PORT ANGELES — Five much-awaited City Pier floats will be installed in 2018 instead of this year as planned, city Parks and Recreation Director Corey Delikat said.
Delayed in 2015, 2016, and now 2017, the five floating piers will be built by the end of September but if installed, would be removed in October because of winter weather, making it not worthwhile to proceed with the project, Delikat said.
Delikat cited production delays by the manufacturer, Woodland-based Topper Industries Inc, where a company spokesman Wednesday referred inquiries to Delikat.
“Unfortunately, they are running into some issues, and I can’t control that,” Delikat said. “They had some issue with the timber.”
Now, the floats will be completed this year and installed by Memorial Day in 2018, he predicted.
Another reason for the delay: Two playground renovations are being worked on this summer by employees who would otherwise install the floats, so completing the project in 2017 is not feasible, Delikat said.
“We’ll still get them in 2017. We just won’t be putting them in the water in 2017,” he said Thursday in an interview.
Darryl Groner, Topper Industries’ project manager, gave Delikat an update on the project in a June 16 email.
“We just worked out the timeline on this job, and it looks like we’ll be shipping to you on about September 1st,” Groner said in the email.
“The materials are on order and we should have drawings to you for your approval in a couple of weeks.”
Once installed, the five floats will provide 640 feet of linear moorage.
Temporary tie-ups will be free, with overnight moorage $20.
The moorage fee is an increase of $5 compared to before the floats were removed, a hike the City Council approved Nov. 15 as part of a broad range of parks and recreation department fee increases and ordinance changes.
City Councilman Lee Whetham asked Delikat for an update on the project at the council’s Aug. 1 meeting, which Delikat said he would provide for council members by the council’s next regular meeting Tuesday.
Delikat said Saturday that he has provided the information to the council in a report and that it was taken off the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting.
Delikat asked Groner for an update Aug. 7.
“I’m trying to get a handle on the timber,” Groner responded, promising more information the next day.
“It looks like our schedule has slipped,” he emailed Delikat on Aug. 8.
“We don’t expect to ship these now until the week of September 25th.
“We’re trying to improve upon that but that’s where we are as of right now.”
Floats that jutted from the pier until 2015 provided a tie-up point popular with kayakers and other recreational boaters, allowing them easy access on foot to downtown Port Angeles.
Removed for being worn out, the replacements are part of a $194,365 construction project awarded to Woodland-based Topper Industries, which will receive an additional maximum of $75,000 for a sixth float that will still be installed in 2018, Delikat said.
The project is funded by a $257,900 federal Boating Infrastructure Tier II grant, with the remainder funded with real estate excise taxes.
Delikat had expected the floats to arrive by the end of August.
“It was doubtful that we were going to put the floats in regardless if they arrived on September 1st,” he said in an email.
“We need weather to complete these projects and it doesn’t make sense for us to stop what we are doing, only to [put] the floats in for a few weeks.
“Our goal next year is to get them in before Memorial Day weekend, in time for the Halibut Derby, because it sounds as if they want to use the pier next year.
“It will be a great event to have at the Pier and have a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the same time.”
In early 2015, the city was awarded a federal Boating Infrastructure Tier II grant and dedicated real estate excise taxes to the project.
Delikat said in March 2015 that the goal was to have them installed that summer, with timing contingent on arrival of materials and availability of parks and recreation staff.
Permitting issues held up the docks’ 2016 installation, Delikat told the Peninsula Daily News on May 31, 2016.
“I’m very confident we’ll get them in next year,” he said then.
His goal was to have the new floating docks in the water before Memorial Day 2017.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News Pilings that once supported temporary moorage docks stand empty at Port Angeles City Pier as they await new dock sections.
