(WSF recording of Wednesday night Community Advisory Group meeting)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

As Washington State Ferries gets close to settling on a “preferred alternative” for its Fauntleroy dock replacement, it told the project’s Community Advisory Group members Wednesday night that it’s focusing on what could be a hybrid of two of the options it’s been examining for more than a year.

They are B and B-3, which would be longer than the existing dock and would hold at least a full ferryload. of vehicles (124 for the Issaquah-class ferries that currently serve the route). Here’s how those two were described when the nine possible alternatives were unveiled in October of last year:

Last night’s online meeting wasn’t meant to be final word of which alternative WSF is pursuing, but rather a chance to review the criteria used in the evaluation, and to answer questions about the review. (Here’s the full slide deck.)

WSF’s David Sowers opened with an acknowledgment that “this process has taken longer than we anticipated.” But: “We’re getting toward the end” of that process. The ~$100 million dock/terminal is currently expected to be built between 2027 and 2031, and construction could last that entire four-year window.

What they’re wrapping up now is the “Level 3 screening process.” WSF’s Marsha Tolon recapped that they evaluated the alternatives on 29 “performance factors.” You can see the full details of those factors, and how alternatives stacked up, in this draft document circulated to advisory-group members. Those factors ranged from what you’d expect – load times, for example – to environmental factors such as how much an alternative might encroach on Cove Park (north of the dock) or how it might affect eelgrass restoration; here are some key criteria as listed in the meeting slide deck:

Here are WSF’s choice of highlights for why they favor the possible “hybrid” – note that the darker the box, the better that alternative ranked:

Feedback from advisory-group members included a question from Fauntleroy’s Judy Pickens about whether WSF really expected to be able to expand the terminal’s overwater coverage so much. Tolon suggested that the support of the Technical Advisory Group will help with that. Another group member urged WSF to plan for a future in which larger boats might be serving the route, not just the 124-car vessels handling it now. (WSF acknowledged that some years down the road, they’ll have to build a class of ferries replacing the Issaquah-class, and that could mean a different capacity. “We will deliver the Legislature our best thoughts” when the time comes, said John Vezina.) What about the pump station on the Cove Park side of the dock – will WSF have to maintain road access to that? Sowers said they’re assuming so.

There was no vote – this is an advisory group, not a decisionmaking group – so WSF’s focus on the footprint of B and B-3 ultimately was an FYI, not a “do you agree?”

WHAT’S NEXT: WSF says it’ll plan a round of community engagement – at least an “open house,” suggested Sowers – before making a final decision on the preferred alternative. Once that decision is in, a new round of environmental review will kick off. And before it builds the new dock, WSF will be working with SDOT on changes for the Fauntleroy Way intersection at the dock’s exit/entrance; that plan is not finalized yet but construction is expected to start next year. (An advisory group asked for a rendering of what’s in the works; a rep for the engineering firm working on that part of the project said they’re working on one.)