Slip Point lease lets plans proceed

Published 1:30 am Friday, July 31, 2026

After years of waiting, the volunteers working to preserve Slip Point’s historic structures finally have the news they’d been hoping for: a lease that gives them legal footing on the property and lets hands-on preservation work begin.

The lease doesn’t go directly to the Slip Point Lighthouse Keepers — it’s held by the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, which has been working with the county Department of Parks, Fair and Facilities on the project — but it gives the nonprofit the standing it has lacked to apply for preservation grants and to coordinate with the county on stabilizing the deteriorating property.

“It’s kind of a happy dance time,” said Eve Datisman, a Slip Point Lighthouse Keepers board member.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which owns the roughly 2.6-acre site, has granted the lease — a renewal of one that had lapsed during the pandemic — covering the 1905 keeper’s house and its outbuildings: an equipment building, shop, garage and paint shed.

For now, the work is limited to the outbuildings; the keeper’s house itself remains off-limits until a hazardous-materials cleanup is finished.

With permission from the Sheriff’s Office and the Clallam County Department of Parks, Fair and Facilities, volunteers have begun renovating one of the property’s old storage sheds and reinstalling windows — down to the small original panes salvaged from the first build — in keeping with national historic-preservation guidelines.

Sheriff Brian King wants to base a detachment at the site to help patrol the West End.

So, volunteers have cleared out a former office and started a rodent-abatement program there, while the county adds barriers to keep vehicles off the lawn.

The largest obstacle remains environmental. In early June, a Coast Guard team tested the site for asbestos, lead and heavy metals and sampled soil around former underground storage tanks; results, due within a few months, will guide a remediation plan.

The testing supersedes an assessment done more than a decade ago.

Under federal rules, the Coast Guard must perform — and pay for — the cleanup, which includes stripping soil from around the keeper’s house.

The agency listed the cost at $824,000 in its 2026 budget.

The lease is also the first step toward the long-promised transfer of Slip Point to the county for a public park — a conveyance the county has awaited since then-U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks sponsored enabling legislation in 2001.

That transfer can’t happen until the cleanup is complete.

How to help:

To volunteer at Slip Point, must apply through Clallam County at www.clallamcountywa.gov/285/Volunteer-Opportunities/.

Donations can be mailed to Slip Point Lighthouse Keepers, P.O. Box 43, Clallam Bay, WA 98326.

To learn more, go to https://slippointlighthouse.org/.

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladaillynews.com