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Port moves ahead with boat dock repairs
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CopyA better boat launch could be on the horizon in Grapeview.
In December, Port of Grapeview Commissioners met to approve and sign documents to apply for permits through Mason County, which could allow the port to begin work to renovate the boat launch adjacent to Fair Harbor Marina.
Permits included filling out the joint aquatic resource permits application, or JARPA, according to Port Commissioner Glenn Carlson.
The JARPA allows the port to streamline the environmental permitting process by allowing agencies to apply for multiple, similar environmental permits at a time, and covers permits required by agencies such as the state Department of Ecology, Fish and Wildlife, and Natural Resources.
The Port of Grapeview updated its comprehensive scheme in 2015, which listed one of its main goals for the future as improving the port's launch facility.
The comprehensive scheme notes the concrete at the boat launch is extensively cracked and shattered, rating it as "failed" and in need of reconstruction.
The comprehensive scheme also states the dock that runs alongside the ramp is crooked and needs to be straightened to run parallel to the concrete boat ramp.
Carlson said in previous months, the port commission reviewed the State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA, to figure out the proper permits it needed to move ahead with the project.
However, Carlson was clear that the port is only beginning the process of fixing the boat ramp by applying for permits.
"We're not doing anything else right now," he said.
Instead, the port hoped to begin making moves toward fixing the boat ramp to help garner funding through grants in the future.
The project is slated to cost about $100,000, Carlson said, but the port has not yet solidified funding for the project.
"It's part of our long-range strategic plans," Carlson said.
The port is looking into several options for funding, which include a levy lid lift or grants through government entities.
The Port of Grapeview has twice applied for and been denied grants through the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Funding Board in 2013 and 2015. The port is listed as a "board alternate" for grant money on the funding board's website.
The port's most recent grant application requested $75,000, with the port providing the other $25,000 needed to complete the project.
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