Don’t expect Tacoma’s Thea Foss Waterway to become an aquatic aerodrome to rival Seattle’s Lake Union, Victoria’s Inner Harbor or Vancouver’s Coal Harbour anytime soon, but local aircraft boosters are taking the first step this week to give the Foss a proper floatplane dock.
The Foss Waterway Development Authority board is scheduled to vote today to authorize its interim executive director to advertise for a consultant to plan for a seaplane facility near the mouth of the near-downtown waterway.
The seaplane float project has been a longtime wish list item for the Tacoma Waterfront Association, which is raising $5,000 of the $35,000 cost of the consultant study.
“Su Dowie (the authority’s interim director) is really carrying the water on this project, but we’re very supportive of the program,” said Tacoma Waterfront Association vice president Stan Selden.
The remainder of the study’s cost will be paid through a grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Aviation Division.
When the preliminary planning is done later next year, the authority plans to seek further planning and construction money from the department and other sources.
The preliminary consultant work will identify two possible sites for the float north of the Murray Morgan Bridge, create a conceptual design for the float, seek public input on the concept, perform a biological evaluation of the idea and begin the permitting process for construction.
“Whenever the DOT and the FAA get involved, there’s a lot of red tape that has to be dealt with,” said Selden.
Advocates for the seaplane facility say the new dock will attract private fliers and commercial floatplane operators to Tacoma and its downtown attractions, including the area’s art, glass, history and auto museums.
The Foss once was the site for an improvised floatplane dock on the south side of the Murray Morgan Bridge, but that dock was removed when new facilities were built along the waterway.
Because of the broad wingspan of aircraft, a conventional float is unsuitable for floatplane operations.
The tall pilings protruding from the water at a dock designed for boats preclude a floatplane’s approach.
Pierce County has only one approved floatplane facility. That float is on American Lake, miles from downtown Tacoma.
The waterway authority is asking the consultant to study locations north of the Murray Morgan Bridge because that is a shorter taxi from the unobstructed water where the planes could take off and land and because there are no residences bordering that section of the waterway.
John Gillie: 253-597-8663
john.gillie@thenewstribune.com
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