By LESLIE KELLY
lkelly@soundpublishing.com

More than 100 civic, business and political leaders from across Kitsap County listened to a pitch to bring back fast foot ferry service to Bremerton, Kingston and Southworth Oct. 29.

The meeting at the Kitsap Conference Center was an invitation-only event sponsored by Kitsap Transit.

Consultants from KPFF Consulting Engineers, who were hired last April at a cost of $300,000 to prepare a comprehensive business plan and long-range strategy, told the crowd that their attendance that evening was an indication of the interest in a fast foot ferry.

“That shows you’re very interested and want to make this work,” said Mike Anderson, who consulted on the plan.

Anderson, the former Washington State ferries director, said his company often conducts feasibility studies around the country and sometimes recommends against ferry service.

“We’re not saying that here at all,” he said. “It’s something you should really go for.”

The consultant team recommended the routes from Kitsap County to Seattle be phased in. Routes include from Bremerton to Seattle, Kingston to Seattle and Southworth to Seattle. Each would run about 30 to 35 minutes and Anderson suggested at least three roundtrips from each location during the morning and afternoon commutes.

Kitsap Transit should own the service and contract with King County that already operates foot ferry routes to run it, Anderson said.

According to information handed out at the meeting, costs are expected to be $44 million to set up the Kitsap Transit service and about $8 million a year to run it. The upfront costs would be paid from mostly federal transportation grants. Operation costs would need to come from local sales or excise taxes and would require a voter-approved operating subsidy.

Rob Gelder, Kitsap County Commissioner and Kitsap Transit board chairman, told those at the meeting he thinks foot ferries are needed to match the county’s growing population.

“Think what a 35-minute commute would mean to each of these communities,” Gelder said. “It suddenly opens us up to a whole other realm of thinking. What do we want to be?”

Others, including former Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman, said a fast foot ferry route between Bremerton and Seattle could bring economic development to Bremerton and help increase housing prices because it would be a more attractive commute for homeowners on the Kitsap Peninsula who work in Seattle.

Fast foot ferries aren’t something new, however, and they have been tried before.

Consultants have said previous attempts were not adequately funded.

Because of that, Kitsap Transit oversaw, with a $12.7 million federal grant, the development of a new boat. Experts say the Rich Passage 1, a foil-assisted catamaran, will not damage the shoreline.

The 118-passenger Rich Passage 1 ran test trials from June to November 2012 that showed it could travel at 37 knots (42.5 miles) per hour without damaging the shoreline. The vessel has since been in storage, waiting to be put into service.

Eventually, three Rich Passage ferries would be needed as all routes are put into service, Anderson said.

The Bremerton route would get service first – as soon as October 2015 — because it has a boat and a dock ready to go.

Following that, Kingston would be added in the fall of 2017 and then Southworth in 2023, after construction of a passenger terminal because there is not one currently at there.

The next step is for the Kitsap Transit board to determine whether it wants to go forward with fast foot ferry service.

The board is expected to determine by January whether it wants to place a tax increase on an upcoming ballot, possibly in February or next August. Similar sales-tax based efforts failed in 2003 and 2007. Preliminary discussions centered on a sales tax increase of approximately two-tenths of 1 percent throughout Kitsap County.

A final report by the consultants will be published and posted on the Kitsap Transit website later this month.

Kitsap Transit has not yet rolled out the three-route plan to the general public.

A community meeting is expected to be held in Bremerton later this month, with other meetings to follow in Kingston, Bainbridge Island, Southworth and possibly Silverdale.

Last week’s meeting was an invitation-only affair.

According to Kitsap Transit Executive Director John Clauson, those invited to attend last week’s meeting were suggested to Kitsap Transit.

“We basically developed a list by contacting the chamber, the board of Realtors, the economic development alliance and asked them who should receive an invitation,” Clauson said. “And we invited various elected officials. It was all generated by doing outreach within the community.”

The event, which cost $5,961 for food and rental of the Kitsap Conference Center, was paid for with revenue secured from riders on the fast ferry during its trial runs in 2012, according to Kitsap Transit sources. Hors d’oeuvres, coffee and tea was provided, but guests paid for their own wine and beer.

Charlotte Sampson, executive assistant at Kitsap Transit, said had the meeting been held at a local venue that did not require rent, and had no food been served, the nearly $6,000 spent would have been used elsewhere to support passenger ferry service.

“No Kitsap Transit bus money was used in this event,” she said.