Marina Management Meeting

Several years ago (before Covid), the city of Seattle entered into an agreement with Marina Management to take over the management of three marinas in our area: Lakewood, South Leschi (south of BluWater) and Leschi north (north of Daniel’s Broiler). The smaller marinas between the north and south Leschi Marinas are privately owned.

Peter Joers of Marina Management walked us through the changes at our February 2 Leschi Community Council meeting. Improvements have been slow in Leschi as the city was supposed to install a large breakwater at the south marina but that has still not happened.

Lakewood has seen many changes. The public will now have access to the island as the locked gate will be open. Instead, coded gates will limit access to the slips to boat owners only. New slips have been installed and despite an increase in rental fees, the majority of old owners have continued to rent.

When asked about the increase in renting a slip, Mr. Joers said that it had risen to $12 per foot. The small boats are about 30 feet long. Rents had been $8 per foot for many years but slips are costly to install, and the fees were not providing the funds to make improvements. The current fee is below market for Lake Washington slips.

Joers said they had gone ahead on upgrading the south Leschi Marina rather than wait for the breakwater. He showed a photo of the barge that carried away the old slips; there was an old sailboat on the barge which Joers said was an abandoned boat.

When asked about the north marina, Joers said it would probably begin in the third quarter of this year. They are awaiting permitting. He said the shack will go away.

During the Q and A period, parking was discussed as the signage seems to have changed. Joers promised he would look into it. He said that Marina Mgmt. had redone the blacktop. Reaction to the upgrades were positive but more was wanted! Will there be an opportunity to rent a boat? Will there be classes? Joers said he would investigate the possibility of offering these amenities.

The pier is still under the management of Parks.

I had to contact Mr. Joers to explain the “fish window” which I thought of as the window at the Locks where one can see the salmon navigating the fish ladder. Joers had mentioned the “fish window” complicating construction schedules. It refers to the window of time during which you can do over-water construction. On Lake Washington, different areas of the lake have different “windows” of time based on studies that have been done of fish in the area. The objective is to minimize any impact to fish. In the case of Lakewood, the window of time is late summer and is relatively short.

Thanks to Mr. Joers for attending our meeting and bringing us up to date on marina changes and future plans. He generously offered his email if there were any further questions: peter@marinamanagementllc.com.

~Diane Snell