Officials are reaching out to the public to help determine the fate of the Tramp Harbor dock as well as the marina at Dockton Park.

The Vashon Park District and King County are each faced with repairing or replacing their popular public docks. Both of the aging creosote piers are in need of repair, and both will eventually have to be upgraded to meet state environmental codes.

Last week, the county’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP) put out an online survey to attempt to gather information about how and how often the docks are used. The county and the Vashon Park District, which worked together to create the survey, also hope to gauge public sentiment around keeping the two piers open as well as using tax dollars to repair them.

The survey will be open until June 5. The county will also hold a public meeting, where there will be additional opportunity to comment, sometime after that.

“The more information we have, the better,” said Kevin Brown, who heads the parks division of DNRP. “The park district shares that sentiment. We don’t want to make decisions without hearing from the people using these facilities.”

While the county owns the marina and boat ramp at Dockton Park, the park district manages the 80-year-old fishing pier at Tramp Harbor. Both Brown and Park District Director Elaine Ott said they hope the survey data will help them determine their next steps and possibly negotiate new leases for the sites with the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The information could also give them a leg up when seeking grants or other funding to help cover what will likely amount to millions of dollars of work at the docks.

“Our hope is to make a case for state financial support,” Ott said. “We need some data to back that up.”

The docks first came into question in 2013, when state leases at the two sites expired, and the state raised the lease issue again earlier this year. When aquatic leases come up for renewal, DNR typically asks agencies leasing the public land to make plans to bring old docks or other structures in line with current environmental codes. Rules now prohibit creosote, which both docks are treated with, and require other environmentally friendly features, such as grading that allows light to pass through.

Joe Smillie, a DNR spokesman, said new leases at either location would likely require the docks to be modernized. However, he couldn’t say how much work will be required until the agencies apply for new leases and the state investigates.

“We definitely want to upgrade what’s there,” he said. “There are lots of creosote logs and oil sheens (from the creosote) around.”

In addition to facing lease renewals, both docks are deteriorating and in need of repair. Earlier this year, engineers evaluating the Tramp Harbor dock found that 11 pilings there are at risk of collapsing and sending a 20-foot section of pier into the water. Repairing the pilings would cost about $300,000. However, the district has put off deciding on repairs until it learns what additional work the state will require to meet environmental codes.

While Ott originally believed a whole new dock might be in order, at a recent meeting with DNR, she learned the district may be able to meet code by simply wrapping the dock’s creosote pilings with steel. While a dock replacement would cost as much as $5 million, she said, but the price tag for wrapping the pilings would be closer to $500,000.

“That’s far more palatable,” she said.

Ott also learned that the first half of the dock sits on shoreline property owned by the park district. This means some pricey upgrades may only be required on the portion on state land, saving more money.

“It could significantly increase our options for what we do,” she said.

She added that depending on what the survey finds, the district could also consider shortening the dock so none of it would be on state land. However, she said she believes the survey will prove the dock is most used for fishing and birdwatching, making shortening it a poor option.

“We do know just from hearsay that the reason the dock is important is because it’s a deep fishing site and a birdwatching place,” she said.

The survey, she said, will also help gauge whether the public would support spending park district money on upgrades or might even support a bond for a dock renovation.

“Essentially it gets at us wanting to know if the public feels repairs and renovations are the best use of their tax dollars,” she said.

Ott recently requested a quote from a construction company for an entire dock replacement, saying the park district hope to gather all the information it can before beginning any lease negotiations.

“Under advice from our attorney, we said let’s wait and vet all the issues before we go down that road,” she said.

Meanwhile, safety concerns about the Tramp Harbor dock have led the district to make plans for permanent warning signs there. The park board voted in March to leave the dock open but post warnings after several people spoke at a public meeting about the dock’s importance as the island’s only public fishing pier and a place known regionally for birdwatching. Large metal signs, with warnings in three languages, were ordered about a month ago, Ott said, and should arrive any day now.

“We’ve done our due diligence by informing users of what the risk is, but there was a lot of passion surrounding people wanting to assume that risk and use it anyway.”

While the park district is focused on Tramp Harbor, at Dockton, the county-owned marina is also aging, and parts of the dock have been closed for safety reasons. The county has a $450,000 grant from the state Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) in hand that it could use to make repairs, but it’s also holding off on that work until it negotiates a new lease. Rebuilding the dock to meet current environmental codes — including replacing creosote pilings — would cost at least another $1 million, Brown said, and he is unsure where the funding would come from.

However, both Brown and Ott said they felt encouraged after a meeting with DNR, when state officials indicated they may be more flexible than once thought and might also help the agencies garner grants.

“I think what we really learned from the state is they have an open and honest approach toward working with us,” Brown said.

King County and the park district are now working to distribute the survey, sending it out to several email lists and putting up posters. Ott said she plans to reach out to possible dock users, including the Audubon club and the Sportsmen’s Club.

Smillie said the state is aware of the survey and so far no deadline has been set for the agencies to apply for leases. Typical leases, he said, require that docks be upgraded to meet current codes within 12 years.

To take the survey, see vashonmaurydocks.questionpro.com.