Remediation and Rebuilding Underway at Lakebay Marina

Our goal is to complete all this work in the current biennium, which ends June 30, 2027.”

The historic Lakebay Marina on Mayo Cove has been closed since 2022 due to unsafe conditions, but it is slowly undergoing a major transformation, according to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

The Recreational Boating Association of Washington bought the marina from owner Mark Scott in 2021 for $1.6 million in a joint effort with DNR to donate to the state, with the intention that it eventually be incorporated into the neighboring Penrose Point State Park as a boating destination.

An ad hoc Lakebay Marina Citizens Advisory Committee came together last year after seven KP residents sought direct communication with the DNR Aquatics Division managing the project.

Member Bart Wolfe said, “The good news is that DNR has accepted us to communicate the thoughts concerned people of the KP have about the project. We’re not necessarily the only voice, but we do, in fact, function in that capacity. DNR invites us when they are on site so we can meet them, and that’s a big help.”

“In May of 2025, we removed the 2,000-gallon underground fuel storage tank that was located in front of the old garage; we also removed the old garage,” according to Stephanie Leienedecker, the DNR project manager for the marina, in a written status update to the group.

“Our initial data indicated that there would be some contaminated soil to remove with the tank. Engineers approximated 61 tons of contaminated soil. … After removing 323 tons, we still had not reached the end of it. Because it was becoming a larger cleanup than we anticipated, it was reported to the Department of Ecology, and the hole was filled in with 150 tons of rock, topped with soil, until further investigation can be completed.”

During that excavation, what Leienedecker described as “a significant number of cultural resources” were discovered.

Willamette Cultural Resources, LLC, was hired to monitor construction, working with the Squaxin, Puyallup, and Nisqually Tribes to prevent further disturbance. Meanwhile, test holes were to be drilled in February and March to sample the soil and better determine the extent of contamination.

At the same time, DNR received a $400,000 grant from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office (with a 50% match by DNR) to restore the shoreline along the bay. Bulkheads and blocks along the stream emptying into the bay will be removed starting in 2027.

The largest project will be rebuilding the existing pier.

“We need to go through the Army Corps 106 review process before we can start designing the removal and replacement of the pier,” Leienedecker said, which likely will not be completed until next year.

“Our goal is to complete all this work in the current biennium, which ends June 30, 2027,” she said.

“Nothing is happening on the site now, except that word is spreading that it’s a convenient place to do a drug deal or something like that; if you need to live in your car or you just need to drop off some garbage, this is a great place to do it,” Wolfe said. “DNR does have a division that monitors boats anchored in places they’re not supposed to be. We let them know, and they have apparently told one particular boat owner that he needs to get out. Last I heard, they were gone.”

The original pier, built by Carl Lorenz in 1884 to ship lumber from his water-powered mill in Lakebay, was replaced in 1926. It served the Mosquito Fleet and later became a center of community life after the Washington Cooperative Poultry and Egg Association built a warehouse at the end of the new pier in 1928, the structure that remains. The facility became a marina in the 1950s, and the former warehouse was a popular restaurant and music venue until it finally closed in 2022 after multiple health and safety violations.