Port of Port Townsend changes operations at Quilcene

Posted

Site safety issues and a new management plan have led the Port of Port Townsend to make staffing changes at Herb Beck Marina in Quilcene.

Jim Speer, who has worked at the port's Quilcene operation for 21 years and has been the official on-site caretaker for 10 years, had his contract terminated Feb. 28. Jim and his wife, Donna, are also being evicted from the port-owned dwelling on the Quilcene property.

The Speers live in a port-owned manufactured home, built in 1986, tucked into the trees across from the public restroom and across the parking lot from the boat launch.

The home has become unsafe as a year-round dwelling, said Sam Gibboney, port executive director. She said an adjacent property owner who has a road easement through port property is responsible for an embankment, about 18 feet in height, through which water flows year around in a 12-inch culvert. The creek flows past the home's right side and into Quilcene Bay. The culvert periodically becomes clogged, as it did during a storm last December, Gibboney said. There is an emergency overflow culvert, apparently installed some years ago by the port.

In the most recent "crisis," as Gibboney described it at the Feb. 8 port commission meeting, the backed-up water was seeping through the dirt embankment. After a geotechnical engineer assessed the site, port staff decided the embankment has been structurally compromised, and the dwelling was subject to catastrophic flooding.

FLOODING CONCERNS

"To have a year-round tenant there was not appropriate," Gibboney told The Leader March 10.

Jim Speer first became involved with the property by helping Don Dickenson when he was harbormaster, and later, assisting Ken Dressler when he actually leased the property. Speer became the port's on-site contractor in 2007. The Speers lived in Quilcene before moving to the port-owned house at the harbor.

"It's been the best part of my life, until now," Speer said. "I really didn't want to leave here, because I like all the people. It was a happy place for many years."

Quilcene residents started a petition in late February asking the Port of Port Townsend to reconsider the decision to terminate Speer's contract. The port intends to use regular staff to service its Quilcene property, Gibboney said.

A Go Fund Me campaign was started March 5 to help the family with relocation expenses.

Donna Speer said the community efforts of assistance were a surprise and are much appreciated. A house mover has indicated the manufactured home can be moved. "We just need a place to put it," she said.

On Feb. 1, the port commission approved a resolution to declare the manufactured home as surplus property. The Speers are buying the structure, Gibboney said March 10, and are being given the opportunity to move it by the end of April.

The underlying problem with the insufficiently small culvert in the dirt embankment has not been solved, Gibboney said. "A long-term fix is needed," she noted.

PLANS FOR QUILCENE

A port maintenance staff member is now assigned several days a week to handle the Quilcene property, with more staff time to be required as boating activity increases.

"We're gearing up for the season, including the shrimp opening," Gibboney said of port plans.

The port commission on March 8 approved an application for a $50,000 state Community Economic Revitalization Board grant to help fund a study on how to increase business activity at its Quilcene property.

The port's wish list for Quilcene property improvements in the next five years includes restroom renovation estimated to cost $54,000, marina entrance dredging at $195,000 and dock repair at $200,000.

As part of a port-wide review by new management, plans are being made to improve facilities and hopefully boost revenue. For example, there are two RV spots near the Quilcene harbor and more could easily be added, Gibboney noted, on a seasonal basis.

INCREASING INCOME

A priority for Gibboney, hired last year, is to improve the port's financial condition. The Quilcene operation is a money loser.

"The port as an entity does not need to make money everywhere, but we need to make money somewhere," Gibboney said.

In 2012, port officials began discussions with Coast Seafoods Co., the largest employer in the area, to potentially purchase 57 acres of port-owned property along Quilcene Bay. The initial public reaction was negative, causing Coast to end negotiations. At the time, port officials said the goal was to take a non-performing asset (vacant property) and generate up to $1 million in assessed land values, which could be reinvested in the Quilcene area. The port had not considered selling the marina, yacht building or swimming beach.

Coast Seafoods has "expressed an interest" in securing long-term stability for its shellfish operations, Gibboney said, but the port commission "has not directed staff to move in that direction." If and when property negotiations were to occur, Gibboney said, it would require an amended comprehensive plan and would be a public process.

According to Abigail Berg, the port's finance director and auditor, the 2017 revenue budget for the Quilcene property is $143,791 and the expense budget is $130,929. Of the expenses, there is a $6,770 contract cost for Speer's services, a stipend paid semimonthly. Speer's position included use of the dwelling, which the port valued at $6,000 annually for leasehold excise tax purposes.