POULSBO — When most people walk along the Little Anderson Parkway waterfront between the SEA Discovery Center and the Brass Kraken, they may not give any thought to the seawall beneath them that holds back erosion.

Unfortunately, that sea wall needed repair.

Under an interlocal agreement between the City of Poulsbo and the Port of Poulsbo, construction work began in late January on the Little Anderson Parkway parking lot that serves SEA Discovery Center, the port, and adjacent businesses.

This time period was chosen because local merchants said it would do the least harm to their businesses, and to take advantage of extremely low tides in February that will make it easier to make repairs to the seawall.

This is a joint City of Poulsbo/Port of Poulsbo project and the costs are being shared. The city’s share is expected to be $254,890; the port’s portion is $170,133. The city is supervising the project .

According to Poulsbo Engineering Director Andrzej Kasiniak, the project consists of two parts: the port’s project to repair the seawall and the city’s project to install a new water quality treatment facility in the parkway. Kasiniak noted the projects were being combined to minimize interruption to the public and minimize costs.

The project will fill the gaps to keep water out from behind the seawall, add new pervious/impervious surface to improve water quality in Liberty Bay, and add additional parking spaces.

The first part of the project — and all of the holes in the ground right now — is the work being done to repair the seawall. In the meantime, portions of the upper parking lot remain open.