SAMI Move Starts Today

Contacts:         

Michael Thompson, Public Information Officer, (253) 305-1092; michaelt@tacomaparks.com

 

SAMI portables in Point Defiance will relocate to former Camp 6 Site starting Monday

Public advised to plan for traffic disruptions on Five Mile Drive – move anticipated to take several days

 

Tacoma Public Schools will begin moving the portable classrooms used by the Science and Math Institute (SAMI) from the Triangle area of Point Defiance Park to the former Camp 6 Site beginning Monday, June 29.

 

The move will take several days and the public is advised to expect traffic disruptions at the park’s Mildred Street entrance and along Five Mile Drive between the entrance and the former logging museum site.

 

Waterfront Phase 1 construction is scheduled to begin the week after Independence Day as the  City of Tacoma launches work to create a stormwater treatment facility. The new stormwater facility is designed to protect the health of Puget Sound by filtering pollutants from the runoff of the neighboring 754-acre watershed which currently flow directly into the sound. Contaminated soils will be excavated from the area in conjunction with the construction.

The urgency of these Waterfront Phase 1 projects has increased the need to relocate SAMI portable classrooms from the Triangle, located to the right of the Pearl Street entrance. Construction of the treatment facility will reduce parking in this and the relocation of the  will provide temporary boat trailer parking until a larger, improved parking area opens in 2017. 

 

To make way for the construction, Metro Parks and Tacoma Public Schools decided to temporarily move the portables to the former Camp 6 Logging Museum site.

 

After a shared-use environmental learning center opens at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in the 2016-2017 school year, phase-out of the portables from the former Camp 6 can begin.

Metro Parks has a longstanding commitment to use Point Defiance Park for educational opportunities. The SAMI experience in the park has been a success that shows with a 98 percent graduation rate. The park and school districts will continue to explore opportunities to enhance additional environmental learning spaces throughout the park during the detail planning phase. 

 

Waterfront Phase 1, the environmental learning center at the zoo and planning for the former Camp 6 are all part of Destination Point Defiance, a long-term planning initiative to enhance the experience and honor the character of Point Defiance Park. More information is available at www.DestinationPointDefiance.org.

 

# # #