Stage Storage – Everything You Need to Know!

The GICCA Board has been exploring the notion of completing the Stage project by providing storage necessary to hold events and manage the Stage property.  Our goal has been to make the Stage as easy to use as we are making the Hall – you make a reservation, you get a code, you can access tables and chairs and barbecues.  In addition, GICCA uses a lot of equipment to manage the landscape and we mount several events every year at the Stage, including the 4^th of July hotdog picnic and the End of Summer Celebration that culminates the Guemes Island Summer Music On Stage (GISMOS) series each year.  We want the Stage and Pavilion to be welcoming, useful, and easy.

What are We Proposing?

We established several constraints at the beginning of this project: 

• Speed – limit permitting obligations, limit time to construct

• Size – limiting permitting obligations requires a 200 SF footprint or less

• Cost – GICCA has been holding $10,000 in COVID-era extra funding aside for this project since 2023

• Aesthetics – our Stage is gorgeous, and anything that we do needs to avoid detracting from the beauty of the Stage

We worked with Guemes island architect Dustin Stephens to develop a plan, including site selection and design.  Here is what Dustin developed.

Site Selection:

• Behind and east of the Stage was historically proposed as the location for a storage building that would artfully complement and reflect the Pavilion and Stage.  After a Critical Area Assessment was conducted, this area was found to border a wetland – this constraint is reflected in the Critical Area Assessment boundaries for a buffer zone – and so this area is effectively off limits.

• Between the Pavilion and the Stage, to the right as you are facing the Stage (parallel to Guemes Island Road) is the area where we have been putting up tents for ice cream, holding beer and wine sales, and setting up for the History Society to sell cookbooks. This area is a natural “activation area” for the Stage, and would enhance engagement with the Pavilion and Stage if the design allows for more than just storage.

• To the left of the Pavilion, the current basketball court could provide a pad for either a stick-built or container shed, but its orientation to the Pavilion and Stage is where many audience members like to sit – building there would reduce seating and not provide the best “activation” area for the Pavilion and Stage.

• Limiting the distance that chairs, tables, and barbeques need to be moved will make the storage space more useful.

Design:

• If the storage unit ‘disappears’ into the landscape, it does not need to reflect the exact timber-frame design aesthetics as the Stage and Pavilion.

• A container meets many of the identified constraints, and provides pest-proof and weather-proof storage, but it needs to be clad in a way that helps it to ‘disappear’ into the landscape.

• A deck at the front of the shed and doors that open on the long end of the shed allow the storage unit to be actively engaged with events – the ice cream freezer for the Ferry Trail, beer and wine sales for GICCA events, popcorn for movies – all could be moved out from the shed and become actively engaged with events.

• The unit would have power so that we can prevent mildew and also power a freezer, when needed, to support ice cream sales at events.

What Will It Cost?

GICCA has costed both a container version of the design and a ‘stick-built’ version of the same design.  We have costed both a version without any donations of material or labor, and a version with donations.  Here is what we came up with:

	No Donations	With Donations
Stick-Built	Container	Stick-Built	Container
Total with Sales Tax	$13, 084.50	$10,872.40	$8,932.00	$8,037.15

What is the History?

• When the Stage was completed, no supporting storage facility was built.

• GICCA has held numerous events each year, moving tables, chairs, barbeques, and tents from the Hall to the Stage and back

• Community members have reserved the Stage and Pavilion for private events, requiring GICCA volunteers to help them move tables, chairs, barbeques, and tents from the Hall to the Stage and back.

• GICCA landscaping volunteers meet weekly at the Stage to maintain the landscaping, having to bring tools, hoses, wheelbarrows, etc. from home.

• The Ferry Trail organization has moved a freezer to the site every weekend through the Summer Music Series to be able to sell ice cream to raise funds.

Pros and Cons – Container Vs. Stick-Built

Container Vs. Stick-Built Pros and Cons
Assumes stick-built is same design as cladded container design
Feature/Issue	Container	Stick-Built	NOTES
Cost	$8,000	$8,900
Size	160 SF	200	For container, can add external closet for tools to increase usable area, using donated material
Aesthetics	Cladded - same as stick built
Roof Strength	Stronger	Flat-roof weaker	Could pitch stick-built roof for a higher cost
Speed of Construction	Faster	Slower
Community Involvement	Lower	Higher	Community can join in container cladding project
Volunteer Requirements	Lower	Higher	Volunteer labor is not available for many other projects
Future Flexibility	Can sell if not best long-term solution, offsetting costs	Cost to re-design and rebuild
Gull-wing Door Feature	Feasible	Not feasible
Pest Vulnerability	Pest-proof	Vulnerable to Pests
Impact on Tree Roots	4 points of contact	8 points of contact

 How Did We Get Here?

The GICCA Board started discussing this topic in 2023, and we convened a Board Committee to make recommendations.  Before investing any time or effort, we contacted the County to determine whether such a project was feasible.  The Board held a Membership vote in 2024, which reflected a majority in favor of the project, but not the 2/3 majority needed to invest in both the storage shed and furnishings.  In a following advisory vote, more than 60% of the members present approved moving forward with a storage shed.  The Board Committee then met with members of the community on several occasions to get input, and we also received some comments via email.  Clearly, the most critical concern has been the aesthetics of any kind of facility built in proximity to the Stage – some community members have expressed opposition to a storage unit on the basis that it can’t possibly be aesthetically acceptable.  Because stage equipment (tables and chairs) are also loaned out to islanders for private events, the notion that maybe a trailer could meet the need was also expressed. The entire archive of information, including correspondence, is available here.

The GICCA Board will vote on the project at our October 16th, 7:00PM business meeting  (a membership vote will only be necessary if the final budget exceeds $10,000).  Below is a mock-up of what the proposed building will look like!