Two parks with one swipe of the pen.

That’s the Port of Bremerton’s attitude regarding a recent interlocal agreement signed between the port and the city of Port Orchard. The deal sets up a partnership between the city and the port for work on the port’s Marina Park expansion and the city’s second segment of the Bay Street Pedestrian Pathway, located within port boundaries.

The Port Orchard City Council approved the interlocal agreement last week, which includes authorization of $110,000 city funds previously budgeted in the 2012 budget, along with money from a $500,000 Washington state grant secured for the pedestrian pathway.

Steve Slaton, the port’s director of marine facilities, said the agreement means work on the two separate pathway and park expansion projects will begin at the same time and be built by same contractor, saving both the port and city money. The work includes demolition of two small rental houses, building a viewing platform, removal of more than 100 derelict pilings and the addition of the pathway up until the waterfront apartment building across from the Golden Grill on the Bay restaurant.

Slaton said construction on the joint projects should begin in mid-October, after  the Port Orchard Farmer’s Market has left the parking lot adjacent to Marina Park. Slaton said the parking lot would be used as a “lay down” area for heavy equipment and construction materials.

“The city has set aside a lay down area, but we can’t use it until the farmer’s market is done,” Slaton said.

The interlocal agreement for construction of both the park expansion and the pedestrian pathway has been in the works since 2011, Slaton said. Day-to-day management of the construction will come from the port, while Port Orchard officials and the city’s engineer keeping a ‘close eye on’ the work.

“We’ve been working very closely with Mark Dorsey and city staff,” Slaton said.

Dorsey was not available for comment.

Port Commissioner Larry Stokes said an interlocal agreement for work on the two projects wasn’t always planned, but that it seemed like a good idea once it was clear both the port and the city wanted to do work in the same area. The park’s eastern expansion includes portions of the pathway.

“It’s a good opportunity to work together and save money on both sides,” Stokes said.

The agreement is another example of the “good relationship” the port and the city share at this time, Stokes said. Recently, the port has taken over maintenance of the downtown boat launch from the city.

Slaton said a timeline for construction is hard to estimate, but guessed work on the east end of Marina Park would be finished by the spring. The pathway project and the Marina Park expansion are the biggest construction projects on the Port Orchard waterfront he has seen in his eight years at the port, he said, and should go a long way in hammering home the magnitude of an expansive Bay Street Pedestrian Path that will stretch to Annapolis.

“This work is sort of a preview of the pathway between Annapolis and the intermodel terminal,” Slaton said.