Cama Beach eyesore

An aluminum ramp that provides wheelchair access to a cabin at Cama Beach State Park is the disdain of one island resident. The ramp came from Florida. Its sterile aluminum mass stands starkly out of place and it was expensive. Frank Harshfield isn’t happy.

The ramp in question provides wheelchair access to one of the restored cabins at Cama Beach State Park. Harshfield’s problem isn’t with a wheelchair accessible cabin, which he endorses. Harshfield’s problem is aesthetics.

The park spent all this time restoring the cabins to 1930s era, Harshfield noted, and then they put “this thing” up.

He pointed to another ramp as an example of what he’d like to see: leading to a restored fire truck garage, a simple wooden ramp flows seamlessly into the low porch.

“I actually volunteered,” Harshfield said, “if the park would send the sucker back, to build a new one like that.”

But, of course, it’s more complicated than that.

Jeff Wheeler, park manager for Cama Beach, said the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires one of every 25 units be wheelchair accessible.

“It was pointed out to us that we didn’t have any ADA approved units,” Wheeler said, “and we need to.”

Wheeler feels the ramp is out of place too, but he can’t complain too much. The park didn’t pay for it.

“Olympia paid for it, and this is what they gave us,” Wheeler said. “It didn’t come out of the park’s budget.”

Wheeler added that the park is working to get the ramp skirted with a wood surround and painted to match the cabins.

“We’ll do something to make it more visually appealing,” he said.

Richard Brown, the state architect in charge of the project, agrees the ramp is ugly. He said any attempt to mask it is futile.

“It’s like putting lipstick on a pig,” Brown said. “In the end, it’s still a pig.”

But, he explained, his choice makes sense in terms of balancing service goals, which are threefold:

• “We’re providing physical access to guests with physical disabilities;

• “We’re seeking to minimize the impact in a historic structure;

• “We’re keeping the option open to use the cabins as part of a movie set, or for a photo opportunity.”

In an effort to meet all three goals, Brown explains, the ramp is modular and temporary. It provides access without permanently attaching to the historic structure, and it can be removed if necessary.

The long-term solution, Brown said, is to replace the temporary ramp with permanent access through the back of a cabin. He hopes to accomplish this within a year and a half.

Regarding obstructions prohibiting rear access to the cabin, Brown said the permanent ramp might not be built at that specific cabin.

“I chose that cabin because it was one of the least obtrusive locations for a temporary ramp,” Brown said. “The permanent ramp won’t necessarily access that cabin.”

Was it a waste of money to purchase the ramp when it’s going to be replaced?

Brown doesn’t think so. In the end, he said, the state has a modular, temporary wheelchair ramp in its arsenal.

“Each component can be moved by one person,” Brown said.

This relative portability means the ramp can be used at multiple events in the future.

The structure is providing a temporary solution while the location of a permanent ramp is decided, and it can be re-used later.

Because of the ratio required by ADA, the park will need to provide expanded access to one more of its 34 units. For the second unit, they’re looking at a waterfront cabin.

“The entrance to those units are only about six inches off the ground,” Wheeler explained, “ so we can build something much less obtrusive, hopefully out of wood.”

Staff Reporter Jeremiah O’Hagan: 629-8066 ext. 125 or ohagan@scnews.com.