Port of Allyn changes plans for Oyster House

The Port of Allyn had a special meeting April 14 to talk about its credit and its progress on the Sargent Oyster House.

Port commissioners agreed to increase the port's credit line with Kitsap Bank after port Executive Director Lary Coppola said the port already had a credit line for $220,000, which it has used to pay lawyers and part of last month's vouchers.

"What I wanted to to do was draw more off of that credit line - because we can't draw any more off of it after April 20 - and put it in reserve, so if we have some kind of an emergency, or something happens that's just totally unanticipated, we don't run out of money," Coppola said.

Commissioner Ted Jackson made a motion to approve increasing the line of credit up to $100,000, which Commissioner John Sheridan seconded.

Port of Allyn Commission Chair Judy Scott, who made the approval unanimous, noted the port also has Industrial Development District money, but she stipulated "that's very specific, what we can use those for."

Coppola said he has no plans to use the extra credit for anything specific, and even agreed with Scott that "the sooner we pay things back, the better," but he nonetheless prefers to have that credit available, even if it's not needed.

"Our expenses run about $50,000 a month," Coppola said."We'll have enough money when we get the April property tax receipts, at the end of this month, to carry us through until October."

Coppola said, "We get money again at the end of October, but that's got to carry us through to the end of April."

With what Coppola said he estimated the port is due to receive in April, he predicted it should be able to start paying back what it owes.

"When we reach this point next year, we shouldn't have to worry about any of this," Coppola said. "We can pay it all back if we need to. I just want to have money in reserve, which we don't have now, while we can still get it."

On the Sargent Oyster House project, port officials reviewed the information presented by Shawn Mahugh, senior environmental scientist for GeoEngineers, on April 3.

"He told us we can either apply for another Army Corps of Engineers permit," Coppola said, "or we can move it (by taking) the money we have in grants right now."

Another permit would require a year or more to obtain, plus the port would be responsible for additional mitigation, beyond the mitigation it's already undertaken, which Coppola expected would cost the port $100,000 more than it has budgeted for this project.

"We have $344 in one grant, and $100,000 left in the other grant, and the third grant was for $10,000 to fix the parking lot after they moved the building," Coppola said. "But if we have to add another $100,000 to the cost, we're not going to have enough money."

By changing the Oyster House's eventual location from what had originally been planned, Coppola said it would no longer require an Army Corps of Engineers permit.

"We'll be able to do that with the money we have, fairly quickly," Coppola said. "We'll have to get some engineering done, and build whatever it's going to require for the building to sit on, which would be a change in scope and a grant, but I've already talked to our grant writer, and she's fine with that."

Coppola suggested this option could even yield enough cost savings to allow some of their funds to be spent on restoring the building's interior.

Scott noted she would be meeting the North Bay Historical Society on April 18, and clarified that the revised plans for the Oyster House would "move it to the old launch ramp location, directly in front of the admin building along the shore."

Coppola added that the port owns the building, rather than the North Bay Historical Society, so the decision as to its disposition ultimately lies with the port.

Author Bio

Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
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