Getting The Future Right: State Historic Preservation Plan Update In Full Swing

As May arrives in the Northwest, work to update the State Historic Preservation Plan is well underway. Working with the them “Getting the Future Right” the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) is leading the effort to revise the current plan for the next five year planning cycle of 2014-19. DAHP is working with a plan Steering Committee to guide the update work and design the public participation effort. Three public meetings have already taken place in Bellingham, Ellensburg, and Seattle. The next public meeting is scheduled for this Wednesday evening in Walla Walla at the Baker Faculty Center of Whitman College, located at 364 Boyer Avenue. The event will begin at 5:30 pm with a brief neighborhood walking tour to look at historic preservation at work as well as identify opportunities in the community where preservation principles could be applied. After the tour, participants will re-group at the Baker Center and break into small groups to delve deeper into potential preservation issues and opportunities to be addressed in the new plan. Following the Walla Walla meeting, future public meetings will be held in Vancouver on May 16, in conjunction with the Revitalize WA conference, followed by meetings in Tacoma on May 20 at City Hall, and May 23^rd in Spokane at the McKinstry Building on East Spokane Falls Boulevard. If you can’t make a public meeting, all are invited to complete the on-line survey that can be accessed at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DAHPStatewidePlan. The questionnaire takes about 15 minutes to complete and space is provided to make additional comments and recommendations. Finally, if your organization is interested in a special presentation or meeting about the plan, contact Greg Griffith at 360-586-3073 or greg.griffith@dahp.wa.gov.