POULSBO — Local newcomers: Believe it or not, the bulkhead in Waterfront Park was a vertical wall of stone 40 years ago.

Long-time residents: Believe it or not, it may soon be again.

At its March 2 meeting, the Poulsbo City Council approved a shoreline substantial development permit application for the new Waterfront Park Retaining Wall project to go forward. Nearly a year ago, the project design was floundering under permitting and funding issues but now, work is expected to begin in two to three months.

The new design by consultant Parametrix, which was hired in November 2002, proposes a 3-foot wall stretching 790 lineal feet from the boardwalk to Port of Poulsbo restroom and laundry facility. Four-foot precast concrete panels will be secured about mid point in the old wall to create the new structure. The bulkhead material that has sloughed will be left.

Previously, the city has been planning to clean up the fallen rocks and dredge the area between the wall and the port’s dinghy dock and build a vertical wall. Project Engineer Andrzej Kasiniak said Poulsbo finally decided to redesign the project because building a vertical bulkhead on the shoreline added the need for an Army Corps of Engineers permit as well as a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA).

“We believe this is permit-able,” Kasiniak said of the new designs. “The other would not have been or would have required a lot of time and a lot of mitigation.”

Another plus is that the new designs carry a $650,000 price tag, which is paid with a matching grant from the state Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation (IAC). The previous plans were estimated to cost $1.6 million, for which money had yet to be identified after nearly more than two years of planning.

No substantial fill will be added behind the wall, as it is primarily designed to limit access to the beach in order to cut down on erosion. A decorative, 8-foot concrete