Is harbor too big for city to manage?

Published 8:00 pm Saturday, April 22, 2006

The “Port of Bainbridge Island”?

Ten years ago, at least one islander believed establishing a new, freestanding agency to manage local harbors was a good idea. Business consultant Norm Down, an old hand at navigating the regulatory straits of aquatic lands and shorelines, proposed formation of just such a port district back in 1996. His idea was that the agency would issue bonds to purchase and develop the former Wyckoff property at Bill Point to create parks, marinas and areas for water-related businesses.

The notion proved somewhat ahead of its time; no port district was ever formed, but the Bainbridge community still found a way to buy the Wyckoff land and turn it into Pritchard Park. But the call for a new port authority may be heard again soon, as the city and Bainbridge Harbor Commission grapple with the management of Eagle Harbor and other bays around the island. At immediate issue – giving temporary respite from the years-long and cantankerous debate over harbor liveaboards – is the proliferation of abandoned and junk vessels in local waters. Bainbridge seems to have become a haven for scalawags looking to dodge moorage fees or simply abandon craft no longer seaworthy. A boat recently offered for sale on a well-known internet site boasted, “Get free moorage in Eagle Harbor.” Great.

This coming week, the City Council will be asked to fund the junk boat removal program to the tune of $166,000 to deal with the backlog of wrecks. The city should largely recoup that money from the state thanks to a surcharge on boat registration, but that doesn’t fully offset the city’s time and legal expense for having boats declared nuisances, impounding them and hauling them out, and finding contractors to crunch them and carry the debris away to landfills.

With harbor stewards clearly frustrated, Councilman Jim Llewellyn suggests that a new port authority – tax supported, and with a single mission of harbor management – could do a better job than a city whose resources are already stretched. Ongoing enforcement and a more clearly defined presence in local harbors, he and others suggest, could head off such problems as sunken and abandoned boats before they get out of hand. Nor would such a freestanding authority in a community our size be without precedent. “If you can have a Port of Eglon, for god’s sake, you can have a Port of Bainbridge Island,” Llewellyn commented this week.

Theoretically, yes, although we were once given to understand that the statutory window to create new port districts in this state had closed; somebody might ask the city attorney’s office to look into that question. Also, whether the Bainbridge community is ready for another taxing agency is another matter still. Independent fire and park districts already complicate things a bit, levying taxes to provide services that in other areas fall under the umbrella of municipal government. Just imagine yet another agency coming before voters regularly for funding, and how that might play.

Still, Bainbridge harbors aren’t getting any less crowded, and the fiscal demands on the city to manage them isn’t going to wane.

Barring other ideas – like torpedoes for the harbormaster’s skiff – a port district may be worth a look.