Northern State Hospital: Integration for a Better Future

Table of Contents: Introduction:.........................................................................................................................2 Site History:......................................................................................................................... 3 Integration:...........................................................................................................................7 Cleaning up the Past:........................................................................................................... 8 The Revival of a Ghost Town:........................................................................................... 12 Future Site Engagement:....................................................................................................17 Citations:............................................................................................................................ 18

Land Acknowledgement: We would like to acknowledge that the Northern State Hospital Site is located on the ancestral homelands of the Coast Salish Peoples who have lived in the Salish Sea Basin, throughout the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades watershed, from time immemorial. The Hospital’s property shares a border with the federally recognized Upper Skagit Indian Tribe that is composed of eleven predecessor bands, including the Nuwha’ha, Nookachamps, Bsigwigwilts, Bsxwexwehwa’1, Chobahahbish, Sabelxu, Saylayotsid, Shayayotsid, Kwabatsabsh, Sahkumehu, and the Skaywih (Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, n.d.). When conducting research, cleanup, and redevelopment actions on the property it is important to respect and include these groups in the decision making process and to respect their ancestral lands.

Introduction: The Northern State Hospital contaminated site hosts a variety of complexities spurring integrated collaboration between parties involved to create a prosperous future for the site.

It is common for contaminated sites under the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) to be cleaned of contaminants prior to redevelopment. However distinctive aspects of the site, like its historic and ecological characteristics, prevent this from happening. The site is also still in active use with tenants renting out buildings and recreational space being open to the public. With these issues in mind, the parties involved in the site created a plan to integrate contamination clean up and site redevelopment. The parties involved in the site management are a three party partnership made up by the Port of Skagit, the City of Sedro-Woolley, and the Skagit County. The partnership designed an integrated remediation and redevelopment plan to ensure that the history, ecology, and active use of the site are preserved while still efficiently utilizing resources.

Site History: Nestled amongst the lowland foothills just northeast of Sedro-Woolley is a site that has a long and complex history. In 1909, the construction of the Northern State Hospital began and three short years later it was officially open for use, but not open to the public (TCLF, 2009). The Hospital’s campus was designed by the Olmsted brothers and their family firm, the Olmsted Firm. They were greatly inspired by their father’s previous work on Central Park in New York and implemented the park’s signature sprawling landscape into the campus’s 1,200 acres (TCLF, 2009). The brothers also implemented a Spanish Colonial Revival style not often seen in the Pacific Northwest, making the campus stand out amongst its heavily wooded surroundings. The immense architectural feat was undertaken largely because of the Hospital’s main purpose, to provide a self sufficient occupational therapy center for incarcerated individuals (TCLF, 2009). The Hospital achieved this through housing its own power house, fueling station, laundry building, barns, croplands, dairy plant, patient and staff housing, and many other amenities totaling over 80 buildings (TCLF, 2009).

The construction of the hospital was commissioned due to overcrowding in neighboring hospitals. With the hospital’s opening in 1912 a great burden was lifted from other hospitals in Washington State as well as creating a new economic engine for the Sedro-Woolley community (TCLF, 2009). The hospital’s gentle idealist landscape did not reflect what went on behind its artfully designed walls. The patients housed at Northern State Hospital also known as the Northern State Asylum were, at the time, referred to as

“criminally insane” and committed against their will. Their conditions ranged widely from “violently mentally ill” to “mildly disturbed”, individuals with more conventional illnesses such as epilepsy and addiction were also treated here (Judd, 2017).

Upper Right: Male Ward 10 and 11, Upper Left: Hospital staff in the “Insulin Room”, Lower Right: Group photo of nursing staff. Lower Right: Administration Building (UW Special Collections, n.d.)

The treatments practiced on the patients were extremely unethical, some being fitting of the time and others being entirely experimental. Shock therapy was regularly administered to women experiencing menstruation induced mood swings (Judd, 2017).

Transitional lobotomies became common in the hospital during the 1940’s and were considered a groundbreaking cure for mental illness and societal nonconformity (Judd, 2017). The hospital's patient population was largely made up of immigrants, many of whom were forcefully sterilized “for the betterment of society” (Judd, 2017). Unique to the hospital was the practice of experimental chemical sedation. Insulin Coma Therapy was one of these treatments, patients were injected with repeated doses of insulin to induce a coma-like state, the comas could be made to last days to weeks (Judd,

2017;Wright-Mendoza, 2018). This treatment was reserved for patients suffering from Schizophrenia, the treatment oftentimes persisted until the individual had been induced 30-50 times (Wright-Mendoza, 2018). The Hospital also hosted its own cemetery where over 1,000 bodies rest today, many of the deceased were patients at the hospital and were unclaimed by their family (Judd, 2017).

The hospital closed in 1973 after 61 years of operation due to budget cuts and deinstitutionalization (TCLF, 2009). The Deinstitutionalization movement, which became prevalent in the 1970s, was spurred by changing public views towards the treatment of individuals suffering from mental illness (Torrey, 2015). The goals of the movement included reducing care costs, protecting patient rights, and shifting care from institutions to community wellness centers (Torrey, 2015). The Northern State Hospital’s unethical treatment of patients made it a prime subject for deinstitutionalization. After its closure a skeleton crew was kept employed at the campus to keep the buildings from falling into complete dilapidation. In 2010 the Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) classified the campus as a National Historic District for the site’s importance to the State's medical history and the unique architecture still present on the campus (WTHP, 2017). The historic title incentivises the property owners to protect the historic and cultural integrity of the campus’s 56 remaining buildings.

Charlie Cruse, final employee of Northern State Hospital (Everett Herald, 1976)

Northern State Hospital’s story does not end with its closure in 1973, but instead continues onto the present day. In 1974 the ownership of the recently closed campus was transferred to the State Department of General Administration, which is now known as the Department of Enterprise Services (DOE, n.d.). Along with these ownership changes a large portion of the campus was parcled off and given to the Department of Natural Resources for recreational uses (DOE, n.d.). After this the campus would sit relatively unchanged for decades until 2014 when it was officially classified as a contaminated site and the MTCA process began (see section: Cleaning up the Past for more information).

With the MTCA regulation now active, steps to understand the contaminants present on the property began. Site characterization studies and site assessments were conducted by independent parties in 2014. Preliminary remedial investigations and studies were conducted in 2015, with a planning assessment completed in 2017 (DOE, n.d.). Despite the site being a contaminated one, the campus became active again after the Port of Skagit took ownership and liability of the site in 2018 and they began renting buildings out. The active use of the campus along with its historic legacy, ecological features, and future development plans creates an unusual site not often seen under MTCA.

Northern State Hospital Timeline created by Sophia Fox

Integration: As we interviewed from the different parties we realized how special and different this site is. From remediation to redevelopment integration is a key element to make this site a success story and it reflects just how complex this one is. From the historical integrity and cultural importance to the environmental priorities, these concerns create a complex web of barriers. This approach has turned the dream of this site's potential into a reality. The work that all parties have done has set a precedent for how to handle the clean-up of MTCA sites along with redevelopment. Future brownfield sites can all implement these new ways of management and planning. Sites that often were referred to as “unwanted” lands could very well be future hubs for community opportunities.

Cleaning Up the Past: Overview The long history of the Northern State Hospital leaves behind another lasting dark legacy in the form of toxic contamination. From pesticides to laundry chemicals, and even in the building materials themselves, the hospital’s day-to-day activities involved many substances we now know to have harmful impacts on both human health and the environment. The contaminants left behind by the Northern State Hospital’s years spent in operation can largely be grouped into three categories: toxic metals like lead and arsenic, volatile organic compounds which were used in cleaning solutions, and contamination from petroleum-based products which come from underground storage tanks. Left ignored, these chemicals have the potential to cause a wide range of dangerous health issues.

(DOE, 2019). For example, high amounts of lead were used in building materials, and can cause neurological damage (EPA, 2023). The chemicals left behind by cleaning solutions and petroleum can cause throat and organ damage, in addition to being carcinogenic (EPA, 2022). In order for the former Northern State Hospital to be available for reuse and redevelopment, these health-harming substances have to be cleaned up to safe levels.

Due to the immense size of the property, and the different types of contamination, it was broken down into 8 distinct problem areas called Areas of Concern (AOC). Some of these AOCs are contained to only one location, while others represent a single site-wide concern, like the presence of toxic substances in groundwater. According to Carolyn Wise of Maul Foster Alongi, a consulting firm hired to handle cleanup work, breaking down the site into ‘bite-sized’ chunks has a few crucial benefits (Jackson & Wise, 2023). This approach makes the cleanup work for such a huge location more manageable. Additionally, it allows AOCs with relatively cheap and easy solutions to be tackled early, which creates space for redevelopment and reuse of the site earlier rather than later. It also means that funding for cleanup can be obtained and applied piece by piece, rather than all at once.

The Role of MTCA In Washington State the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) is the law which regulates environmental cleanup throughout the state. The Washington Department of Ecology, also referred to as Ecology, is the government entity which organizes and helps fund cleanup of MTCA sites. Not every site goes through the formal MTCA process, but those that do go through a defined series of steps to ensure that, by the end, contamination is cleaned up according to any applicable state or federal standards. During the MTCA process, the Department of

Ecology organizes public outreach to help inform the community of the cleanup site.

They are also required to have public commenting periods throughout the process where anyone can submit their questions or comments to Ecology and receive One of the most important parts of MTCA is identifying the Potentially Liable Party (PLP), in this case the Port of Skagit, who takes the financial responsibility for making sure the site is cleaned up to the appropriate standards. However, there are many programs through Ecology or through federal grants to help cover the costs of cleanup in certain contexts, such as when a site is considered a brownfield (refer to the Revival section for more information about brownfields).

The former Northern State Hospital property is one of these brownfields. Many public and private entities can be hesitant to acquire and redevelop brownfields because they could end up taking the financial burden of cleaning up toxic contamination as well.

Even though it was known both by the community and by Ecology that the former Northern State Hospital likely contained some level of toxic contamination, the exact nature and extent of the contamination was largely unknown. However, in 2014, the desire to cleanup and reuse the site was met with grant money from the Department of Ecology. (DOE, 2014). The Port of Skagit, spearheading an effort between several parties, acquired the Northern State Hospital property, assumed PLP status, and began the MTCA cleanup process in coordination with Ecology.

In order to handle the investigations and implement remediation solutions, the Port of Skagit has hired the consultant firm Maul Foster Alongi. Remediation refers to the act of cleaning up environmental contamination. According to Ian Fawley, an outreach planner with Ecology, the difficult and expensive nature of identifying and remediating toxic substances, and also because of the meticulousness of the MTCA process, cleanup of large sites like the Northern State Hospital can take a long time (Jackson & Fawley, 2023). This could be a big obstacle to the redevelopment of the property, and greatly delay any potential economic return to the community. For example, even though this process started moving along in 2014, right now the cleanup phase at the Northern State Hospital site is technically in the middle of reviewing the remedial investigation (DOE,

2021). Thankfully, MTCA has a built-in mechanism to implement or partially implement solutions which are urgent or relatively easy: interim actions. This allows the PLP and Ecology to agree on partial remedial work done outside the formal process. Although the MTCA process hasn’t formally reached the cleanup implementation phase, the Port of Skagit and Ecology have an agreement where MFA has done interim remediation work on two AOCs: AOC 1 and AOC 4 (DOE, 2021).

AOC 1 AOC 1 refers to an old laundry building. The chemical contamination in the soil at that location is caused by the cleaning materials used for dry cleaning operations years prior. These are called chlorinated volatile organic compounds, or cVOCs. When these types of chemicals are in soil, they easily evaporate into the air, which makes being in a building on top of cVOC contamination unsafe. Typically, these toxic substances can be relatively easily cleaned up through excavating and disposing the affected soil. However, this doesn’t meet the redevelopment and reuse goals of the SWIFT Center, as it would require that the building be torn down. Right now, this is being addressed by sealing the harmful vapors under a vapor barrier (DOE, 2019). However, according to Carolyn Wise of MFA, in order to remove the harmful vapors there are plans to install a subsurface depressurization system. This works using fans to create a pressure gradient underneath the vapor barrier, which draws the soil vapor and any toxics in it safely out of the building through piping (Jackson & Wise, 2023). Over time, the contamination levels in the soil will return to acceptable levels. Throughout the process, careful monitoring will ensure that everything is proceeding as expected.

AOC 4 AOC 4 is actually two locations: one on a patch of land near an old building, and another which is part of an old athletic field. They share a characteristic of having elevated levels of arsenic in the soil. While there likely isn’t a single explanation for its presence, arsenic contamination can be linked to pesticide use in the orchards that the Northern State Hospital staff and patients once tended on the property. Compared to other AOC’s, cleaning up the contaminated soil was relatively easy as it was on patches of soil with no structure to contend with. A simple excavation and safe disposal of the affected soil is all that was necessary to remediate AOC 4 (DOE, 2019).

The Revival of a Ghost Town:

The Northern State Hospital has a long

history that has gained an interesting reputation over the years. The site is rumored to be haunted by the patients who died at the hospital and has become a popular haunted attraction. Ghost enthusiasts have traveled across the country to witness the site's paranormal activity. As MTCA and redevelopment take hold of the property it feels as if it has been awakened and taken a new, less haunting, form. A three-party partnership consisting of the Port of Skagit, Skagit County, and the City of Sedro-Woolley is exploring the opportunity of redeveloping this site. The partnership has agreed that the site could contribute more to the overall economic well-being of the community through a concerted, locally driven effort to plan, regulate, and attract private investment within a

unified planned multi-use campus. The partnership has ensured that development will be consistent with local goals, and will rename the site the Sedro-Woolley Innovation For Tomorrow (SWIFT) Center.

The Port has taken both the ownership of the property and the liability for clean-up. They have a special interest in the potential of the site as a tool for economic development for the county and because, according to Heather Rogerson the Port’s planning and development director, they would like to expand their projects farther east to reach more people (Fox & Rogerson, 2023). Another reason the Port has undertaken this project is because they do not need to see immediate financial returns on their investment compared to the other partners. The dream of this site is for it to become a multi-use, public campus. In order to truly show a sense of progress the mayor of Sedro-Woolley decided to rename the site. The partners agreed on the name SWIFT Center which has dual meanings. SWIFT stands for Sedro-Woolley Innovation for Tomorrow but it also refers to Vaux’s swift. Vaux’s swift (as seen in the photo to the right ) is a local native bird that originally habited old growth tree stumps but now inhabits the smokestacks of the property. The main goals that the Port of Skagit has for redevelopment include (Port of Skagit, 2015): A. Encourage the private sector to create and sustain jobs at the Center that will benefit all of Skagit County and its citizens and that are compatible with all of the other goals B. Continue and promote public access and recreational use of the Center C. Protect the environmentally sensitive areas of the Center, in particular Hansen Creek

D. Acknowledge and protect the historic significance of the Center to the local community, the wider region, and the State of Washington E. Acknowledge and respect the neighboring Upper Skagit Indian Tribal Nation’s interests in the Center.

SWIFT Center Implications This MTCA site is different from others for many reasons, one being the fact that it is a brownfield site. Brownfields are typically referred to as “unwanted” lands and are abandoned or underutilized due to pollution from industrial use (EPA, n.d.). This often complicates the redevelopment, reuse, and revitalization of a property (EPA, n.d.).

With these types of clean-up sites it can be hard to find someone willing to redevelop the land and become the liable party for the clean-up. This is where the Port of Skagit comes in and this is why their role is so important in the three-party-partnership between them, the City of Sedro-Woolley, and Skagit County. According to Heather Rogerson, the Port’s planning and development director, says they have taken the role as liable party over the other partners since they have the resources for finding grants to do the clean-up and are more familiar with the MTCA processes.

Additionally, while MTCA does not include redevelopment, this site calls for an integrated approach to the clean-up process and redevelopment. The remediation and the renovation stage, which are typically done separately, must be integrated together. There are a couple of reasons why this must happen.

Cultural & Historic Integrity Because the property and its buildings are listed under the Historic District Registry both the MCTA process and redevelopment must take extreme care to protect the historical integrity of the architecture and building design. Within the Final Agreement Order between the Port and Ecology, both parties are required to protect the historic integrity of the original buildings.

Aside from the historic integrity there is also cultural importance around the site and the additional recreation area that is a part of the original 1,200 acres.

The local community of Sedro-Woolley sees the Northern State recreation area as a piece of pride. When you drive to the parking lot the first thing you will see is a community plaza in memorial of local veterans. The Park includes the old abandoned barns from the hospital, disc golf courses, and many trails through the park and the campus property. Locals spend their free time here to relax and get back in touch with the landscapes around them. This area poses some complexities with MTCA and the redevelopment. This is because park accessibility depends on the SWIFT center property roads. Due to the importance of the recreational aspect of this property, the redevelopment must consider and protect its integrity.

Wildlife & Ecosystems The surrounding wilderness poses another complexity to this site. Within the Final Agreement Order between the Port and Ecology it states that should either parties find any activities done at the site creating any danger to human health or the environment on or around the site, then the Port must stop said activities. This matters because there are a couple areas of concern on the property, which includes Vaux’s Swift and salmon habitats. Hansen creek is an important Salmon habitat that runs through the entire property, the city, and the Upper Skagit reservation. If the creek were to get contaminated it would affect both human health and the wildlife. The parties responsibilities to weigh in tribal concern

also add to this need to protect salmon habitat as they are culturally important. Salish Sea tribes of the Pacific Northwest define themselves as Salmon People (Smithsonian Institute, n.d.). Salmon are an important gift of food from their Creator, and they honor the salmon's sacrifice in special ceremonies (Smithsonian Institute, n.d.).The Upper Skagit tribe relies on Salmon for their subsistence and economy.

The Vaux’s Swift, a local bird species, also inhabits the property. These birds normally nest in large hollows in old growth trees. As the swift’s natural habitat gradually disappears they have changed their nesting patterns and now take to settling in the abandoned smokestacks on the site (Portland Audubon, 2019). The birds tend to nest in large colonies ranging from several to tens of thousands of birds in one colony (Portland Audubon, 2019). Removing the Swifts from their nesting place will most likely kill the nestlings. With the species population already in a decline and nearing an endangered status it is important to handle them with care (Portland Audubon, 2019). Working around their nesting areas for redevelopment may pose a great barrier, but with the SWIFT Center paying homage to them in its name it is expected that they will take care to protect the birds.

Future of the Site: The Northern State Hospital, now known as the SWIFT Center has gone through many changes over its 114 years of existence. From hospital, to park, to contaminated site, to renter space it is as if the property has seen it all. However, as the future draws near the Center will continue to change with more MTCA actions and redevelopment beginning. The first of the upcoming MTCA actions will be a public meeting held on July

17th, 2023. The meeting will give the Sedro-Woolley community an opportunity to share concerns, hopes, and questions about the site’s future. On a more ambiguous time scale the three part partnership plans for more remedial investigations of the site along with remedial actions and renovations. The partnership also plans to make amendments to the final agreed order for the contamination cleanup of AOC 1.

All of these future actions bring the site closer to the end of its journey of contamination and to its new beginning as a redeveloped economic engine for the community. When this process will be complete is unknown, MTCA sites tend to take a long time to be considered clean and get delisted from the register, with the delisting process alone taking multiple five year periods. However, with the site's unique approach to integrating remediation and redevelopment, a new and improved campus might come sooner than expected. Integration has brought this deeply rooted landmark back to the forefront of society, by setting an example for future brownfields. This example is set through integrating redevelopment and remediation, not often accomplished in MTCA sites. As we look to the future this site sets up more innovative approaches to the reuse of contaminated sites across Washington State.

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