PORT TOWNSEND — An agreement to establish a conservation easement around the proposed Port Townsend Make Waves! aquatic recreation center site at Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park is likely to be completed this year.

Port of Port Townsend Deputy Director Jim Pivarnik estimated this week that it could take another six months for the port to work out an agreement with Jefferson Land Trust and the city of Port Townsend that will work for members of Admiralty Audubon of East Jefferson County.

The Audubon group has voiced concerns about the proposed aquatic center opening the door to further encroachment on the nature park that draws bird-watchers, walkers and other recreational uses.

Group wants acreage preserved

The group wants most of the 20-plus acres of the nature park preserved in perpetuity.

Two years ago, it opposed an aquatic center on the site near 12th Street adjacent to the entrance to the park-and-ride entrance.

The conservation agreement represents a compromise.

“The process first needed is to vacate all the city street rights of way,” Pivarnik said. “The city seems to be cooperating fully with us on this.”

Pivarnik said the port has met with Port Townsend officials, including City Manager David Timmons, as well as Audubon chapter President Rosemary Sikes.

“We would prefer a conservation easement on as much of that property as possible,” Sikes said, adding that the group supports the port working with Jefferson Land Trust, which has a long record of preservation in the county.

‘Viable trade-off’

Owen Fairbank, Jefferson Land Trust president and Conservation Projects Committee chairman, called the conservation easement proposal at Kah Tai “a viable trade-off” and a “sensible compromise” that would preserve the park around the proposed aquatic center site.

“It seems like it is moving forward,” Fairbank said. “It is a way to meet everybody’s needs and be accessible to the community.”

Sikes said the groups are encouraging the port commissioners to develop a plan for the park’s future.

“We are very much encouraging them forward and we’re urging the public to write the commissioners in support of that vision,” she said.

Karen Nelson, president of Make Waves!, said she was encouraged by the cooperation to reach a compromise through a conservation easement.

Make Waves! has proposed a $10 million aquatic center to support more than 2,000 swimmers who want a new public pool and other recreational facilities in Port Townsend.

“I think it’s a win-win for the community,” Nelson said, commending the port’s approach to the issue of locating a new aquatic center at the Kah Tai corner location.

Nelson said Make Waves! is working with Jefferson Transit to address how the aquatic center will affect Haines Place Park and Ride by using parking space at the facility, which the aquatic center will front, sharing public parking with others.

“The center itself would be an attractive magnate for use at the park and ride,” Nelson said, since it would attract more ridership to it by younger and older users who drive less or do not drive at all.

The proposed aquatic center would provide public rest rooms, food services, secured bike storage and improved security, she said.

“There are amenities we could partner with Transit on and provide,” she said.

The aquatic center is planned to be privately funded but owned by the port, with the Jefferson Land Trust as a co-signer on the conservation easement and land management agreement.

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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.