Sequim reaffirms stance to keep John Wayne Marina public

PORT ANGELES — While Port of Port Angeles staff and commissioners continue their fact-gathering process on the John Wayne Marina and consider its possible sale, Sequim City Council members have reaffirmed they want it to remain available to the public.

City Council members voted Monday unanimously in favor of a resolution stating the city’s shoreline master program allows only publicly-owned marinas.

Port leaders said Monday they are not sure that’s true.

The city’s resolution also affirms that the city is open to receiving ownership — or forming a metropolitan park district to take on ownership — of the marina, along with other area parks and recreation assets, at little to no cost.

Sequim City Manager Charlie Bush said the resolution established a position for City Council members before going into any discussions with the Port of Port Angeles about the marina.

Bush said city staff and council members learned of discussions in March from a Peninsula Daily News story about a developer’s interest in buying the marina. Since then, city staffers have attended port meetings and begun discussions about the marina’s future.

On April 12, Sequim public works director David Garlington told the port’s marina advisory committee that the shoreline master program, which was updated in 2012, prohibits private marinas in city limits.

Port Commissioner Connie Beauvais has asked City Council members and staff for clarity on the shoreline master program, saying that there is a conflict between a chart and written provisions that indicate the plan allows private marinas, and that there is no reference to John Wayne Marina staying public or private.

Sequim City Attorney Kristina Nelson-Gross said the table shows private marinas are prohibited, but that she needed more time to analyze the text Beauvais referenced.

Port Commissioner Colleen McAleer said she believes the ideal ownership for the marina remains public.

“I’m hopeful that we can continue to ensure it can stay in public hands,” McAleer said.

McAleer told City Council members she wouldn’t support a marina sale or transfer where the port would receive little to no funds, as the city suggests in its resolution.

She said Sequim needs more high-paying jobs and industries to support more families and low-income residents, and that port staff want to explore opportunities with the city and other entities for creating jobs.

“If we were to transfer the John Wayne Marina at little to no cost, there goes the financial resource for all those people in that area of Sequim that sorely need our support,” McAleer said.

Councilman Ted Miller, who suggested some minor changes to the resolution, said he was “heartened” by some of McAleer’s comments.

“I think the right answer is for the port to continue to own it,” Miller said. “The sale to a private developer will mean end of public access.”

Part of the city’s new resolution appears to rule out a sale of the marina, stating that city staff see “no value in the sale of an asset from one public entity to another in overlapping tax districts as it is not an effective use of taxpayer dollars.”

Karen Goschen, executive director of the Port of Port Angeles, encouraged council members to have patience in regard to the port’s staff investigating the marina.

“I’d like to remind everyone this is the early phase,” she said. “The city of Sequim is not behind in playing catch-up.”

Goschen said there isn’t a proposal on the table, no negotiations in place, that she has not met with a developer nor toured facilities with a developer.

She also encouraged city council members to debate purchasing the marina at fair market value.

“The port cannot make a business case, to transfer a viable, income producing asset at no or little cost,” Goschen said.

As fact finding continues, McAleer said there isn’t “a dire emergency staring us down” to sell the marina either.

“I believe in 10 years, it’ll cost $7 [million to] $10 million to replace floats, however, that number changes all the time,” she said. “Because of unfunded mandates with industrial stormwater systems, we don’t have the kind of financial resources we once thought we did.”

Following the resolution’s approval, Beauvais said she felt the council members did what they felt was right.

“I reviewed every word of the [shoreline master program], and feel they are mistaken,” she said. “However, it’s a use document, not an ownership document.”

From here on, she said port staff will continue to investigate the marina, such as for needed capital projects, funding for those projects, and much more, and she’ll do her “due diligence” before determining anything on a sale or not.

Goschen said in an interview that she felt the council’s decision was premature because members haven’t seen information on the marina port staff is compiling for a special meeting tentatively set for early June.

“They are making a decision without having all the facts,” she said.

While there may not be any immediate action on the marina, concerned community members filled the Sequim council chambers and held signs outside prior to the meeting reading, “Please Please Help Save Our Marina!”

Sharon Laska of Sequim said the marina was one of the big reasons she and her husband moved to Sequim.

“I think John Wayne Marina should remain public so people in all of Clallam County can use it and preserve it for future generations,” she said.

Lisa Roberts of Sequim questioned any change in ownership.

“The only person who seem to be proactively pursuing this is the port,” she said. “Have you met one person who wants this? Our commissioners talk about big paying jobs? Where are they going to get these?”

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.