The Lake Samish Fire Hall and Community Building may soon be surplused by the South Whatcom Fire Authority after suffering significant damage to the interior, but some Lake Samish community members aren’t ready to give it up.
A water pipe valve that began to leak while the building wasn’t in use due to the COVID-19 pandemic was not caught until significant damage had occurred. Mold began to grow and asbestos was found beneath the floor tiles.
The South Whatcom Fire Authority is repairing the damage and using the space as storage, but has discussed labeling the hall as surplus to sell it on the open market. Funds collected from the sale could be used to upgrade more active fire halls.
Every resident who attended a South Whatcom Fire Authority board of commissioners meeting April 14 urged the commissioners to rethink surplusing the beloved building.
“We need the community hall to keep the community together,” said Eric McHenry, a Lake Samish resident.
Since its construction in the 1960s, the hall has been used by the community for holiday events, dinners, dances, game nights, meetings, certification courses, clubs and more.
“I lived through that really tight-knit community that we had, and it has impacted us and marked us, made us who we are as adults,” said John Jenkins, who was born and raised in the Lake Samish neighborhood.
John Jenkins was born and raised in the Lake Samish area and helped his father build the Community/Fire Hall on West Lake Samish Drive. (Photo by Kai Uyehara)
Jenkins helped his father build the hall after the previous community hall was torn down and community members raised money for a new building. The new building served as a replacement community hall upstairs and a fire hall downstairs.
“It’s not just wood and metal and tubing,” said Don Goodman, who’s lived in Lake Samish for five years. “It’s got a lot of soul, and we need that soul.”
Goodman said the hall was integral for him and his wife as they got acquainted with their new neighbors.
“It’s a little bit of a slap in the face to have, as a community, raised the money, donated the property, basically put our heart and soul into this building for years and then [they] turned it over to the South Whatcom Fire Authority,” Jenkins said.
Meeting attendees asked to be involved and informed in the South Whatcom Fire Authority’s decision-making process.
“Our community’s long history of investment in the Volunteer Fire Department and Community Hall of land, money, volunteer hours and building supplies, as well as taxpayers continuing to support the SWFA make us the largest stakeholder in our Community/Fire Hall on West Lake Samish Drive,” Janet Monks, Issues Chair for the Lake Samish Association, said at the meeting.
Monk said that according to old records indicating community intent for the hall, the fire hall should revert to the community if fire protection services were to vacate it.
Jenkins came before the commissioners with a solution, as did a few others in attendance.
He proposed “that the community help assist in getting the building back in usable condition, whether that’s through some kind of a special tax levy or traditional fundraising and then the fire department and the fire authority would continue to own it” while the community leases the upstairs to maintain the community hall.
The commissioners thanked community members for their input but did not give an indication that they would make a decision soon.
“We are willing to step up to maintain this essential part of our community,” Valerie Baddorf, a Lake Samish resident, told the commissioners.
