PORT TOWNSEND — The Port of Port Townsend is evicting a shipyard business owner, citing uncontained sandblasting and noise.
Port officials want John “Mike” Hogan’s shipyard business out of the yard by midnight Sept. 30.
“There ain’t nowhere for me to go. It’s game-over,” Hogan said Thursday at his operation, Oceanview Marine Services, a full-service marine shipyard specializing in steel vessels.
Port Executive Director Larry Crockett and other Port leaders contend that poor containment of sandblasting material, which fall onto the bare ground around work vessels, jeopardizes the Port’s state Department of Ecology stormwater permits.
He and other Port officials fear the entire shipyard could be shut down if the National Pollution Discharge Permit were revoked.
“If we lose that, everybody in the boat and shipyard is out of business,” Port Commissioner Bob Sokol said at a Port commission meeting Wednesday.
Eviction notice
Crockett informed Hogan in a two-sentence Sept. 8 letter that his month-to-month tenancy was terminated at the end of this month.
Crockett did not cite in the letter reasons Hogan has to go.
But at a Port commissioners meeting Wednesday he produced a document signed by Hogan on Nov. 4, 2003, in which he agreed to properly contain sandblasting materials.
Hogan, who has been at the Port for three years, agreed that he bends the rules sometimes to meet the customer’s needs in a timely fashion.
He said he can’t pass the price of a $30,000 containment tent onto a commercial fisherman on a tight budget.
Only the Navy can afford that, he said.
Noise complaints
Sunday night and early Monday morning, residents near the boatyard reported hearing sandblasting past 1 a.m.
“The whole reason we went to the city for a noise ordinance was for his operation,” Port Deputy Director Jim Pivarnik said.
The city wanted to shut off work at 7 p.m. nightly but settled on a schedule of allowing work from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, according to Pivarnik.
Pivarnik said Hogan has been verbally warned between 10 and 15 times about noise and sandblasting material not property contained.
“Hogan wants to operate lean and mean, and when you operate lean and mean you have environmental issues,” Pivarnik said.
Pivarnik cited high levels of copper threatening the yard’s wastewater treatment facility and said that an uncontained operation could be the cause of rising levels.
“Our goal is not to shut anybody down,” Pivarnik said.
“We want to work with people.”
Working with the Port
Sandy Howard, spokeswoman for the state Department of Ecology, said the state also wants to work with the Port, preferring to avoid shutting the shipyard down.
“The Port has a boatyard general permit, allowing folks to work on boats on land, but they are required to contain their mess and not make it wash away,” Howard explained.
“We applaud the Port for doing the right thing. It puts them at risk and it’s a good thing that they are keeping an eye on their tenants.”
The Port was less at risk of being shut down, Howard said, than of being fined for such infractions.
“The maximum is $10,000 per day per violation, but that’s pretty high and applies to flagrant violations,” she said.
‘We’ve been struggling’
With his supporters calling him a great asset to the community and his detractors at the shipyard calling him a “cowboy” and a “rule-breaker,” Hogan says he only means to provide the best service possible.
“I sure never set out to upset the apple cart this grandly,” he said at his office, a small white trailer at the shipyard.
“We’ve been struggling. It’s not anything I’m doing premeditatedly or consciously. I’m just trying to get the projects through the door.”
Hogan produced figures that show his operation used the 300-ton Marine Lift for 36 vessels since January 2005 and has used the 70-ton lift for 17 smaller vessels.
Consequently, the Port stands to lose more than $60,000 in haul-out fees, officials acknowledge.