Funds for the preconstruction and design elements of a small craft hoist at the Port of Anacortes’ marina were authorized by the commission after the issue was taken off its March 5 consent agenda.

Commissioner Steve Hopley requested the item be removed until an agreement could be reached with the city identifying the project as a public access requirement for future Cap Sante Boat Haven improvements.

The issue, however, was brought back up and discussed after Commissioner Pat Mooney said the small boat community had been waiting long enough for the hoist.

Commissioner Bill Short pointed out there’s a short timeline before the start of the Scott Paper Co. cleanup project, which will make Seafarers’ Memorial Park inaccessible for small boat launching.

As is, construction of the P/Q Dock hoist probably will not be completed until the end of summer while the park will be closed off for two years starting in June.

The $530,000 small craft facility will consist of a boat hoist for vessels, such as sailboats, and a staging float. The P/Q pier will be widened and resurfaced and the uplands graded to improve access to the hoist by people wheeling or carrying their boats.

A city shoreline permit for the hoist project was secured by the port through its West Basin Redevelopment project in 2005. The preconstruction and design work, which will cost $47,000, could be completed by May after which the project would go out for construction bids, said port Executive Director Bob Hyde. The actual construction could begin in July.

A motion approving design work was passed after a proposed amendment by Commissioner Ray Niver to include wording that the project was a good faith effort to fulfill public access requirements failed for lack of a second.

Hopley had brought up the concept of using the project for public access requirements during 2009 budget discussions in November. The planning commission at times requires public access components as conditions for shoreline permits, which are required for developments within 200 feet of the shoreline.

Last week, Hopley said with the port’s comprehensive plan complete, the city should be able to let the port know what future public access improvements will be required at the marina. He then referred to the public boat launch the port was caught off guard with as a shoreline permit requirement for the West Basin project.

That project’s plans included construction of new C through F docks, dredging and a new fuel float. What was missing was a new lift to replace the old one being demolished as part of the project, Hyde said.

After a public outcry to the city’s planning commission, the boat launch was added as a public access condition for the permit. The 25,000-pound capacity boat launch was opened next to C Dock in March 2007.

The potential for a similar outcry was running high after the small craft hoist was removed from last week’s port agenda.

“If they didn’t put it back in and discuss it, our speeches were on the other side,” said Pat Barrett, referring to the typed notes he used to speak to the commissioners after their vote.

Barrett and about six others from the Anacortes small boat community came to the meeting prepared to ask why the hoist was taken off the agenda.

Before the 2009 budget was approved, the commission designated the hoist project as “public access requirements for Boat Haven improvements.”

But there was no sign it would be a requirement for getting the hoist constructed, Barrett said.

“Let us not get caught up in political posturing and move forward now,” Barrett said. “We believe that the city, the port and the user groups have an agreement of understanding in principal, a handshake if you will, that we will all continue to move forward in cooperation.”

Barrett said the relationship between the port and the small boating community had been strained in the past, but has gotten better because of the port’s effort to communicate, be honest and cooperate. However, that relationship was at risk because of the desire to bank the hoist as public access with the city as a condition of it being built, he said.

It’s not a matter of getting credit but defining what those public access requirements will be, Hopley said.

But the comprehensive plan consist only of blocks and not specific projects, such as a restaurant or chandlery — each that would have its own particular public access requirements, Hyde said. The city would have a hard time defining requirements when it doesn’t know what will be going in.

Hopley compared the process to when the city and port came up with the airport development agreement in March 2005. At that time, airport development was also not defined.

“It seems like an analogous situation and doable,” Hopley said.

Hyde said a similar document for the marina could take six months to a year to complete though discussions with city Planning Director Ryan Larsen have already begun. Larsen agreed to work on public access issues as well as a development agreement for the marina as part of his 2009 work plan.

Before last week’s meeting ended, Barrett and others thanked the commission for approving the hoist project.

Short had moved that the commission authorize the funds for the hoist’s design. Mooney seconded. Commissioners Keith Rubin and Niver supported the item. Hopley voted no.

Port staff wrote in the action item’s background information that if the project had not been approved, “the port (would have broken) the commitment to the community members in Anacortes to provide a small boat launch at the north end of the marina,”

“It would have been a big step backwards,” Hyde said.