When Tacoma-area Boy Scouts had nowhere to go, William Kilworth bought them a new home.

During the Great Depression, Kilworth, a Tacoma Rotarian and a strong supporter of Scouting, purchased the land that encompasses the camp from Dr. Kilgore for $4,500. The next day, February 28, 1934, he deeded the property over to the Scouts.

Two years later, the Tacoma Rotary added the lodge that sits on a bluff overlooking Puget Sound. From the front porch of the timbered building, Scouts can enjoy unobstructed views of Vashon Island and the snow-capped Olympic Range. An old trail, now mostly washed away from violent storms several years ago, once led campers to an expansive tidal flat filled with sea urchin and sand dollars.

The skeleton of an abandoned tipi allows visitors to look back on the 70 years of Scouting that has taken place at Camp Kilworth.

To many Federal Way residents, the camp and the Rotary Lodge represent two of the few remaining relics of the city's history.

But the Pacific Harbors Council of Boy Scouts currently entertains an offer from a developer that would clear the way for new waterfront homes on the 25-acre parcel.

"We've mentioned the availability of the land to local nonprofits, including the Friends of the Hylebos," Dillow, CEO of the Pacific Harbors Council, said, "and the city has looked at the property as well."

The CEO claimed that the Scouts have not officially list the property on the market, and none of the local nonprofit organizations could afford the land's hefty price tag.

"We're currently looking at an offer from a developer," Dillow said, "It's for 100 percent cash, no contingencies."

Currently zoned SE, the Camp Kilworth land allows for one building per five acres. The developer's plans reportedly include 40 homes within the 25-acre parcel.

Local citizens respond to the sale of Camp Kilworth

Hazel Dickinson held out her hands and looked towards the sky.

"It's raining and we can't even feel it down here," she said.

Above her head, interlocking arms of branches and leaves formed an impermeable canopy from the spring thunderstorm.

"You just don't find canopies like this anymore," Dickinson said, turning back towards the trail that weaves through the Camp Kilworth property north of Dash Point State Park.

Dickinson joined local resident Mary Ehlis at the camp last week, and the pair took the Federal Way News on a tour through the property, pointing out primitive camping spots and hundreds of yards of undisturbed coastline. Through the passing dark clouds, the white peaks of the Olympic Mountains emerged overlooking Puget Sound.

Like many longtime residents of Federal Way, Ehlis views the development of Camp Kilworth as a threat to the property's historical and environmental value.

When she first heard of the potential sale of the land three weeks ago, Ehlis said, she sprang into action.

She organized a town meeting May 16, and more than 50 citizens gathered at the Regional Library on First Avenue to echo her concerns to Dillow and members of the Pacific Harbors council Board.

Comments and questions directed to the council ranged from passively inquisitive to outright fiery. Some citizens accused the Scouts of poor management of the property that led to their need to sell; others said the organization should consider the habitat and natural value of the property before offering it to developers.

"It seems like what you're trying to do," Federal Way resident Robert Lamb said to Dillow and the Boy Scout Council at the meeting last Monday, "is in the near term trade Camp Kilworth for a swimming pool and some showers."

The Pacific Harbors Council hoped to use the profits to improve infrastructure at other Scouting camps in Western Washington that received more use.

Lamb's home on 50th Place near Dash Point backs up to the Camp Kilworth property.

"To me, this sounds like the worst trade since Jack sold the cows for a sack of beans," said Lamb.

Once purchased, Lamb added, he has little faith in the city's ability to regulate the development of the property.

"If you look ahead 100 years," Lamb said, "the population density of this area is going to increase tremendously."

Unlike the swimming pool and dining facility the Council hopes to buy with sale of Camp Kilworth, Lamb said, the waterfront property will remain a sound investment.

"One hundred years from now, the Scouts won't be able to just walk up and buy waterfront land in King County," Lamb added.

Hazel Dickinson agrees. The Auburn resident and former Cub Scout Den Mother presented the audience with a Power Point slideshow of the area's native plant life that included evergreen huckleberry and Douglas fir trees.

"Where else can you take our young Scouts and point out these tall growth trees and native plants in such abundance?" Dickinson asked the Council.

"Without places like Camp Kilworth nearby," she said, "many of our local kids might never see these things."

Wildlife experts consider the property a necessary piece in the wildlife corridor connecting Dumas Bay to Dash Point. The camp and surrounding properties provide nesting grounds for bald eagles and great blue herons, as well as the Townsend's Warbler, a Pacific Northwest native.

Like Ehlis and others at the meeting, Dickinson pleaded with the Council to delay its decision to sell Camp Kilworth until the group could explore options to maintain public use of the land. Nearly 100 Federal Way citizens signed a petition with that same request, which Dickinson and Ehlis presented to the council at its board meeting last Thursday.

"This problem is far more complicated than 'Oh my God, we have to save these 25 acres," Representative Skip Priest said, "Let me tell you, no one has worked harder to save Camp Kilworth than the council has."

But for the present, the meeting succeeded in granting the community of Federal Way some additional time to develop a plan for keeping the property from development.

"Part of being a good Scout and part of being a good board member is listening to your constituents," Council President Joe Williams said at the community meeting, "I have no heartburn about recommending to the board that we give you more time."

"Our job as a board is to do the best for the program so that it can flourish," Williams said, "but that can't come at the expense of the people who annually contribute to Scouting."

From a follow-up article that ran when the city decided to buy the property in October:

Linda Kochmar could no longer hold back her tears.

Federal Way's Deputy Mayor, her voice cracking with emotion, shared with an audience gathered in council chambers that she intended to vote in the favor of purchasing Camp Kilworth.

After more than a month of private deliberation and number crunching over the fate of 25.2-acre Camp Kilworth, the Federal Way City Council voted unanimously last Tuesday to buy the undeveloped parcel located on Puget Sound.

Camp Kilworth, owned by the Tacoma-based Pacific Harbors Council of Boy Scouts since philanthropist William Kilworth deeded them the land in 1934, unofficially came for sale last fall when the Scouts' financial woes prompted them to put the property on the market.

The city petitioned the Scouts, who then entertained a $3.2 million cash offer from Mercer Island homebuilder John Norris, to extend the sale deadline so that it could put together its own proposal to buy the camp for public use.

Kochmar, a former Cub Scout den mother and 30-year resident of Federal Way, told the story of moving to the community with her sons back in the city's early years, when some of its citizens rode the streets on horseback. She said her family explored Federal Way's parks as one of their first activities when they arrived.

"Camp Kilworth is a piece of history that we had to save," Kochmar said before the council voted on the issue. "As our city grows, people will need open spaces."

The Deputy Mayor indicated that she favored the purchase since the opportunity first came before the Council.

"Once this property is gone," Kochmar said, "you can't get it back."

"For me, it's not even a choice," she said.

The groups of supporters and skeptics listened as Councilmembers broke a two-month long silence that had raised questions in the minds of some Federal Way residents as to how the city could afford the property.

Before the meeting, supporters who hoped the city would acquire the camp as a nature park speculated that the Council might buy part of the land, leaving a portion of the property free for development.

The Federal Way Chamber of Commerce, concerned that the city might pull capital funds and staff resources away from downtown revitalization, informed the Council during its deliberations that the organization did not support the purchase.

The answer the city provided served to satisfy both interests.

"I wanted to balance all of the needs of the city," said Mayor Dean McColgan, who called the waterfront property one-of-a-kind, "but I did not want to interfere with downtown."

McColgan admitted his initial skepticism at buying Camp Kilworth.

He said the proposal put forth by city staff convinced him that Federal Way could buy the property and make a sizable investment in downtown. Council plans to release the details next week of a multi-million-dollar capital fund to entice investment to the city center.

Management Services Director Iwen Wang outlined the city's deal with the Scouts that includes a purchase price of $3 million, paid over three years.

Federal Way will give the Scouts $1.2 million at closing, $1 million after one year, and the remaining $800,000 after the second. The city plans to pay the $1.2 million in cash and will pursue grant funding for the balance.

Wang said the city might not close the deal until December 2007. The delay gives the Scouts and the city the opportunity to clear the deed, which indicates that the Scouts must return the property to the Kilworth heirs. Provisions of the deal also indicate that the Scouts will continue to use the property for two weeklong summer camps and two weekend camps, in addition to 12 evening meetings, each year.