Latest marina design presented to Council

The latest design for the proposed Bremerton Marina comes with a little larger price tag, but a design port officials say provides the best mitigation of wake from ferries and access to shore facilities.

The nearly $22.9 million design includes a “T”-shaped breakwater, which won out over an “L”-shaped option because it makes the distance from the marina’s entry to shore facilities shorter and more convenient. A previous estimate stood at $19 million.

Also, the proposed marina flares out to match the shape of the shoreline, said Port Commissioner Bill Mahan during a presentation given during a City Council study session Monday evening.

The design had to take into account post-9/l1 law requiring it to be more than 300 feet away from the path of the nearby ferry and its dock, as well as mitigating the wake of the ferry.

The proposed breakwater stands at 25 feet wide and 10 feet deep, enough to pass the litmus test of “whether or not it will wake someone up who has fallen asleep on their boat,” explained Adam Brockus of Art Anderson Associates, also a councilman-elect.

Councilman Mike Shepherd asked what kind of breakwater would be needed to mitigate wake absolutely, to which Brockus replied it would have to be 75 feet wide.

Port officials also added that a solid wall could also be built, but all agreed neither option would be aesthetically pleasing.

Mahan, along with fellow commissioner Mary Ann Huntington and port chief executive officer Ken Atteberry, said the breakwater had been mentioned to Blackberry Festival officials as a potential site for booths and vendors for the event.

The marina would feature 352 slips, 230 permanent ones with the rest reserved for visitors. It would not include costly covered slips. The cost increases associated with the proposal came because the breakwater needed to be bigger than first thought, the entire facility is somewhat bigger than originally envisioned, and there has been a worldwide increase in construction-related costs, port officials explained.

The project has passed environmental tests at each turn.

“Not at federal, state, tribal or city level have there been any environmental concerns,” Atteberry said.

There are concerns on the Suquamish tribe’s behalf, but he explained those have been related to fishing, and the port remains in talks with the Suquamish on the issues that need to be hammered out.

$3 million of the project has already been funded by the port’s investment and grants, and several financing plans incorporating various grants, bond options and public and private investment are being considered.

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