PORT TOWNSEND — The Port of Port Townsend commissioners will consider awarding a contract to rebuild the dilapidated AB Docks at Boat Haven marina, a project about five years in the making, during a special meeting today.
The port commissioners, after receiving nine bids, will meet to hear the port staff’s recommendation at 3:30 p.m. in their chambers at the port offices, 375 Hudson St., Port Townsend.
“We just need to keep things moving,” Port Executive Director Larry Crockett said Tuesday.
“Every week that we can save now is a week longer the contractor will have to pound nails and mobilize the project.”
Crockett said he expects the staff will be ready to make a recommendation to the commissioners but he declined to identify the responsible and responsive low bidder to be recommended.
Crockett and other port leaders opened nine contractor bids two weeks ago for the project.
The apparent lower bidder was Redside Construction LLC of Port Gamble at $3.08 million, said Crockett, but he and port officials must ensure that the contractor would be both “responsive and responsible” to carry out the work.
The project will replace aging recreational boat docks and slips for about 100 boats.
All but one of the bids opened at the port offices Thursday were under the port’s engineering estimate of $3.96 million.
About 24 firms contacted the port in recent weeks about bidding on the project, but nine actually submitted bid packages.
Port of Port Townsend Commissioner John Collins, who attended the bid opening with contractor representatives, said he was pleased by the number of bidders and the lower-than-estimated bids.
Out-of-water work is expected to begin shortly after the contract is awarded but actual removal of the old and installation of the new docks cannot take place until after the annual Wooden Boat Festival ends Sept. 12.
In-water work would have to be completed by Feb. 15 when the state closes the allowable in-water work period intended to protect migrating salmon.
Crockett said the port has already met with moorage tenants at the marina to orchestrate moving their boats to temporary moorage until the docks are replaced.
Boats will be temporarily moved to Point Hudson Marina and other locations at the Boat Haven.
Electrical work and installation of gangways can still be done when the fish window closes to in-water work because it is above water and does not disturb the salmon migration.
Boats should be allowed to return to the new marina after project completion in mid to late April 2011, Crockett said.
Financing has been secured for renovation of the AB Docks built in 1967, Crockett said, with the revenue bonds a lower prices because of the stock market decline.
The docks were given a life of 25 years when they were built, Crockett said, which meant they should have been replaced in the early 1990s.
With little demand from marina tenants to replace them, it never happened. However, Crockett said, the docks are slowly decaying and are in places made of materials that are not environmentally sound, such as Styrofoam.
While it has been figured that the port’s bond debt would come to about $400,000 a month, port officials said it is possible that payments could be lowered initially to $250,000 for two years.
The AB Docks project, like Point Hudson Marina’s upgrade in 2006-2007, would be upgraded to American with Disabilities Act specifications and city building codes. Space for about 13 boats would be lost.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.