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Plans to revamp and re-open the Poulsbo Marine Science Center an educational facility devoted to all things living in the water, are moving along. The $250,000 the legislature approved as part of the state’s 2006 budget has been transferred to the city of Poulsbo, and the Poulsbo Marine Science Foundation, the nonprofit group formed to oversee the center, has almost another $40,000 in raised funds ready to spend.
“I’m really excited about it,” said Bill Austin, who sits on the foundation’s board and was part of the group that originally organized to get the center re-opened. “We’re close.”
Some of those funds will go toward remodeling the center’s existing building, which should begin in shortly, once the foundation and the city finish wrangling out all the details regarding final items of responsibility.
“Then we get a key and we can have at it,” said Austin.
Austin, who is in charge of overseeing the center’s remodel, has met recently with Scott Horner of BIOS, LLC, a Bainbridge Island firm that designs and builds world-class aquariums, including the Seattle Aquarium and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, to discuss plans for the building. Meanwhile, Rear Admiral (ret.) Bruce Harlow, who serves as the foundation’s president, is making plans for the educational programming that will be offered at the center when it re-opens.
Although Austin was reluctant to commit to a re-open date, he said that they were hoping for a grand re-opening in spring 2007.
“Once we get the keys I think we can do it in three months — hopefully,” he said. |
