PORT TOWNSEND — After having been mired in the permit process for two years, a project to dredge the Port Townsend Boat Haven marina’s entrance to the Coast Guard dock is expected to begin later this summer, Port of Port Townsend officials said.
“It’s going to be quite a project,” said Jim Pivarnik, deputy port director.
The dredging will not be as extensive as the 2006-2007 dredging of Point Hudson Marina, he added.
About 11,000 cubic yards of silt was removed from Point Hudson Marina in that $4 million project.
The project by the port, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard project is to benefit primarily the new Coast Guard dock near the mouth of the marina.
The federal government is picking up the tab on the project, but no cost figure was available Tuesday.
The Coast Guard docks the 87-foot patrol cutter Osprey at the dock, with 10 active personnel.
Parts of the marina can be as shallow as 3 feet at extreme low tides, and the Osprey requires a depth of about 8 feet, Pivarnik said.
The channel must be dredged about every five years, he said.
A channel about 30 feet to the Coast Guard dock and the area in front of the dock are the “maintenance” dredging target areas, Pivarnik told the port commissioners on Wednesday.
Normal commercial and recreation vessel traffic in and out of the marina is not expected to be hampered, Pivarnik said, because a small dredge barge will be used to get the job done.
Boat Haven, the largest marina in Port Townsend and Jefferson County, is home to 475 commercial and recreational vessels.
The Boat Haven provides more than 6,000 overnight guest moorage accommodations for visiting boats every year.
After the dredging, the channel would be clearly marked for all boaters using the marina, said Pivarnik.
“We’re actually going to have markers out there so boaters know where to go,” Pivarnik said.
He suggested to port commissioners that “no wake” buoys be posted on the sides of the new channel at the marina entrance.
