EDITOR’S NOTE: The deadline for making comments on the proposed Naval Base Kitsap project has been corrected in this article.
CHIMACUM — Proposed changes at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor could affect Jefferson County with increased traffic, frequent Hood Canal Bridge openings during construction and the ongoing movement of two additional nuclear submarines in and out of the base.
Greg Leicht, the base’s environmental director, made those comments at a meeting in Chimacum on Tuesday night about a Navy draft environmental impact statement on proposed construction to prepare for moving two nuclear-powered Seawolf Class submarines from Naval Base Kitsap Bremerton to the Bangor base.
Navy representatives attended in the same number as members of the public: 10.
“I was surprised as to how few citizens attended tonight,” said Jefferson County Commissioner Kathleen Kler, the only public official in attendance.
“For a Defense Department meeting, there wasn’t a lot of defense.”
The Navy proposes to increase security with a land-water interface and extend the service pier at the base.
Public comments are being accepted now. They must be postmarked or received online by April 13 for consideration in the final environmental impact statement.
Tuesday’s meeting was over in about 20 minutes.
“There isn’t an overwhelming interest in this,” Leicht said, adding that the Navy had sent out about 300 postcards before the meeting “to people we thought might be interested.”
“If the community isn’t interested, that’s fine,” Leicht said.
“If they are, we are here to answer questions,” Leicht said.
Said Capt. Tom Zwolfer, the base commander: “Our purpose is to give the public as much information as we possibly can.
“We are in Jefferson County because the operation is in Hood Canal and Jefferson County is its western boundary.”
Kler said she was most concerned about additional noise and light originating from the project.
She said Navy staff was willing to answer questions about increased noise and light, and readily provided data about these levels, but she did not know whether these levels were acceptable.
A second meeting was held in Poulsbo on Wednesday night.
The Navy project has two related components: the construction and operation of land-water interface structures and extension of a service pier, according to Thomas Dildine, the project’s manager.
The land-water interface consists of barrier structures at the northern end of the base, which is opposite to the Toandos Peninsula on Hood Canal, using either pile-supported piers or security barriers to connect the existing barrier system on the water and the current security enclave on the waterfront, Dildine said.
It would complete the perimeter of the Navy’s waterfront restricted area by constructing barrier structures at its northern and southern ends, the Navy said at www.nbkeis.com/lwi.
The Navy’s preferred alternative would extend the pier by 540 feet, making the total length of the service pier 1,040 feet.
Support facilities also would be constructed.
The 540-foot-long extension would accommodate a side-by-side berthing configuration for submarine maintenance.
The Navy said it prefers this plan, Alternative 2, in part because it would have fewer environmental impacts than the longer pier in Alternative 3.
Alternative 3 would extend the pier by 975 feet, making the entire service pier about 1,475 feet long, to allow two submarines to be berthed in an in-line configuration.
Under the current schedule, the final environmental impact statement would be completed in spring 2016.
Construction on the land-water component could begin as soon as July 2016 and on the pier as soon as July 2018.
Both would take approximately 14 nonconsecutive months, necessary to accommodate certain windows of time so as to not impact certain wildlife in the area.
Copies of the draft EIS are available online at www.nbkeis.com/lwi.
They also are available at the Jefferson County Library, 620 Cedar Ave., Port Hadlock; the Port Townsend Library, 1220 Lawrence St.; the Kitsap Regional Library offices in Poulsbo, Bremerton and Silverdale; and the Seattle Central Library.
Comments can be made online until April 13 at www.nbkeis.com/lwi, by email at nwnepa@navy.mil or by mail at Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest, Attn: Mr. Thomas Dildine, LWI/SPE EIS Project Manager, 1101 Tautog Circle, Suite 203, Silverdale, WA 98315-1101.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
