Port to rebuild rock wall, expand marina
A large rock wall bordering North Beach protects the Kingston ferry terminal from occasional foul weather blowing across Puget Sound.
During a 2006 storm, many of the wall’s boulders toppled into the water below.
“What’s in jeopardy now is the whole ferry terminal,” said Mike Bookey, Port of Kingston manager.
The port leases the land the ferry terminal sits on to Washington State Ferries.
As fall approaches, there is concern another storm will rip away more of the wall and the terminal’s holding area could be the casualty of a natural catastrophe.
Bookey estimates reconstruction of the wall will cost $400,000 to $500,000.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency already agreed to pay 75 percent of the tab, he said. The port and the Washington State Emergency Management Services will split remaining costs, Bookey said.
Re-construction of the wall is scheduled for this fall and will go to bid in October.
Plans for ferry to Seattle in full swing
Kingston residents’ wishes for another attempt at a passenger-only ferry service to downtown Seattle may not be too far from realization.
After a change to state legislation, the $3.5 million grant originally held up through its tie with the tolling of Seattle’s Highway 520 Bridge now jingles in the Port of Kingston’s pockets.
In August 2007, the Federal Transit Administration awarded the grant to the port to restart passenger-only services to Seattle. The port received the money Aug. 25.
The grant is intended for capital purchases and will go toward buying two vessels for the Port of Kingston’s Water Transit service, said Port Manager Mike Bookey.
The port bought the exisitng terminal “Verlane” for $50,000 from the now-bankrupt Nichols Brothers of Whidbey Island.
The terminal was used by Aqua Express – the private company that ran a foot-ferry service to downtown Seattle more than two years ago.
The Port of Kingston Water Transit would run to Seattle’s Pier 50.
The next step, Bookey said, is to re-write the Port of Kingston Water Transit business plan. The port has asked the state for $900,000 over a period of four years for start-up costs, as it qualified for a transit service subsidy.
“We are a bus service that just happens to be on water,” Bookey said, stressing the name change. After start up, passenger fares have to cover operating costs 100 percent.
Currently Port has two options: “Either we run it ourselves as a division of the port or outsource another company to operate the vessel,” Bookey said. “It all depends on cost.
“I’m not guaranteeing 100 percent we can pull this off. We still have to get help from the state. There’s a lot of interest to see if we can do this. We are trying to pull this off on a shoe-string.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE: For more information, read Port of Kingston Commissioner Pete DeBoer’s column, Down at the Port on page 5.)
Brazeau closes mobile home park to retire
Few knew it even existed, but it’s been there for 30 years. Hidden behind tall trees and brush is 22 acres of the Brazeau Mobile Home Park, situated next to Highway 104 and the Carl Zimmer Industrial Park.
After three decades, owner Elaine Brazeau, 80, is calling it “done.”
She applied for a preliminary plat permit to turn the park into 15 one-acre lots, zoned industrial and for sale signs are posted.
Brazeau said she is too old now to take care of the park, her property taxes are too high and it’s too much commotion for a woman her age.
Brazeau has lived on the property for 58 years when she and her husband Bernard “Bud” Brazeau bought the acreage back in 1950. Bud has since passed away and it’s too much for Brazeau who said she’d rather move to Poulsbo.
“I’m Norwegian. I’m going to Poulsbo,” she said.
Sewage plant to study re-treated sewer water
The Department of Ecology recently awarded Kitsap County $200,000 to see if the Kingston residents’ sewage wastewater can be reused.
Currently, all the water that flows in North End homes is treated and released into the Puget Sound, said Don Johnson, operations foreman at the Kingston Wastewater Treatment Plant. Before it is released in an outfall near Appletree Cove, microorganisms, bacteria, oxygen and ultraviolet light treat the sewage water at the plant, located on South Kingston Road.
The DOE grant enables the plant to perform a pilot study to step-up treatment, said Stella Vakarcs, acting senior manager for sewer utilities for Kitsap County Public Works.
Although in its feasibility phase, Vakarcs said, the treated water could help irrigate Kingston’s Heritage Park and supplement the trickle of water in Grovers Creek. The creek is important salmon habitat and home to Suquamish Tribe’s Grovers Creek Salmon Hatchery.
After the grant funding is used up, costs to continue the program would have to be worked into the operation and upkeep of the plant, he said.
According to the Reclaimed Water Report, total program costs are an estimated $3.6 million. Over a 30-year period, monetary benefits are estimated between $3.1 and $3.9 million.
