Lakebay Marina Reopening?

When will Lakebay Marina reopen to boaters and non-boaters? What is taking so long?

The Department of Natural Resources and its partner, the Recreational Boating Association of Washington, acquired the site three-plus years ago with great plans and fanfare. The Key Peninsula News story in January 2022 includes the statement, “Additional funds were raised to ensure the historic facility …will receive the full restoration needed to preserve it and its 2.8 acres of uplands and tidelands for continued public recreational access.”

However, three-plus years later, the site remains closed, the pier fenced off, and the building over the water — one of the most important remaining pieces of KP history — is deteriorating. DNR hosted a few community meetings in order to seek KP input and reports that some of this is incorporated into their plans, including:

• Environmental cleanup and shore restoration.
• Restoration of the Lakebay Marina building and boating piers, with amenities for boaters and non-boaters.

But DNR recently told us most of this is delayed for the foreseeable future due to a lack of available funds, despite what was said three-plus years ago.

The undersigned have therefore created the Lakebay Marina Citizens Advisory Committee. Our goals are to monitor progress and to gather input from KP residents, so the completed project best meets our community’s needs.

DNR has confirmed to us that they are fully committed to completing the project, including the full and correct restoration of the Lakebay Marina building. But it is becoming increasingly clear that DNR’s other projects and expenses have higher priority. This project sits, and the building continues to fall apart. This needs to change.

We need more community voices to speak up about completing this project correctly and sooner. We need to let DNR know. Please send us an email, and we’ll make sure DNR gets all our messages: lakebaycac@gmail.com.

Lakebay Marina Citizens Advisory Committee

Bart Wolfe, Bill Roes, Tom Tallman, Anne Nesbit, Cathy Williams, Dan Whitmarsh, Mark Michel