Port of Coupeville receives $335K in Conservation Futures Funds

Leaders for the Port of Coupeville are figuring out how to best use an award that is nearly equal to the entity’s yearly tax collection.

The public entity received $335,000 in Conservation Futures Funds from Island County for an easement on the agricultural, recreational and environmentally sensitive lands at the farm.

The Port of Coupeville receives around $360,000 in tax dollars each year.

With the futures fund award soon to be in hand, port leaders are looking to move forward with maintenance projects at the Greenbank Farm and the Coupeville Wharf. Those projects have been deferred due to funding problems.

During the monthly commissioner meeting Wednesday for Port of Coupeville, executive director Jim Patton said he is accepting solicitations for new fuel floats at the Coupeville Wharf.

Replacing those floats are a high priority for the port. The current ones have a history of breaking loose. Port employees have had to beach the floats until repairs could be made.

Patton said the floats pose a problem for Penn Cove Shellfish boats, which refuel at the Coupeville Wharf.

He is hoping the new fuel floats will be smaller, made of metal instead of concrete and better equipped to handle the conditions of Penn Cove during the winter. He said he hopes to have bids received by the end of January.

The Port of Coupeville has around a dozen potential projects and a special meeting will be scheduled in February to not only prioritize maintenance needs but revise the port’s budget because it’s going to drastically change.

The 2013 budget was based on the assumption there wouldn’t be Conservation Futures Funds.

 

Contact Whidbey News Times Staff reporter Nathan Whalen at nwhalen@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360-675-6611 ext. 5058.

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