After months of delay, phase two of the Japanese-American Memorial in Eagledale will soon be under way.

After a compromise deal with the city, and the potential for a thrifty construction contract, proponents expect the construction of a rememberance wall to begin next spring.

“This is really the memorial proper,” said project manager John Buday. “This is where the history will be remembered and where there will be an interpretation of the event.”

Phase two of the memorial includes a 276-foot-long wall (one foot for each Japanese American on Bainbridge when internment began) made of granite and wood.

The wall roughly follows the path traveled by islanders as they walked to the old Eagledale ferry dock to begin their forced internment.

The wall breaks at the point of World War II, which is memorialized in black basalt, then begins again as Japanese Americans started returning to their homes on the island.

Along the way, interpretive installments will tell the story of Bainbridge Japanese Americans – a story, proponents say, that is truly American.

“It will be a chronological story of the Japanese Americans on Bainbridge but also a statement on the fragility of the (U.S.) Constitution,” said Clarence Moriwaki, chairman of the memorial committee. “It’s also a linear story of most Americans, of immigration, establishment and integration.”

The project had been delayed financially and physically by a large city well pump station located in the proposed path of the memorial.

“We’ve known all along that the size and location of (the well) is out of context with what they are planning,” said Public Works Director Randy Witt.

Last week the Bainbridge City Council approved $56,000 for the Public Works Department to upgrade and economize the well facility, reducing its footprint and the pump station’s impact on the surrounding memorial.

“Ideally it would be great if (the pump station) could totally go away, but we need the piping and plumbing,” Witt said. “We’ve come up with a creative solution. It’s exciting that we’ll be able to work together like this.”

The smaller pump house will be incorporated into the project with wood siding and a roof that mimics the architexture around it.

Within the next two months, the station will temporarily be taken off-line to commence with the retrofit. Witt said disruptions to water service for the Rockaway Beach community, which the pump station serves, are not expected.

The project also received funding from Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to the tune of $100,000; another grant from the state Legislature for $500,000 has been held for a couple of years, awaiting a competitive bid that is under budget.

“It’s been exciting and a challenge,” Moriwaki said. “We’ve been holding back, but now we have funds from the Legislature which we have to spend in 2009, so we are hoping that the bids come in quickly and we can get to work.”

The project will go out for bids in January. Moriwaki believes construction will begin this spring with the aim of finishing in mid-to-late summer.

Interpretation materials will be added to the wall at a later date.

The delay on the project has allowed it to evolve over time. An award-winning architectual design for an interpretive center will be included in phase three of the project along with a classroom facility.

The fourth phase will complete the memorial with a 150-foot pier – built near the footprint of the original Eagledale ferry dock.

Earlier this year, the internment memorial was designated as a National Park Service historic site after a unanimous vote by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Despite the progress that has been made, the memorial still faces an uphill battle, with multi-million dollar project costs still to surmount.

“The good news is we’re a national historical site, but the bad news is the federal government won’t be opening the funding flooding gates,” Moriwaki said. “We’re going to have to fight for every dollar that we might get.”