The purpose of the workshop in Chimacum is threefold: To enhance connectivity in Chimacum by providing the town with design alternatives can help create more walkable and livable community; To cultivate a stock of affordable farm-worker housing and create meaningful policy that ensures affordability for the agrarian population; Lastly, and most importantly, to maintain and celebrate Chimacum’s cultural vitality and reclaim its sense of self.
Over the course of the two-and-a-half-day workshop, participants engaged in sessions on walkability, creative placemaking, and housing development. Key outcomes included stakeholder support for re-developing route 19 to enhance biking and walking. Using a visual preference survey, participants also provided feedback on what a new housing stock may look like in Chimacum, and agreed that the utility of a proposed 15-acre lot set for housing redevelopment required further evaluation. Lastly, participants voiced their ideas to support arts in Chimacum, and the best way to celebrate the Chimacum Grange, a beloved community center that is ready to celebrate its 100th birthday.
The next steps for the community include a series temporary demonstration projects and a community celebration set for Interdependence Day, a day dedicated to support arts, and active transportation. The Interdependence Day event included a community celebration of resident elder George Huntingford. Huntingford, patriarch of the Huntingford dairy family turned 100 years old this summer. The celebration of this milestone birthday of a lifelong Chimacum resident and farmer by “new” farmers and business owners in the community at Inter-Dependence Day helped build on the foundation developed through the CIRD process, creating a shared sense of community and heritage moving forward. A slideshow showcasing George’s life and the evolution of Chimacum agriculture was shown.
A second important centennial occurs next year - the 100th year of the Chimacum Grange. The Grange is very rooted in the agricultural history of the area, and today it finds itself actively looking for ways it can become more relevant to the newer farmers. This centennial will be celebrated in late spring 2018 and will include the implementation of the Chimacum Centennial Trail, a pop-up walking trail connecting and circling Chimacum, which is now only accessible via state highway and a major county thoroughfare.
