After a tremendous amount of advocacy from the community and the advisory council, Camp Long was finally granted $1 million for the remodeling of its historic lodge.

The Camp Long Advisory Council, which is made up of approximately 14 community members who have an interest in Camp Long, has been admittedly seeking this money since 1999.

“This was a process of community advocacy, an example of something that takes learning and understanding political systems, civic engagement, parks bureaucracy and a lot of endurance and patience,” according to Camp Long coordinator Shelia Brown’s talking points.

This included raising awareness of Camp Long’s needs to the Seattle City Council, neighborhood district council’s, and planning and parks departments. After not qualifying for other community and park levy’s, Camp Long was finally added to the ballot for funding as part of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy, which was passed by voters last fall.

The plans for renovation, and the opportunity for public comment were discussed at a public meeting Wednesday, Aug. 18 at the Camp Long Lodge.

Eager to finally see the remodel, the public contributed a variety of insights and suggestions for the renovations.

The overall goal is “to increase longevity and energy efficiency of the building,” said the architect Brad Miller, of Miller Hayashi Architects and who is in charge of the remodel design.

Improvements for energy efficiency include installing motion- sensor lighting and updating the steam radiation heating system. Grace Bennett, from the Camp Long Advisory Council ,suggested using recycled materials, such as cabinetry from an old school, so as to preserve the “use this, find this philosophy” that the building was built on.

The basement, specifically the “wonder lab and multi-purpose room,” the kitchen and improving disability access is where the majority of the renovations will focus on.

The hope is to make a well-developed space for young people to learn skills and build a foundation for how to protect the environment, said organizers.

Increasing lighting to these areas, building casework, improving flooring and removal of the large column in the middle of the lab are the major changes already in the design remodel.

There was lot of public concern for making a flexible learning environment with movable furniture and various storage options. There were also various comments of hopes for a door to connect directly outside.

Kelly Goold, project coordinator, can be contacted at kellygoold@seattle.gov for additional comments or suggestions for the design during the next two weeks. Renovations are scheduled to begin in January of 2010 and run until June of that year.