By AMELIA HEAGERTY
Staff Writer
Tramp Harbor Dock, one of few public piers still standing on Vashon, is in such bad shape that some of its wooden pilings are 90 percent deteriorated, Vashon Park District officials said.
As a result, the park district, which owns the popular pier, hopes to inspect the dock next year to determine the urgency of major repairs or if a complete rebuild, which could cost up to $1 million, is needed, officials said.
While repairs seem imminent, some wonder just how much the community is willing to spend to keep the dock.
Though it’s a one-of-a-kind asset for the Island, costs to preserve it could be prohibitively high — even if hefty grants are secured — and it’s unclear who would spearhead a campaign to raise funds.
Recent safety inspections have determined that the dock is safe for pedestrian use. But in the event of a natural disaster, there’s little indication of how the dock may fare, park district officials say.
Deemed the Island’s most accessible public waterfront location by some mobility-impaired Islanders, Tramp Harbor Dock is more than 80 years old.
It has had only “fixes and repairs to obviously rotting wood” since 1995, when King County Parks deeded the dock to Vashon Park District, said Wendy Braicks, the park district’s executive director. There are indications that more major repairs were done to the dock in 1984, she added.
The structure is cherished by Islanders in diverse communities.
Some come to the T-shaped pier to fish off its end.
Mobility-impaired residents appreciate the ease of accessing it off of Dockton Road — a level and relatively smooth trip.
Scuba-diving Islanders relish the rich marine life that calls the pilings home.
And once a year, families flock to Tramp Harbor to see first-hand the creatures who live under the dock, in a one-day event sponsored by several Island organizations.
And after King County tore down Maury Island Park pier in August, Tramp Harbor Dock — often called the Standard Oil Dock after the company that constructed it — has become an even more valuable asset for the community, some say.
“Hopefully, it will be here for a long time. It’s a popular site, and people love it,” Braicks said. “It’s unlikely the community would be able to afford to build anything like it again.”
The few pilings that “are in really bad shape shouldn’t create a safety hazard for daily use,” she added. “Our concern is what if there was a big catastrophic event that would take it out?”
The costs or liabilities of such an event could be immense, said David Hackett, park board chair.
“I think we’ve got a little time,” he said of the timeline for repairs.
He added that the park board will need to evaluate just how much the dock is worth.
An inspection alone could cost between $6,000 and $12,000, according to various estimates, said board member Joe Wald.
“It’s something that would be a shame for our community to lose, but on the other hand, if it cost a whole lot, would (repairing it) be a priority for the Island?” Hackett said.
The board hasn’t officially decided to inspect the safety and structural integrity of the dock, but Hackett predicted it will decide to do so. Funding for the inspection would then be included in the park district’s 2009 budget.
Repairs on the dock could be anything from replacing the creosote-treated pilings that are most damaged, to completely rebuilding the dock — which could be “dauntingly expensive,” Braicks said.
When King County demolished the Maury pier, it cost $171,132, said Chris Erickson, a project manager for King County Parks’ Capital Improvement Program.
The state Department of Natural Resources paid $100,000 of that, through a program that funds the removal of creosote — an oily wood preservative that has proven harmful to marine life.
The county also paid a consultant more than $90,000 for taking care of documents and permits needed before the pier could be torn down, Erickson said.
A dock deconstruction or overhaul would require several environmental permits, including a shoreline permit, hydraulic permit, a Department of Ecology permit — perhaps even a Department of Fish and Wildlife permit.
Braicks said a dock stewardship group could be created at some point to advise the district on a repair project and help drum up support for the project in the community.
Many in the park district said they appreciate the unique recreational destination that Tramp Harbor Dock offers but are waiting to see the price tag of repairs before throwing their support behind the project.
“We’re just in the exploratory stages — trying to get good information, seeing what level of interest there is in the public for maintaining the dock,” Hackett said. “We’re talking ultimately about providing water access to folks who can’t get it otherwise.”
