Mukilteo may move ramp
Published 12:01 am Wednesday, January 26, 2011
MUKILTEO — The small boat launch at the Mukilteo Lighthouse Park could move as part of a park renovation project.
The site, which can accommodate three or four boats at a time, is popular with families from around Snohomish County. Officials are considering moving the boat launch to the nearby decommissioned fuel tank farm in the next few years.
They may also decide to keep the boat launch in its current location at Elliot Point or get rid of it altogether.
The city in 2004 approved a long-term plan to renovate and improve the well-used Lighthouse Park, formerly a state park. Those improvements so far included a playground, picnic shelters, a pedestrian pathway, more restrooms, a bandshell foundation and more beachside plantings. The next two phases of the project will begin as money becomes available.
About 400 annual permit holders received a questionnaire in the mail last week to help the city decide what to do with the boat launch, city administrator Joe Hannan said.
Many boaters would like to see the ramp moved to the tank farm, ownership of which is in the process of being transferred from the U.S. Air Force to the Port of Everett.
“I think it would be a huge boost for the city of Mukilteo,” said Tom Lowery, a Kamiak High School teacher who likes to fish.
Lowery was among several boaters and fishermen who addressed the City Council this month to let officials know how important the boat launch is to them.
To even consider this option, the city would need to do a feasibility study that could take up to a year and a half and cost as much as $100,000, officials said. Moving the boat launch could cost between $2 million and $3 million.
“Moving it is a possibility as long as it doesn’t sidetrack the transfer of the tank farm,” Hannan said.
One of the two floating docks needs to be repaired, and the city allocated $150,000 in this year’s budget to get the work done. Each dock has a lifespan of about 10 years.
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
