PORT TOWNSEND — Take only the core 367 acres of 614-acre Old Fort Townsend State Park, the Port of Port Townsend’s top executive recommended to the port commissioners on Wednesday.

“I still don’t think we should take the mill property,” Larry Crockett said about Washington State Park’s offer to the port to own and operate the park south of Port Townsend.

State Parks, facing a $23 million cut in its 2009-2011 biennial general fund budget to deal with a $9 billion budget deficit, has offered the Old Fort Townsend park property to the port.

It is among those in a list of 36 parks proposed for mothballing or transfer.

They include Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island, Fort Casey and Fort Ebey on Whidbey Island and Bogachiel State Park on Clallam County’s West End.

The State Parks Commission anticipates deciding on a final group of parks to transfer or close at its April 23 meeting in Olympia.

Upgrades proposed

Port officials want to upgrade some of the park’s existing 40 standard campsites in its core area to include RV utility hookups to increase revenue.

Port Commissioner Herb Beck agreed with Crockett’s assessment that the port should take only the core of the park.

Saying the port should bargain for the park, Beck said, “if they don’t like it, they can run the park themselves.”

On Wednesday, the port commissioners directed Crockett to incorporate their comments into a final draft letter to state parks, allowing them to sign off on it before it was delivered by the deadline next Wednesday.

State Parks will conduct a workshop at 6:30 tonight at Fort Worden State Park Commons, the second in a series of public workshops for Rothschild House and Old Fort Townsend State Park, to explore alternatives and options for land classification and future management of the parks.

Rothschild House in Port Townsend, which is operated by the Jefferson County Historical Society, is not on the list of potential state closures.

Mill property

When he talked of the mill property, Crockett was referring to the conservation easement on Port Townsend Paper Corp. property, which he said came with too many restrictions, including no fishing, camping or public access along the protected shore between the park and mill.

Port Townsend Paper, State Parks, the Trust for Public Land and Jefferson Land Trust in August 2008 worked out a deal to add 250 acres to the existing 367-acre park.

The additional acreage stretched north along the shoreline to Glen Cove Industrial Park and the mill property.

The conservation easement protects 170 acres of uplands, allowing for sustainable timber harvesting and forming a natural buffer between the mill and Old Fort Townsend State Park.

It also encompasses about 45 acres of tidal flats that have abundant eelgrass beds and provide critical habitat for juvenile salmon.

The 30 acres purchased by the state include sections of old-growth forest and bluff habitat that will provide additional public shoreline access to visitors of the park.

Crockett took directions from the port commissioners on how best to write the letter of intent to State Parks, telling the agency what the port wants to do with the park.

Port Commissioner John Collins encouraged the port to wait about a month to see what the state Legislature decides about the park system’s budget.

Negotiations

Port Commissioner Dave Thompson called for a more aggressive approach “to negotiate getting as much use as we can.”

“If we end up with it for the long term, I think we should push for our best advantage,” Thompson said, adding that would include about $30,000 in picnic tables and existing grounds maintenance equipment.

Thompson also supports the port getting maximum use for RV campsites.

Old Fort Townsend includes 40 campsites, 43 picnic sites, a kitchen, shelters and a group camping area, as well as moorage buoys, an amphitheater, a new pavilion for wedding receptions and other uses and approximately 7 miles of trails.

Friends of Fort Flagler, a group of about 70 volunteers who help with that park’s maintenance, have aggressively written letters and called state lawmakers to ward off that park’s closure.

Friends of both Old Fort Townsend and Flagler hope an “opt-out” proposal before the state Legislature will give motorists the option of paying a $5 fee if they want to use state parks when they renew their annual license fee.

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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.