PORT TOWNSEND — An upgrade of the Wave Viewing Gallery, a portion of dock that sits out in Port Townsend Bay, that began this week will include replacement of rotting timber supports with a permanent steel structure.
The work is expected to be completed by the end of August in time for the influx of tourists expected for both the Wooden Boat Festival and the Port Townsend Film Festival, project manager Tom Miller said.
The renovated wave gallery is part of the city’s newly configured Pope Park, which is to include improvements to Pope Marine Park and replacement of the Tidal Clock.
Workers were preparing this week to lift the wave gallery dock from the pilings, after which it will be put on tracks, moved 100 feet and set parallel to an existing chain link fence.
Piling replacement
The replacement of the pilings is scheduled to begin July 17, which opens a window defined by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife as a time when the work won’t threaten fish habitat.
Miller said the 100-foot-long building will be moved in one piece, and it will not require refinishing.
“The wood has already been pressure-treated and it’s still in pretty good shape,” he said.
Light at 18 tons
Miller said that the building is “light,” as it weighs about 18 tons and does not contain any walls or furnishings.
When the new foundation is complete, the wave gallery will be placed upon it, and Wilson Construction will build two walkways for pedestrian access.
The total project cost is estimated to be $530,412.
The project is partially funded by a $265,206 Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation grant from Fish and Wildlife’s Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account.
The city of Port Townsend will fund the remaining project costs with money from a 2008 bond.
Two contractors are involved.
Monroe House Moving of Port Townsend is moving the structure from the timber pile foundation while Wilson Construction of Port Angeles will begin removing the foundation and replacing it with steel piles in mid-July.
Tidal Clock
While the wave gallery should be on its new moorings by festival season, the timing for turning the adjacent Tidal Clock — also known as the Tidal Bowl, the Tidal Bowl, the Jackson Bequest and the less affectionate Tidy Bowl — into a small amphitheater is less certain.
Even so, it is making progress.
Jess Jordan, a biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers, said the product is scheduled for an internal review next week, which is part of the required permit process.
Jordan said that two other agencies, Fish and Wildlife and the National Marine Fisheries Service, are involved in granting the permit.
“Any time fish habitats are involved it gets more complicated,” Jordan said. “This is not a cut and dried process.”
Jordan said his agency attempted to expedite the permit but was not able to do so.
The plan is to fill in the Tidal Clock’s bowl with concrete and create a stage around it.
It was supposed to be a community gathering place created in 1987 with a gift of $200,000 from Ruth Seavey Jackson, a member of a Port Townsend family, who wanted a piece of community art created to celebrate the waterfront.
The artists, Chuck Fahlen and Doug Hollis of the San Francisco Bay area, intended it to act as a tidal clock with graduated layers around the bowl filling with water and marine life as the tide changed.
It never worked as envisioned. Instead, it collected debris and wood.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
