Gwen Berry
The project to build a birding shelter on Fire District property as a memorial to Jake Jakabosky is slowly moving along. It would have been sweet to see the building spring up on the spot during the summer following his death in June, but that’s not the reality of the way building projects go.
Architect Rick Carlson created a preliminary design for the bird blind, which was on display at Jake’s memorial service in July. (See the online version of this issue of the High Prairian to view a larger version of the preliminary design.) It will be an interesting small building with a roof line reminiscent of bird wings. The design has since gone to both the High Prairie Fire Commissioners and Klickitat County Planning Department for comments.
The Planning Department has let Rick Carlson know that they want the bird blind to be ADA accessible, and possibly fully ADA functional, since it is a public building on public property. They will require the unusual design to be fully engineered. They also need a site plan from the Fire District which shows the new building proposed by the Fire Commissioners along with future parking and the walkway to the bird blind.
The Fire Commissioners have been enthusiastic about the memorial bird blind idea from the first meeting it was proposed to them. They liked the building concept shown in the preliminary drawing and have given the go-ahead for the proposed site overlooking the pond on Bentz’s property. The commissioners are now developing a site use plan for the property.
It’s too early to estimate what the new building will cost, although one of the criteria for the design was that it should be fairly inexpensive to build. Exactly what that means is yet to be seen. Generous donations from friends and family toward building expenses have provided $1,685; and there have been promises from a few more. Offers of in-kind donations, such as lumber, have been received as well. All the donations have been deposited into a separate Jake Jakabosky Memorial Fund checking account with Gwen as the owner/signer and Bill Stallings as back-up. Further donations can be made payable to Gwen Berry or can be made through the GoFundMe account at https:// tinyurl.com/Memorial-to-Jake.