Angie Fusser, the city’s parks director, told the Edmonds City Council committee on July 15 that the city must replace two marker buoys by the fishing pier and add four buoys at the dive park following a Coast Guard audit. The work requires multiple state and federal approvals, possible Department of Natural Resources (DNR) lease activity and specialized environmental studies.

Fusser said the pier buoys date to a 2002 permit and require a new lease with DNR for anchor locations; the dive-park buoys fall under an existing DNR lease that expired in 2020 and is in a holdover status. She identified the main permit requirements as a Joint Aquatic Resources Permit Application (JARPA) with Attachment J, a potential Section 10 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA) from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, eelgrass and macroalgae surveys, and a SEPA environmental review. Fusser said many of these planning and study tasks require licensed professional services performed from a vessel and that the permits can be processed concurrently.

Fusser provided a preliminary city estimate of $45,000–$50,000 for professional services to prepare and submit the permits and an additional $5,000–$10,000 for installation work, noting the total could reach $50,000–$70,000 and the project likely would take more than a year. She said the staff member who had been leading the project left the city in April, and Parks staff have since had to reestablish project oversight.

Committee members discussed possible outside funding sources and whether county grant programs might apply; Parks staff said conservation-futures funding is primarily for land acquisition and likely ineligible, but agreed to explore other county funding programs. Fusser said the buoys are the city’s responsibility for public-safety reasons and that, while volunteer offers are welcome, technical and liability constraints limit volunteer roles unless the volunteers are licensed professionals who can sign off on work.

The committee received the update as an informational item; staff said it will return to council with a request for a contract for professional services and a funding plan when permitting work and cost estimates are firm.