The plans are scaled back and there won’t be as much boat moorage as some had hoped, but within two years Langley Marina expects to have a new life as a waterside business.

The decades-old business, which Linda Moore purchased in 2000 from longtime owner Barney Hein, will be the site of both a business venture and a historical renovation. Moore, who has helped develop other community-oriented projects on the island, including Bayview Corner, explained her vision for her portion of the Langley waterfront Wednesday afternoon to about 35 people at Trinity Lutheran Church, updating plans that could affect what sort of a place Langley’s waterfront and Small Boat Harbor becomes.

At the invitation of the Whidbey Island Marine Resources Committee, Moore laid out her vision for the future of the Langley Marina property. Condemned by the city of Langley the year she purchased the old, lap-sided structure, the marina building and the water it fronts will be a different place when she is finished. Saying she wants a place where locals fish and crab and where day visitors will spend their dollars, Moore said she plans to maintain character with the existing building, even though she will have to tear it down and rebuild it.

Moore said she also intends to protect, and in some cases enhance, the site’s sensitive marine ecosystems. This, she said, is of paramount importance.

“The science and biology of the site will drive how we approach this project and what we do,” said Moore.

Biology and environment are already playing a part in the marina’s future. Though still interested in bringing additional moorage to Langley’s harbor, Moore said her initial thought to add 250 to 300 slips to the existing harbor is not possible. She said heavy sand movement into the area would be a constant and unconquerable problem given the revenues a big boating facility would generate.

“A big marina would require a breakwater of such size to protect it from the sand buildup that 300 slips would be necessary just to pay for the breakwater,” said Moore.

Getting down to the specifics of the project, Moore said she will undertake a three-phase development of the site sometime in 2004. In the first phase, she will have the existing Langley Marina building removed from its perch over the shoreline and tidelands. She said it may be necessary to barge it to another site, because she intends to salvage all the useable lumber from the structure for re-use in a new marina building.

In Phase 2, Moore said, she plans to build a two-story building that is on more of a “human scale” than the current structure, which is built much like a warehouse. She is also looking into building a boat launch through the center of the building. This would allow boat launching under any tide conditions, something not possible at present.

Phase Three will have Moore looking at building a small boat moorage facility.

When completed, the new Langley Marina will be a commercial business. Moore has expressed her intention to sell marine fuel, fishing tackle, food, bait and other items to the boating public.

At the same time, she said she wants to make the area a place where both fish and people enjoy being. Problems at the site to be addressed in getting to this point include modifying the stormwater runoff that pours unchecked from the building and making room for parking. Moore also said she wants to make it easier for people to move up and down Warf Street, the steep access road to the Langley Marina and Small Boat Harbor.

To take care of the fish, Moore needs to pay attention to the eelgrass beds near her property. Amy Leitman, a marine biologist hired by Moore, said at the meeting she found a healthy bed of eelgrass at the marina site, a bed that is home crabs and clams, shrimp and anenomes.

She also found a mound of wood and gravel under the existing building, and “organics” that may have leaked out of a septic system, none of which belongs in the eelgrass. The problems need to be corrected. The eelgrass’ health could also be improved if Moore’s new building allows more light to filter into the water than the existing building does.

Moore did not disagree with this assessment.

“I want to do right by the earth and biology and right by the public,” Moore said.

The marina building may not be the only part of the Langley water front Moore owns. She said she has just entered into a contract to purchase the Sea Breeze Vacation Home, which is adjacent to the Langley Marina. Owning that building could give her space to add parking, parking that is safely distanced from the water.

Moore will make reports and plans for the work she plans to do available at the Langley and Freeland libraries. She said she is also in the process of building a Web site where the public can review the information.