They thought they’d be forced out, but there’s hope for Tacoma marina residents
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Parks Tacoma will take back ownership of Breakwater Marina by the end of September.
- Parks Tacoma will begin offering one-year liveaboard lease offers on Oct. 1.
- Tenants report poor communication and uncertainty about future moorage terms.
In a recent update, Parks Tacoma said it plans to move forward with retaking ownership of the Breakwater Marina by the end of September. The department will begin extending one-year lease offers to people living aboard their boats at 5401 N. Waterfront Dr. beginning Oct. 1.
Residents living on their boats there, and others who own boathouses, remain concerned and uncertain about what the future holds.
As previously reported by The News Tribune, April was the first time many of the 120 tenants learned they would have to vacate the marina next to Dune Peninsula and the Tacoma Yacht Club by Sept. 30, as outlined in a lease between Parks Tacoma and the Tacoma Yacht Club signed in 1993. The news comes amid a shortage of boat slips in the Tacoma area and marina waiting lists months or years long.
In letters to tenants and an update published to its website June 26, Parks Tacoma said existing liveaboards could stay for at least another year, and, “We anticipate having more information to share regarding existing boathouses by late July.”
Spokesperson Stacia Glenn clarified in an email Wednesday that liveaboard leases will be extended “for one year, but we anticipate that the existing liveaboards will have the opportunity to stay long-term if they choose to continue leasing with us.”
That is a change, as Joe Brady, the deputy director of Parks Tacoma’s Parks and Recreation Department, previously told Tacoma Yacht Club Board chair Joe Kabel in an email April 6 that, “As a public facility, the new marina will not have any liveaboards or privately owned boathouses — these tenants need to find alternative accommodations before the October 1st turnover date,” as previously reported by The News Tribune.
When asked why Parks Tacoma changed its tune, Glenn said Thursday: “Grandfathering existing liveaboards is a practice many marinas in the Pacific Northwest have adopted. The Park Board felt that allowing existing liveaboard tenants to be grandfathered into marina operations was prudent and asked staff to align services to provide this opportunity, which resulted in an operational plan change.”
Parks Tacoma plans to add the facility to its Point Defiance Marina complex, increasing public access, waterfront programming and offering “both transient and permanent moorage of all slip sizes,” Glenn said.
When asked how Parks Tacoma would fund that, given its $7 million total budget shortfall in 2025 and 2026, Glenn said, “The Point Defiance Marina is an enterprise fund and operates on the operational revenues generated by the Marina’s services and programs. Once returned to Parks Tacoma, the Point Defiance Marina Enterprise will manage and operate the space currently known as the Breakwater Marina for public benefit.”
The department came under fire for not clearly communicating the lease expiration and updates in writing, leaving tenants out of the loop.
Liveaboard tenant George Dockstader, 87, told The News Tribune on Wednesday he doesn’t know if he’ll be homeless come October. Dockstader said he’s visited four different nearby marinas but can’t make a decision on whether to move until he knows the terms of a new Parks Tacoma lease and if his rent will go up there.
“I’m scared to death of being homeless at 87 years old. I’ve been successful all my life, but at my age I’ve used up an awful lot of my money to keep going, and I don’t have a lot of choices anymore, and it’s scary,” Dockstader said. “I’m helpless. I feel helpless to do anything. I don’t really have anywhere to turn at this point until we get more information.”
Over the last few weeks Parks Tacoma said it’s been working on a transition plan for the management of the marina. A marine engineering firm is assessing the physical condition of the marina and its infrastructure, as well as studying moorage availability and local market rates for moorage.
“Parks Tacoma is required by law to affix our rates to such a study, and we will share any rate changes (if any are needed) and the market rate study itself as soon as possible,” the department said on its website.
Glenn clarified Wednesday that despite rumors, Parks Tacoma has not extended or amended Tacoma Yacht Club’s current lease agreement, which does not expire until 2041.
Prior to March 2026, Glenn said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was actively designing the third and final phase of the ASARCO Superfund Cleanup Project, which “required the complete removal of the Breakwater Marina, anchoring barges in that area and hydraulically dredging the submerged contaminated sediments from the Yacht Basin floor, depositing the sediments on the barges for dewatering and subsequent transport to a suitable landfill.”
“The EPA suspended the project earlier this year as Federal priorities and direction changed,” Glenn said. “When EPA planned to remove all the Breakwater docks and facilities, Parks Tacoma expected TYC / Breakwater Marina to remove all the tenants prior to October 1 and there were no plans to immediately assume operation of the marina. Our approach to the transition did not necessarily change when the EPA suspended its project. Now we are working with our consultant to determine the condition of the docks and improvements, the best layout for the marina based on the highest demand for slips, the types of tenants we want and develop a business plan and appropriate lease for the new tenants.”
Glenn said Parks Tacoma always planned for the transition to happen Oct. 1.
“The ‘acceleration’ was on Parks Tacoma’s operations to establish a plan for the transition and marina operations given the decision to not proceed with the EPA project on the original timeline,” she said in an email Thursday.
Toni Froehling has owned a boathouse at Breakwater Marina for more than five years and said it’s essentially worthless and a liability if he can’t move it elsewhere. Over the phone Tuesday, Froehling said tenants are still anxious and feel out of the loop.
“I hear tiny bits of it, but it’s so scattered that I can’t draw any conclusions from it,” he said. “I have a boathouse that essentially, until this is resolved, is worth zero.”
Dockstader said his constant worry “preys on my health.”
“It just adds to my frustration, and it just blows me away how they run things. It makes me suspicious. I don’t trust them. I do not trust them,” he said. “We need to see something in writing, specifics. I know I’m speaking for other people too. We’re all in the same boat, so to speak.”
