PORT TOWNSEND — The two-lane boat launch that has been used at Fort Worden State Park for 45 years might be replaced in the next few years.
The state Parks and Recreation Commission is considering a conceptual plan, which would remove the existing boat launch and replace it with an elevated ramp.
The project, separate from other marine area plans at the park, was presented last Wednesday during an open house at Old Fort Townsend State Park.
‘More and more issues’
“For the last few decades, we’ve been having more and more issues with this boat launch,” said Jessica Logan, a state environmental program manager who works with parks.
“The way it’s designed with an at-grade surface is bad for the near-shore process.”
Logan told about 40 people who attended the meeting that creosote and other chemicals are getting into the water, and the ramp is difficult to maintain because heavy equipment periodically has to drag sand off the surface.
“It’s not sustainable,” she said.
The discussion was part of a series of public meetings on preferred alternatives. The project seeks to remove the existing pier and make improvements to pedestrian and vehicle circulation and parking.
It also would allow the Port Townsend Marine Science Center an area to expand, possibly upland.
The project description can be found at tinyurl.com/PDN-FortWorden.
While it’s still in a pre-design phase, the next steps include design and permitting prior to a state Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review.
The parks commission plans to submit its preferred alternative to the state Office of Financial Management for legislative consideration in the upcoming session. Project representative Tim Bell said it might receive some funding as early as next spring.
The project won’t move forward unless it receives funds, Norton said.
As attendees circulated the room to different easel presentations that visually displayed different areas of Fort Worden, Ranger Brian Hageman, who manages the Port Townsend-area state parks, addressed a question about how boaters and pedestrians might mix in the area near the pier.
“Our busiest time in the state park is somewhere between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., and we’ve found the fishermen are pretty much done by 11 a.m.,” he said.
Hageman also said fewer boaters are launching than in previous years.
“When I first came here, we were seeing four times as much activity as we are now,” he said.
Hageman cited the annual high for visitors at Fort Worden to be 1.4 million and the low at 998,000, with an average of 1.2 million. Weather appeared to be the greatest factor from year to year, he said.
“The [Public Development Authority] has done a good job with marketing, so we might see numbers go up on the shoulder seasons, but not in the summer,” Hageman said.
Anna Spooner, a consultant from Anchor QEA of Seattle, said the road near the boat launch likely won’t be replaced, but it might be redesigned for efficiency.
Spooner pointed to her map that showed the highest winds coming from the southwest. She stressed the importance of a float with a breakwater aligned with the wind to allow sand and other ecological matter a free flow underneath.
The restoration of the area will include eelgrass, and the removal of the boat launch won’t impede the littoral drift, she said.
The state funded the pre-design phase at $150,000, or about 1 percent of the estimated cost of the project, Bell said.
Logan added there will be additional opportunities for the public to submit comments.
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
