If all goes well, the dock at Hidden Cove Park will be replaced in 2016.

Don’t go off the deep end just yet. Park officials note that more money needs to be raised to pay for the ambitious project.

According to Barbara Trafton, executive director for the Bainbridge Island Parks Foundation, the parks district has received a $300,000 grant from Washington’s Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account. That will cover about half the cost of replacing the dock, which is expected to be $598,000.

While the park district has enough reserve funds to match the grant, the foundation hopes to raise $100,000 or more to offset the park district’s contribution.

The dock at Hidden Cove Park has long been the place for teens to spend hot summer days. As Trafton tells, it’s one of only a few places along the water’s edge on Bainbridge Island where the shore is actually public.

“The Hidden Cove Park dock offers the only public float on Bainbridge Island,” Trafton said. “This is where groups of neighbors meet. It’s where high school students gather and summering college students meet up with old classmates. It’s where parents bring small children for the returning tide-warmed waters of inner Port Madison. People of all ages brave the narrow steep stairway to launch hand-carry boats.”

Only 4 percent of Bainbridge Island shoreline is accessible for public use, Trafton said.

“Eagle Harbor Waterfront Dock provides boat access, and the Point White Pier makes for good fishing and a thrilling drop-jump into cold water,” she said. “But only the Hidden Cove Dock sports a float for low water access for swimming and canoe, kayak and paddle board launches.”

The new dock will be about the same length and width. The removal of the steep stairwell and gangway is planned. A new gangway will allow disabled people to access the dock and make carrying a kayak or paddle board safer.

Currently, the dock is open for use and minimal routine maintenance is being done on it, according to Perry Barrett, planner with the Bainbridge Metropolitan Park & Recreation District.

The new dock is designed to be much less steep and more environmentally friendly, Trafton said.

The 6-acre park was purchased by the city in 2005 with open space funds and was transferred to the park district in 2009.

According to Trafton, the dock is more than 20 years old and was in place when the property was purchased. It had been attached to a previous private residence.

While the fundraising now is just to replace the dock, there is a second phase to the park improvement project that may happen later. It will include a picnic shelter and restrooms.

As for the fundraising, the project is getting help from students in the Class of 2016 at Bainbridge High School.

“They’ve taken it on as something they’re going to support,” she said. “We’re working with the kids and they hope to make this their class gift to the community. They want to begin a tradition of class gifts being something that the entire community can enjoy.”

Students will run a social media campaign and host events and a donation drive throughout the summer and on into the fall, Trafton said.

There are also plans for a barbecue at the park on Sunday, Aug. 9 where the students and neighborhood groups will get together.

The dock is much-needed, parks officials said.

“It’s a big effort,” Trafton said. “The permitting is already underway.”

Just how long it will take to replace the dock isn’t certain, she said. Much will depend on the construction window.

“We have to work around environmental regulations like the salmon spawning season,” she said. “What we do know is that construction is planned to begin next spring.”

So, she said, the new dock will probably not be open for use until late fall of 2016 or spring/summer of 2017.

Donations can be made to the Hidden Cove Dock project via the Bainbridge Parks Foundation.

For more information, go to www.biparksfoundation.org or call 206-842-4971.