Port Townsend, WA Environmental Rules: Boat Dock Permits (2026)

Structures, developments, and uses, including marinas, docks, piers, mooring areas, underwater parks, utilities, and shoreline modifications, shall not intrude into or be built over critical saltwater habitat unless the applicant can show that all of the following criteria can be met:

a. An alternative alignment or location is not feasible.

b. The project is designed to minimize its impacts on critical saltwater habitats and the shoreline environment.

c. Impacts to critical saltwater habitat functions are mitigated to result in equal or better ecological function.

d. The facility is a public or semipublic facility (e.g., water-dependent recreational or transportation facility or utility) and is in the public interest.

2. In areas not previously identified as critical saltwater habitat, the project proponent shall submit appropriate reconnaissance-level studies to determine whether critical saltwater habitats exist, whenever the following two conditions are applicable:

a. The proposed development, use or activity has the potential to cause significant adverse effects to a critical saltwater habitat; and

b. The beach or saltwater area that may be impacted by the proposed development, use or activity is the type of environment in which a critical saltwater habitat typically occurs.