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Home My WebLink About1993.00.00 - Enhanced Haulout SEPA File LUP #9308-01vI. AFFECTED ENVTRONMENT, SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES A. Major Site Features and Topography The Port Townsend Boat Haven is a 63-acre (+) public boatyard and marina located at the western end of downtown port Townsend. The uplands area comprises approximately 31 acres of the site. The marina is divided by a man-made ipit into a commercial boat basin and a larger recreational boat basin. The commercial basin has moorage for 64 vessels and the recreational basin has rnoorage tor 362 vessels. 'l'he commercial basin was consmrcted in the late 1920s and the recreational basin was constructed in the mid-1960s' The entire Boat Haven area was once part of a small estuary which adjoined Port Townsend Bay' By 1g90 significant filling of the areaLad occurred and the precursor to Sims way (SR 20) had been created. Dredge spo"ils from both the commercial and recreational basins were later added to the area, resultini ln tfte topography existing today. The site is now generally level, *it * average elevation oiappro*i*ut.fyZ.O' above mean sea level (MSL). Variation across the Boat Havei uplands i, upp-*i* ately 2.0 feet, with the western end generally at the lower elevation' The fill is almost eniirely sand. Most of the existing roadway and work area surfacing within the port has little to moderaie ballasting and only a portion of the roadways are surfaced with asphalt. A railroad berm along the waterfront enters the Boat Haven property from the west and slopes from an elevation of lpproximately 10 ft above MSL to grade of 7 -5 ft above MSL near the site oi,n" proposed lift dott. The railroad was built in the late 1800s and was in use until 1981. The northwestern edge of the Boat Haven borders the bluffs of the western edge of town To ft: west these bluffs upiiou"n the shoreline and are separated from it only bIfu shoreside railroad berm. The uplands directly to the west of the Port properly between the Boat Haven and the point at which the bluffs adjoin the railroad berm are owned by the Port Townsend Paper Company (pTpC). Analysis and evaluation of these uplands are included in this environmental review. i ,rr ut tfr:13''$toe ned f1 ft f;.f . i Wetlands Two discontinuous freshwater wetlands are located on and adjacent to the western edge of the Boat Haven uplands in an area designated the Urban Wetland District in the City of Port Townsend's Urban Waterfront Plan,- The shoreward wetland was originally part of the estuary but became a freshwater wetland following construction the railroad berm and subsequent filling ofadjacent uplands.The inland wetland is rePorted to have developed since 1987 as a result of a broken water main that went undetected for several years until recentlY caPPed. These two wetlands were delineated and flagged in 1993 by the City's wetland consultant, Ms' C:\WPDOCSVIAULEIS\DOC\REVBODY-WPDJTTNE20, I994 VI-1 /'?raf o{: Pr d,-,',,',r.rrr.uc'i i t'i:i,:ri itt'i iltt L u! fia' tJ-loE - {)\ :li .li tlt iii jti jli {li iii li l:li rl /t Lisapalazzr of pacific Rim Soil and Water. The wetland boundaries are shown on the site map (Figure 3) and the limits of a 50-foot buffer are shown in the areas adjacent to the project site. As described in the delineation report (See Appendix J in Appendix I (Stormwater Management Plan)), "The f,rrst wetland (hereafter called Wetland #1) is lbcated near the northern corner o the site and appears to be fed primarily by poor quality stormwater runoff from Sims Way and some portions of the Port property. The second wetland (hereafter called Wetland #2) is located io the south, sandwilhed between the railroad tracks and a minimally maintained dirt access rca<i that bisects the site from NE to SW. Some of the water feeding this ivetland drains from the southwest corner of the Boat Haven along the railroad tracks, but the majority appears to be subsurface flow from Wetland #1 and other areas to the north and west." "The two wetlands have distinctly different plant communities. Wetland #1, located farther from the Bay and subject to poorer water quality conditions, is dominated by spirea, hardstem bulrush and cattails with a rather large inclusion of a stand of reed canarygrass, and alders and willows around the edges. Most of these plants are relatively tolerant of a variety of pollutants and tend to gtow in lower quality systems." "Wetland #2has more open water than Wetland #l and from the plant species present appears to have higher water quality, probably due to isolation from impacts of Sims Way runoff. It has a wider variety of species with fewer weedy types. The open water portions have duckweed. The open water edges are dominated by hardstem bulrush and, in some areas, cattails." "Wetland #1... would be classified as Palustrine Emergent/Palustrine Scrub-Shrub complex. The majority of the wetland is emergent, but there is a significant Scrub-Shrub component along the toeslope of Sims that adds significantly to the wetland habitat values' The wetland rates as a several reasons:C{t.N ff-r de.tkr,.d s"vvc1' l) the wetland is small,at approximately 1 acre; 2) there is significant evidence of poor water impacts from the adjacent industrial area; 3. low species diversity; 4) minimal buffering; 5) no corridor connection to other habitats." qualrty and also signs of ongoing minor "Wetland #2 ... would be classified as Palustrine Open Water/ Palustrine Emergent/ palustrine Scrub-Shrub complex. There is approximately l-2 acres of open water in this 2-3 acre wetland.' The Open Water area is quite protected and used regularly by wildfowl- The Scrub.Shrub componlnt is around the edges of the wetland and functions partly as a barrier and partly as habiLt for smaller birds and mammals. The wetland rates as a high Category III for several reasons: 1) the wetland is small, estimated at approximately 2'3 acres; c:\wpp6q3u1qt[EIS\Doc\REvBoDy.wPDJune20, 1994 ]flr'2 I ]) thgre are signs of past and ongoing impacts from the adjacent industrial area;3). relatively high species diversity4) minimal buffering specifically, the railroad tracks which bound almost 50% of thewetland do not rate any points at all,5) three wetland classes present; 6) no corridor connection to other habitats." B' Site history, prior planning and environmental review, ongoing site.related activities Site history The initial development of Boat Haven occurred in 1927 when the commercial boat basin wasdredged and rip-rap jetties were installed. Much of the dredged material was used to createuplands by filling part of the estuary north of the basin between Washington Street and what isnow Sims Way (SR 20). Industry located on the adjacent uplands incluJed a large lumber andhardware store and various small marine and fisheries related activities. Boat repair wasapparently performed primarily on a tidal grid and almost no boat-building activities occurred inthe area. In the early 1960s, the Port of Port Townsend and the U.S. Armicorps of Engineers designed and constructed the large recreational basin to the west of the orignal commercialbasin. The western jetty of the original basin was opene4 the tidelands to the west of the jetty were dredged to an average depth of approximately-13.5 feet below mean lower low water(MLLW), and the existing configuration of riprapjetties were installed. The dredged materialfrom the new marina was used to complete the fiiling of most of the remaining wetlandsbetween Sims Way and the railroad berm along the waterfront. The remaindei of the dredge spoils were placed on the north side of Sims Way, creating extensive new uplands u"r.ug"-*h.r. Safeway, MacDonalds, Coast=To-Coast and much of Kah Tai park are now located. _lrom the completion of the recreational marina until 1975 only a small portion of the Boat Haven uplands were used for any commercial activity. the only significant upland use of thewestem end of the Boat Haven was by General Construction Company anA Sait pacific Corporation. A dramatic expansion of the marine trades industries in Port Townsend occurred 9dng the mid 1970s so that by l982very little shoreside space was available. WashingtonStreet and a portion of San Juan Avenue adjacent to the exiiting lift dock were surfaced withasphalt and much of the remaining work areas and roids withinthe central and west-cenfialareas of the Boat haven were ballasted with materials from local quarries. .In'!. mid-1970s, at the urglng of community business people, the port installed a Travelifthaulout facility. The-smalfstorage operation of fifteenio trventy boats per winter increasedsradyllly to forty or fifty boats per winter by the mid-1980s. By this time the expanded boatrepair businesses recognized they were not able to meet the needs of all of their customers *-ti::. the existing haulout equipment was limited to 60 tons. There was also a requirementror some boats to be repaired inside covered facilities. The Port then purchased a 70-ton CTI4TSCS\FIAULEIs\Doc\REVBoDY.WPDJune20,I994 VT-3 (al.s FOi HAtJt-Or'f ob. lLE C,m o *vz a a t Gc{. v\> bQ Usaod s*, NOATDCt 'Dr{xrcED td) r.t 0FCHO€A IATEAI€ 0o a 0o & OF 'a; OO ? ? d. c o lGrwuu.€FD rn€ rrsHmtItfl. aI b a a iEHJC€ ^l}Isil€ nIf^vt iltI See Figure 10 For Details a. Travelift b. Lift Dock c. Washdown Faciliry ft1, io"{ !', },-h-rr$f A/r/ta ,5rwp d. Enclosed Sandblast Faciltiy e. Benedict Street Spit Removal f. Removal of Work Float and Boat Houses g. Ballasting and surfacing of Roadways and upland work Areash. Washington Sffeet and No_NAme Rnrd po-^i,^+j^- : lbr-r crf f T. flnhtnuecr l"\f.+,tlortser?{ qSoE -D I