EDMONDS — The original boathouse at the former Haines wharf, a once-bustling salmon fishing spot now vacant for a decade, has taken a large step down the road of decay, and its future is uncertain.
The boathouse on the wharf at 16111 76th Place W. in north Edmonds collapsed in high wind
s last Sunday.
Capt. H.F. Haines built the wharf in 1939. The boathouse was brought over from Irondale, near Port Townsend, by barge.
Now it sits in a crumpled pile, its moss-covered roof and faded “Meadowdale Marine” sign visible from across the railroad tracks.
“It’s kind of sad to see it go,” said Stan Buchanan, 74, who drove down with his wife, Audrey, 77, this week to view the damage.
The Buchanans have lived nearby for 40 years and often went fishing from the wharf, they said.
“Our kids all worked there,” Stan Buchanan said. “Capt. Haines was our neighbor.”
The Haines family ran a boat-storage operation, boat launch, fishing tackle shop and snack shop on the wharf until the 1970s. It was known as the Herb Haines Sport Fishing wharf. The business had 150 small fishing boats for rent.
The family sold the wharf to another owner in 1976. Five years later, the family took it back and ran it as Meadowdale Marine until 2001.
The business converted from renting boats to storing them. A larger boathouse was added and that building still stands.
In the early 1990s, fish runs declined and the state closed that section of Puget Sound to salmon fishing. It’s since been open on an intermittent basis.
The property was sold again in 2001 for $300,000, according to county records.
The buyer, Slobodanka Stepanovic, and her brother, Milo Milosavljevic of Brier, planned to rehabilitate the structure and resume the salmon fishing operation, Milosavljevic said in 2006.
His initial plans did not meet city of Edmonds codes, however, and never went further.
“I think all that fell by the wayside,” said Rob Chave, Edmonds planning director. “I don’t think he has active permits at this point.”
Milosavljevic, a builder, filed for bankruptcy last year, records show.
Milosavljevic could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Jeffrey Wells of Seattle, said he doesn’t know what Milosavljevic and his sister have planned for the dock.
Wells said he remembers the wharf from when he grew up in north Edmonds and graduated from Meadowdale High School in the 1960s.
What will happen to the dock is hard to predict at this point, officials said.
It’s under Edmonds’ jurisdiction, but the city will consult with environmental agencies before taking any action, Chave said.
Under city laws, any building in danger of collapse or becoming dangerous could be required to be repaired or demolished.
“It’s not something we keep track of on a day-to-day basis,” Chave said. “When something like this happens, it definitely brings it to our attention, that there might be a maintenance issue.”
If the dock is taken down, a series of permits would likely be required, said Larry Altose, a spokesman for the state Department of Ecology.
“An environmental review may also be necessary, which the city would oversee,” Altose said.
The dock’s dilapidated state would seem at this point to make rebuilding unlikely.
“It was a piece of history,” Buchanan said.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
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