Applications for the US Army Corps of Engineers, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife Hydraulics, and City of Bremerton Shoreline permits for the Port of Bremerton’s planned expansion to the Bremerton Marina have been submitted. The permit applications along with plans and environmental documentation are critical elements in maintaining the Port’s project schedule.

The submission is the beginning of what’s typically a 12 to 18 month process of reviews by a wide variety of state, federal and local agencies. Port Commission Chair Cheryl Kincer commented, “The next major work will be to formulate and finalize the financing plan for an expensive and complex project. The Port must have a secure financing plan before proceeding. It will take local, state and federal funding as well as facility revenue financing to make the project a reality.”

The history of the Port’s effort dates back to 2001 when it began to review the potential of an expansion project. The Port began conceptual design studies and prepared cost estimates needed to support requests for federal and state assistance early last year. Cooperation agreements were reached with sister agencies in Bremerton in the spring of 2002 at the same time as applications for federal assistance were submitted.

More detailed design, formal cost estimating and gathering of engineering and environmental data that included geotechnical study, borings, hydrographic surveys, and most importantly, wave and wake analysis by internationally experienced engineers, continued through the remainder of 2002. The significant large-vessel wake environment at the site is the single largest challenge faced by new over-water construction.

Bremerton-based Art Anderson Associates has worked closely with the Port to design a floating marina protection structure that would minimize the impact of vessel wakes and waves. A calm protected harbor is critical to the success of the project. Coast and harbor engineering, headed by senior coastal engineer, Vladimir Shepsis, undertook assessment of the inner harbor protection through a wake/wave study. The result was development of new design standards that will be used and are expected to eventually be adopted as an international design standard for floating wave attenuators.

The Port contracted with Oregon State University’s O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory in Corvallis to conduct wave tests. The tests will subject scale models of the various breakwater designs against the wake environment it will be subjected to on the Bremerton waterfront. Tests are expected to be completed this month and will help ensure that a breakwater design and type is chosen that will provide a calm inner harbor for moored vessels.

Armed with the results of the preliminary engineering, early this year the Port asked the US Army Corps of Engineers to convene a meeting with all state, federal and local regulatory agencies to explain the project, and to gain an understanding of agency concerns and issues that would be the subject of their future permit review.

In February, the Port received word that its application for $955,000 in US Fish and Wildlife Boating Infrastructure funding was successful in the national competition for transient boating assistance. A similar application has been submitted to the Washington Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation. The results of this application will be made public later this month.

The Port will complete an environmental assessment as the next documentation stage under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the lead agency for environmental review. Wayne Wright or GeoEngineers, Inc. is the Port’s consultant for permit coordination and environmental documentation. The Port’s goal is to complete the NEPA process next year and to have the local, state and federal permits approved simultaneously.

The marina expansion design the Port has chosen to submit for permits incorporates Kitsap Transit’s passenger-only ferry terminal, which will provide a degree of inner harbor protection.

The project, which may be constructed in phases, has a preliminary cost estimate of $18,000,000 and an estimated timeline for permit issuance of late next year.