MUKILTEO — Paint is peeling from the walls, the black backdrop behind the stage is cracked and the backboards on the basketball hoops are a dingy off-white.
More than 50 people gathered recently in the old gymnasium at Rosehill Community Center to discuss the building’s fate. Next month, Mukilteo voters are scheduled to vote whether the former school should be renovated or replaced with a new community center.
Some at the meeting looked at the wear-and-tear of the gym and saw a decrepit building that would fail to compare to a new community center.
Others envisioned a building that could be as good as new, with lots of tender loving care.
“Why tear the building down? It’s a landmark,” said Robert Dickensheets, 80, of Mukilteo, who attended the forum. “But there are pros and cons for each side.
“Hopefully the (City Council) does what voters want,” he said.
The forum, held last week, was organized by the Mukilteo Historical Society and moderated by the League of Women Voters.
Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine, businessman Mike Conway and Curt Shriner, who leads the Mukilteo Lighthouse Players, were the panelists speaking on behalf of tearing down Rosehill and building a new community center.
At another table, City Councilman Tony Tinsley, Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival executive director Kathy Wisbeck and local activist Pat Kessler argued in favor of renovating Rosehill.
The two groups of panelists took turns answering written questions submitted by the audience.
Marine, who did most of the speaking for his table, said he doesn’t view the community center as historic. The real historic building, he said, was the original Rose Hill School, which was built on the site in 1893 but burned down in 1928, when the current building was built.
Marine said he doesn’t see the logic in spending millions of dollars to end up with the same building, when a few million dollars extra could buy a new building. As it stands, Rosehill Community Center cannot adequately hold events such as banquets, weddings and theater performances, he said.
“We can’t ask this aging facility to provide what it was never intended to provide,” Marine said.
The panelists in favor of renovating Rosehill said the building’s interior could be remodeled to better accommodate various events.
Studies have shown the building to be structurally sound, and a renovated Rosehill would be eligible for placement on the state’s historic register, the panelists said. Plus, a renovated Rosehill would have entirely new features, such as paint, lighting, windows and air conditioning.
Kessler, who wrote a reference book about Rosehill, sees preserving the community center as an important part of Mukilteo’s future.
“The historic aspects of communities and towns are what sets communities apart from like cities,” Kessler said.
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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