PORT TOWNSEND — Construction work on the south jetty at Point Hudson is on schedule to meet a March 1 deadline, Port of Port Townsend Director of Capital Projects Matt Klontz told commissioners.
Klontz said Wednesday that the Orion Marine Group is approaching a couple of key milestones on the project.
“The good news is we’re in a great position to be done with our in-water work,” Klontz said. “We did get an extension to Feb. 15 that allows us to do some limited activities.”
That would allow Orion to retrieve a rock that fell or rolled into the water as it was being moved into place on the jetty, for example, “as long as they don’t generate any turbulence or disturb sediment,” Klontz said. “That’s a benefit because one of the remaining items that we need to do is to place all the rock on the top of the structure.”
When that part of the project has been completed, Orion said workers can start on the next step of installing the jetty’s walkway. Klontz said Orion anticipates a Feb. 6 start date for that task.
“I went out on the structure and it’s wonderful vantage point,” he said. “It’s going to be a cool spot, so I’m really looking forward to that work starting.”
Night work on the jetty project will also end this week, Klontz said. Orion had instituted during the first week of January a round-the-clock schedule of two crews working back-to-back, 12-hour shifts to meet some of its deadlines.
Executive Director Eron Berg said the port and some community members had been discussing how to celebrate the reopening of Point Hudson Marina to boats when the south jetty is completed. Rebuilding the north jetty was completed last January.
Berg said a grand opening to celebrate the completion of the entire jetty project would probably occur in late April,.
“We want to make sure that the marina is fully reopened and the linear dock back up to speed,” he said. “The goal is to tell the project’s story and include all of the project’s supporters and the public.”
Berg said the April grand opening also would serve as the first event in celebration of the port’s 100th anniversary.
CampLife, the new online platform the port was using for Point Hudson Marina RV park reservations, had made more than 600 bookings when reservations opened Tuesday, Berg said. By Wednesday evening, it had handled about 800 reservations. CampLife also is handling online marina reservations, which will open up at 10 a.m. on Feb. 8.
Short Farm
The Port of Port Townsend has rescheduled the Short’s Family Farm steering committee tour of the property for Wednesday, Feb. 7, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The original date of Jan. 17 was canceled due to snow.
The port purchased the 253-acre Chimacum farm located at 1594 Center Road for $1.4 million last year.
The nine-person steering committee is made of up farmers and representatives from Jefferson LandWorks Collaborative, the Jefferson Conservation District and the North Olympic Salmon Coalition.
Also expected to participate in the tour are faculty and master’s students from the University of Washington’s Department of Urban Design, who are assisting in the planning and development process, representatives from the Jefferson Land Trust and port staff.
Because a quorum of port commissioners may be present, an event notice has been posted.
The public is welcome to join the tour.
Visitors are directed to bring footwear and clothing appropriate for wet, uneven and muddy ground. The site is not ADA-accessible.
The agenda for the tour and map of the farm can be found at tinyurl.com/37cd553n.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
