YTN Building Allowed to Stay Open — for Now

Editor:

I'm writing to update you on last night's School Board meeting regarding the structural assessment of our facility.

Background:  

We have leased our facility from the Mercer Island School District for the last 28 years. Last year, the Mercer Island School District's 21st Century Planning Committee developed a vision for new school facilities. As part of the planning process, the committee recommended a structural assessment of all District buildings. An independent study was conducted and the results were presented to the School Board on November 29th. The study revealed concerns about our back rooms including Studio Stage, Craft Room and Blue Room. Though the rooms are safe for everyday use, there were significant questions about how well these rooms can withstand a significant earthquake. The School Board requested further testing and analysis, and the results were presented to the Board and community at the School Board meeting last night.  

Structural Assessment Results:  

We are happy to report that further analysis of our facility revealed positive results. Gary Plano, MISD Superintendent, said that after doing further seismic studies on the North Mercer Campus building, it has been concluded that the North Mercer Campus building is safe to use for now. Originally, there was great concern about the seismic performance of the theatre's back classrooms (Blue Room, Craft Room and Studio Stage) and a general concern the rooms might collapse in the event of a major catastrophic earthquake. However, analysis revealed a wood frame, which is more flexible during an earthquake. This revelation greatly reduced the fears of collapse and threat to life safety.  

What does this all mean?

Our facility is old and aging and wasn't built to current strict building standards. 

Gary Plano said that he will present his recommendations to the school board at the first of the new year, as how to proceed with the North Mercer Campus building. He said that he would like to take "guarded and prudent action" and that no further money should be put into the North Mercer campus buildings. He thinks that the building should be taken off line as soon as possible. He will work with the "current tenants" (YTN) and meet with us in the future regarding this issue. He would like to see YTN transition off campus in 3 to 4 years. 

We are grateful that we will not be forced to leave our facility immediately and we will focus our energies on developing a vision for a new home and developing the strategic plan to turn this dream into a reality.  

We're all in this together. We invite you to join us in future conversations about our new home and the future of our programing.  

Still have questions? Feel free to either call or email me. I'd be happy to hear your thoughts and concerns.  

Sincerely, 

Manny Cawaling

Executive Director

Youth Theatre Northwest