PORT TOWNSEND — Construction on the Port of Port Townsend’s project to renovate the A-B Docks at Boat Haven marina is unlikely to start before the September 2010 Wooden Boat Festival, port officials said.
But they have received good news about financing, since bond consultant Alan Dashen of Bellevue told commissioners that they could meet their obligations to finance the marina renovation project.
Port leaders had hinted at possibly beginning in 2009 the renovation of the decrepit docks used by permanent moorage tenants and others, but found that the annual salmon migration fish window closure between Feb. 15 and July 15 left then little wiggle room.
Between Feb. 15 and July 15, the state allows no work in the water because of migrating salmon.
The $5 million project to redesign the marina with 144 slips has been in the planning stage for about two years.
A citizens committee, which includes marina users, has advised the port on the redesign.
The port is expected to enter into the city permitting process this week.
“We could push the envelope, but by Feb. 15 [2010] we would have to stop for the fish window,” Port Deputy Director Jim Pivarnik said.
Concerns allayed
Dashen’s report allayed port leaders’ concerns about their ability to pay bond debt for the project in a poor economy, especially since port revenues are down across the board.
The port commissioners in November adopted a $6.6 million 2009 budget that included a 3 percent increase in the permanent moorage rate, down from the 5 percent originally proposed, after protests from Port Townsend Moorage Tenants Association members.
The permanent moorage rate increases apply to all three port-owned marinas, two in Port Townsend and one in Quilcene.
The port was off its budget revenue mark in 2008 by about $235,400.
But Dashen said the commission could still expect to finance the project at an interest rate of about 5 percent.
The citizens advisory committee has signed off on a 144-slip project, down from 11 slips, after committee members asked for more 25-foot slips and fewer 20-foot slips, which are being used less frequently.
Other planning for the new Boat Haven marina A-B Docks project would include the relocation of 117 boats to Point Hudson Marina and an upland storage site at no additional cost, said the port’s executive director, Larry Crockett.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
