Here is the architectural plan view in color from Illahee Associates (click on the map to enlarge it). It represents the vision and intent of the full and realized Park as a part of the planning for the development grant in 1983. Although it's hard to see on the right hand margin in this version, a less beautiful version of the same map shows the start date for this rendering as 28 July 1982. For people who are keeping track, notice that July 1982 is BEFORE the Port signed the lease with the City on 4 August 1982 for 20+ acres between Sims and the lagoon. So, in July 1982, with no leases in place for the southern portion of the Park, both sponsors of the 1981 acquisition grant understood that the development grant would - develop (!) the southern portion as a nature park - with a small lagoon, trails, plantings of native flora, a play meadow, restrooms, picnic shelter. Citizens committed $145,000 (in 1983 dollars) as in-kind match for this grant, in skilled labor and materials to develop the vision of the Park.
This was not a vision for a temporary park. This was effort dedicated to a park that had been promised to the citizens of Port Townsend in perpetuity. 'Perpetuity' is longer than 30 years. Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park should outlast all of us working now to complete the protections that were overlooked by NPS in 1985 when the acquisition grant closed. Protecting Kah Tai is our commitment to those whose vision created it, and it is our gift to the generations that follow.
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