PORT TOWNSEND — A developer wants to restore the Quincy Street dock and add float docks to the historic waterfront structure once used by state ferries.
The three Port of Port Townsend commissioners gave Kevin Harris their unanimous blessing last week, and asked to see detailed engineering plans as soon as possible.
“I like the idea,” said port Commissioner Dave Thompson.
“If the engineers can put together something that would work, that would be a delightful addition to the waterfront.”
Harris expects the Quincy dock restoration and float-dock engineering design to be finished in the next two weeks, and to present the design to the port staff and commissioners some time in June.
Project cost estimates ranged between $500,000 and more than $1.5 million, said the Seattle software developer who lives in Port Townsend, but nothing is firm until engineering estimates are made.
Harris owns the Port of Port Townsend lease to the dock, which was condemned 10 years ago.
He also owns the restored 1885 cannery building next to the dock, which he wants to convert from residential condominiums to a luxury hotel.
The dock’s pilings are rotting and must be replaced.
The horizontal steel beams that support the old dock are corroded and also need replacement.
Port Executive Director Larry Crockett said that the condition of the Quincy Dock has only worsened since it was condemned 10 years ago.
Harris envisions float docks extending out about 40 feet from the restored Quincy dock.
Besides a landing tie-up dock for a Kenmore Air seaplane, the docks would be designed to accommodate up to five vessels, and be large enough to handle a cruise ship, tall ship or other large vessel moorage.
“It’s probably going to take a year to get past the permit process,” said Harris.
He anticipates about 18 months from the beginning to end of his project.
“This will bring more boats to town, and those who need more top-of-the-line hotel units,” Harris said.
“I think it will be a great attraction to downtown.”
Maintain historic look
Harris said he hopes to maintain the historic look and feel of the Quincy dock, removing and storing the float docks during bad-weather months.
“I hope the wing walls stay,” he said of the A-frame ferry land structure that still can be seen at the water’s end of Quincy Street.
“It adds so much character to this end of town,” he added.
Harris is finishing work on four rooms and is framing a fifth room at the brick cannery building adjacent to Quincy Dock.
Forms are in place for a connecting waterfront deck.
The boutique rooms of the building, which once housed the Guilford Packing Company, are being finished with artwork by local artisans and craftsmen using materials reclaimed from the original structure.
Harris envisions yacht owners tying up at the float docks to stay at his hotel, and he believes Seattle visitors would be tempted by the prospect of a 20-minute flight aboard a Kenmore Air 10-seat float plane from Elliott Bay to Port Townsend Bay.
But first things first.
Uncertainties
Thompson, a longtime Port Townsend Boat Haven shipwright said that, even if the docks were removed in the winter months, the Quincy land was known for its uncertain nature.
“When the ferry used to land there, there could be four- to five-foot swells,” he recalled, adding that the ferry would have some trouble navigating the landing dock when northwest winds unexpectedly blew through the downtown waterfront during the summer.
Thompson said the city requires that the design must withstand 80 mph winds.
Port Deputy Director Jim Pivarnik expressed concerns about where Harris’ float docks would be stored in the winter.
The port already stores float docks for the city and Northwest Maritime Center at the Boat Haven and there is no more room, he said.
Hotel permit
Rick Sepler, city director of Development Services, said the city is processing a state Environmental Policy Act addendum that he expects will be issued Wednesday, allowing Harris to convert his condominiums to a five-unit hotel.
“He will have to do some transportation demand management planning because there is no parking there,” Sepler said, adding that the city still wants Harris to specifically describe the cannery buildings use.
The city and port are also in the process of determining what part of Quincy Dock is owned by the city, Sepler said.
“The challenge on that is, we don’t have a pending application,” Sepler said.
“He’s expressed the desire to refit the dock to put a float in for seaplanes, but we have yet to see a detailed application come in.”
Harris was one of the catalysts for encouraging Kenmore to fly into Jefferson County during the Hood Canal Bridge closure that began May 1.
Harris said he has received comments from Kenmore Air on the proposed float-dock landing design.
The project, said Harris, “would be a nice shot in the arm for the economy downtown.”
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
