The Northwest Maritime Center is looking to secure a five-year option-to-lease agreement with the Port of Port Townsend for a property at Point Hudson.

The property currently is an empty lot used for parking at the corner of Water and Jackson streets.

Jake Beattie, executive director at the Maritime Center, presented the proposal to the port commission at its regular business meeting Jan. 23.

“We’re a growing organization,” Beattie said at the meeting. “Our programs have tripled in size since the time we opened. … We are looking at a greater, more in-depth involvement in Point Hudson.”

Beattie said the option to lease would be used to allow the Maritime Center to plan the possible construction on the lot, which is about 100 feet by 100 feet.

The building would be used to expand education and programs the center offers, Beattie said.

“This campus is built with expansion in mind, and we’re kind of running out of room,” he said. “But unless there is some degree of commitment from the port, we don’t want to spend a lot of time and energy developing the idea.”

Last March, the Maritime Center proposed a 50-year lease that would have given the center operational management of the entire Point Hudson campus and marina. But after the port commission failed to reach a decision on the lease, the center withdrew the proposal last May.

The new proposal is to lease the single property — which has not been used as anything other than a parking lot for eight years — which means the Maritime Center would have five years to work on planning and fundraising for a potential lease and construction of a building.

“It seems a little too far to ask for a lease of the space,” Beattie said. “We don’t want to manage a parking lot. We need some baby steps between our organizations about how we can start to work together. This feels like it might be one of those baby steps.”

Commissioners were in favor of the idea, but Pete Hanke suggested that discussing parking issues with the city might be necessary.

“The issue here is parking,” Hanke said. “It would really be beneficial to see a parking plan before we think about removing that.”

The lot currently allows free 24-hour parking for visitors to Point Hudson and customers at Puget Sound Express, the Maritime Center and the Schooner Martha Foundation. The port is considering changing the lot to pay parking to generate income, but current city zoning laws might not allow that.

“It’s probably one of the most expensive pieces of property we own,” Port Executive Director Jim Pivarnik said. “We really shouldn’t be using it as a parking lot. … We have no plans for this property, so in my opinion, it’s a good idea.”

Commissioners asked Pivarnik to work with Beattie on drafting an option-to-lease proposal in the upcoming weeks.

For Beattie, the positive reaction to the idea showed a potential partnership between the port and the center, despite the commission’s inaction on the center’s previous proposal.

“I was pleased,” Beattie said. “Commissioner Hanke has concerns about parking, but beyond that, commissioners Steve Tucker and Bill Putney seemed excited in reinvesting in the process of working with other entities.”

When it comes to last year’s 50-year lease proposal, Beattie said the Maritime Center is looking to move faster than the port does in making decisions.

“There is a little bit of caution on our side,” he said. “If we do re-enter the conversation, there has to be a very good reason.”

Going into the new year, the port has focused on opening community discussions to solve some of its infrastructure problems, including the Point Hudson jetty.

“I really want to see the port and all other agencies work on building positive, profitable relationships,” Putney said. “Ours has been colored with some false starts. … It’s a moment where the city, the port and the Maritime Center together can work together.”