Residents urge Oak Harbor to keep marina

Oak Harbor invited the public to City Hall this week for input on the future of the marina.

“If Oak Harbor closes the marina, we’re going to have to change the name of the city to Oak Used-To-Be-A Harbor,” said Terry Ney, who moors in the marina. “If it doesn’t have a harbor, it can’t claim to be one.”

The 50-year-old marina needs new infrastructure, breakwaters, dredging and channel improvements with a price tag of around $50 million. Chris Sublet, harbor master, said that closing the marina is just one option and likely the least popular one.

The other options are to identify funding for the complete removal and replacement of the marina or simply to renovate, knowing that renovation is buying much less time.

Renovation and replacement would be done in phases over the course of years to not displace liveaboards or others who use the marina.

There are three financial options, Sublet said, though none of them are simple: forming a port district, receiving grants and legislative support or collecting taxes and bonds.

Currently, many of the surrounding marinas have long waitlists, Ney said. Likely, only 10% of the harbor’s around 300 boats would be accommodated. It would be a massive and messy displacement.

Vince Johnston, who also uses the marina, supports making the marina more economically viable. Perhaps an Anthony’s Seafood Grill would make it more of a destination rather than a stopover.

Most people stop in Oak Harbor for the night on their way to a different destination, Sublet said, rather than people coming to Oak Harbor for Oak Harbor’s sake.

More than a stopover marina, it’s a hometown marina, said Paul Sorenson, a consultant with BST Associates, an economic research group. Most of the people who use the marina live in the area rather than visit.

What also makes the Oak Harbor Marina different than other stopover marinas is the staff, Sublet said, who go above and beyond expectations to be friendly and helpful to boaters. He calls it Disney magic.

“We don’t have an Anthony’s. We’re not a Hilton. I wouldn’t say we’re the Motel 6 either, but somewhere in between. Maybe a Best Western,” he said. “We don’t have all the bells and whistles, but we’re going to kill you with kindness.”

Ret. Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Michael Bobeck was stationed at the seaplane base and has since retired. He said he chose to stay because he loved the area, the people and the marina.

He spent 38 years in the Army, ten in the National Guard working homeland defense and homeland security, he said. If an earthquake destroys the Deception Pass bridge, the Oak Harbor marina will be vital. As such, there are likely revenue streams at a federal level.

At the county level, the marina was recently accepted as an emergency marina for this reason, Sublet said. When the city pursued funding with the Army Corps of Engineers, the message was “loud and clear” that without significantly greater economic development, it would not receive federal support.

Bobeck said it takes time and work, but he’s seen other states receive similar funding for these types of emergency designations.

Of the over 40 people in attendance, none seemed in favor of closing the marina.

“The state refers to it in the Growth Management Act as an essential facility,” said James Blasdell of Oak Harbor, “and it is essential that we have the marina there.”