Port of Allyn sorting through a pile of projects

Oyster House project hits potential snag

Kirk Boxleitner | Feb 16, 20230

Dock damage, pier replacement, potential surplussing of property and some unexpected new developments on long-standing projects kept Port of Allyn commissioners busy during the Feb. 8 board meeting.

After the port’s Hood Canal Marina dock was damaged between Christmas and New Year’s, port insurer Enduris hired a consultant and marine surveyor, with whom Port Executive Director Lary Coppola met while inspecting the dock. Of the port’s two bids to repair the dock, Coppola expected the port to select one that week, after conferring with Enduris about which could complete the work the soonest.

Coppola noted the port’s deductible is $1,000, and reported the port has closed the dock with a locked gate, having supplied keys to the three boat owners moored there.

“The damage is severe, (but) it isn’t as bad as we first anticipated,” Coppola said. “We are going to have to make some improvements once the repairs are complete, including making the pilings taller, so we wouldn’t have the same issue with a king tide floating the dock higher than the top of the pilings.”

According to Coppola, steel pilings can have extensions welded to their existing tops, while wooden pilings can be sleeved with either steel or fiberglass and filled with composite material.

“While this will cost some money, it won’t be extraordinarily expensive,” Coppola said.

Since the Jan. 24 king tide didn’t do additional damage, Coppola expects to move forward with repairs “as soon as possible.”

During one of the king tides, one of the pilings on the Allyn pier broke loose and floated away.

Because the entire alcove section is sagging, Coppola ordered the closure of that section to the public until the port can find a solution to getting another piling.

Coppola said the port could replace the pier with a new structure or it could sleeve the existing pilings with concrete or steel, which would get the creosote out of the water.

As the port weighs the feasibility and useful life spans versus costs, the port’s lobbyist has assembled a letter to the Legislature, including logos from a dozen local supporters of the project, asking for $500,000 for planning and design.

“We have an engineer’s estimate of slightly more than $400,000, which will undoubtedly increase by the time we move forward,” Coppola said.

Port officials met Jan. 23 with representatives of the state Recreation and Conservation Office about the port’s options for surplusing its Kayak Park property, but no decisions were made at that time.

“But it gave us the answers we needed,” Coppola said. “What it boils down to is, we can create another park, at our own expense, to replace the Kayak Park, before we can surplus it.”

Coppola described the port as “exploring the feasibility” of its ideas on this score.

Coppola also reported “a major curveball” on the port’s Sargent Oyster House project.

“Without going into a lot of minutiae, the bottom line is, our Army Corps of Engineers permit may be invalid, and a new one required,” Coppola said. “This will mean beginning the entire process all over again, and complying with new regulations, and mitigation rules, put in place since our last permit was approved. While our current engineer consultant hasn’t tracked down all of the paperwork involved in this yet, long story short, it appears our former consultant for this project may have neglected to respond to something from the ACOE he was sent in 2017, and they canceled the permit after not getting any response.”

Coppola and Port of Allyn Commission Chair Judy Scott met with the current engineer Jan. 27, during which they asked him to write a synopsis of the situation, and what the port’s options are.

“He is still researching options, and we may be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat, but it’s too soon to tell,” Coppola said.