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Port of Port Townsend awarded grant to repair Boat Haven breakwater protecting 450 marine‑trade jobs
Summary
The board approved a $1 million grant recommendation to rehabilitate 590 feet of Port Townsend’s aging breakwater, a project engineers say will extend the structure’s life and protect marine-trade jobs and the working waterfront.
The Community Economic Revitalization Board approved a staff recommendation to award a $1 million grant to the Port of Port Townsend to rehabilitate the east 590 feet of the main breakwater protecting Boat Haven Marina.
Port staff described the breakwater as an aging structure that combines an original 1930s timber cofferdam and later rubble-mound sections. Engineers selected a targeted approach — geotextile fabric, graded armor stone and riprap — to stabilize slump areas, restore armor and extend the breakwater’s service life by decades. "This is foundational infrastructure for everything that happens behind it," Port deputy Eric Taegs told the board, noting Boat Haven supports about 61 businesses and roughly 450 marine‑trades jobs.
The port said federal and environmental reviews are substantially complete: it holds a Corps of Engineers nationwide permit, a MARAD categorical exclusion and a Section 106 review with a no‑adverse‑effect determination. Local permitting and remaining technical work were described as near completion; staff said specifications are 100% done and the project is ready to bid.
Board members emphasized the breakwater’s role in preserving the county’s working waterfront and the local supply chain for marine services. With the grant approved, the port said it expects to proceed with final local permits and advertise for bids in the coming months; the port also indicated coordinated funding with other partners would cover the remainder of the project cost.
The board’s approval will allow the port to move forward with the rehabilitation work that staff and engineers say is necessary to protect navigation access and prevent potential service disruptions to businesses that rely on the harbor.
