
to provide excellent licensed after-school and preschool care at
Olympic View Elementary in the Maple Leaf neighborhood and one of
our Special Saturday Clubs meets there as well (our other Special
Saturday Clubs are at John Muir Elementary, one in Bellevue and
another in Kitsap County). Special Saturday Club offers parents
of special needs children 5 hours of respite care one Saturday a
month. Parents of children with special needs can drop off their
special needs child(ren) along with siblings (special needs or not)
for 5 hours of licensed, trained, excellent care which allows the
parents to give themselves a chance to rest/reorganize/do other
parts of life, etc. We have people who drive from all over the North
and West side of the city to take advantage of the Special Saturday
Club at Olympic View.
In addition, we’ve been providing the Maple
Leaf Community Council (MLCC) with child care for their monthly
meetings at Olympic View Elementary at a dramatically reduced rate.
We’ve actually been working with the MLCC for decades (they
used to meet in our building, free of charge). Sadly, they continue
to attempt to put out mixed and distorted messages about this situation
but their opposition to our sale and desire to attempt to landmark
the building doesn’t undermine our commitment to what we have
provided in the past and will continue to provide families and youth
in the area. Most recently we’ve embarked on an alliance with
the Green Seattle Partnership which is a kind of subsidiary of the
Cascade Land Conservancy working on preserving and growing the tree
canopy in Seattle, among other things. This summer our Youth Volunteer
Corps teens worked with them at Interlaken Park getting rid of non-native
invasive plants and we’ll be looking to help out the same
way in the Thornton Creek Watershed as well.
Finally, as we move forward we’ll be looking for the time
capsule we have buried on the property and plan a little “ice
cream social” once we’ve uncovered that. As a neighbor,
donor or friend, please know that you will be contacted and invited
as soon as we have a date. We will continue to post updates on our
website. And, as always, feel free to contact us with any questions/concerns.
Warm regards,
Leslie J. Rice, Chair
Camp Fire USA, Central Puget Sound Council, Board of Directors
(download
PDF version of this letter)
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