Greenbank Farm upgrades make port list

With both the Greenbank Farm and Coupeville Wharf in need of some TLC, leaders for the Port of Coupeville are exploring potential maintenance projects.

With both the Greenbank Farm and Coupeville Wharf in need of some TLC, leaders for the Port of Coupeville are exploring potential maintenance projects.

A prioritized list of construction projects were presented during an April meeting of the port commissioners.

Jim Patton, executive director for the port, said it will accept solicitations soon to replace concrete fuel floats at the wharf. The two 40-foot concrete fuel floats have failed several times in recent months, most recently last week when one of the floats broke loose.

The floats will be a costly project for the port. The new floats, which will have lattices to allow sunlight to shine through to help underwater plant growth, could cost the port $70,000. That amount doesn’t include the recent attempts to repair damage sustained by recent storms. The floats are insured and the port has a $1,000 deductible.

The port is also chipping in $10,000 to pay for restoration of the south wall at the Coupeville Wharf. The port received a grant from the Ebey’s Forever Fund and the project is slated to be part of the field school organized by the Trust Board of Ebey’s Landing.

Additional high-priority projects include $10,000 for four new buoys and anchors, a staff restroom at the Coupeville Wharf and improved restrooms at Greenbank Farm.

The port also wants to install a staff restroom at the Coupeville Wharf($3,500 plus labor), new buoys in Penn Cove ($10,000) and restroom improvements at the Greenbank Farm ($4,600).

The highest ticket repair, albeit a lower priority, at the Greenbank Farm is reproofing and insulating Barn A. The most recent estimates places the project at $68,000.

Greenbank Farm Manager Judy Feldman said that the roofing project would have to be done without changing the historic features of the building that’s on the historic registry. Notably, the insulation would have to be installed without hiding the wood beams that are visible on the inside.

“It was built in 1904 and there’s not a stitch of insulation in it,” Feldman said. To add the insulation, the roof would have to be lifted off the barn so the insulation can be added.

She added that the current roof isn’t in horrible condition and it doesn’t threaten the structure of the barn.

A timeline hasn’t been set to insulate the barn roof. Feldman said that depends on funding.

The Port of Coupeville budgeted $55,686 for construction maintenance and repair in 2013, and $20,000 for emergency repairs.

The public entity received $335,000 in a Conservation Futures Fund award, but Patton said the commissioners haven’t made a decision to use the additional funds for maintenance and construction.