DRAYTON HARBOR SHELLFISH PROTECTION DISTRICT
ADVISORY COMMITTEE AGENDA

Download Zip File of All 2002 Summaries

AGENDA

MEETING ATTENDANCE

DOCUMENTS DISTRIBUTED

• Agenda
• 11/20/02 IFA Drayton Harbor Shellfish Protection District Advisory Committee (AC) Meeting Summary
• Joint Letter from the Community Oyster Farm and Drayton Harbor AC to Department of Health (DOH)
• Board of Health Memo of Proposed Revisions to the On-Site Sewage (OSS) Regulations
• Whatcom County Council Ordinance 24.05.230 – OSS Regulations

MEETING CONTENTS

1. Public Comment Period

AC members discussed the term length of committee positions and whether or not any of this committee’s positions will be ending soon. Geoff Menzies mentioned that he thought the positions had no term length and could resign at any time. The committee could not agree on the actual term length for these positions and agreed to follow-up with the County Executive’s Office to determine these term lengths.

Geoff also mentioned that he contacted the Department of Ecology (DOE) regarding the two derelict boats in the marina and whether or not any type of resource assessment was going to be done. DOE requires a documented 20-gallon or more spill in order to conduct any type of resource assessment. Geoff estimated the sheen around the boat to be about 50 yards wide by 200-300 yards long, which he used in the equations provided by DOE to determine the total spillage amount. These two boats reportedly leaked just less than 20 gallons so there will be no assessments conducted by DOE.

The Department of Natural Resources along with the Northwest Straits Commission and the Department of Fish and Wildlife have partnered to develop protocols for the removal of derelict gear in response to a new legislative bill and will also be removing these boats from the Drayton Harbor Marina.

2. Review Agenda and Previous Meeting Summary

Review Agenda
Geoff Menzies reviewed the agenda. The committee proceeded with no changes to the agenda.

Review Meeting Summary
AC members reviewed the 11/20/02 IFA Drayton Harbor Meeting Summary and suggested the following revisions:

• Change agenda item 5 to read ‘Puget Sound Council Presentation’ and include the marina signage portion under this agenda item so it reads, ‘Menzies shared signs funded by Horizons Foundation and noted where they would be installed in Drayton Harbor and the commercial portion of the Blaine Marina.’
• Change ‘customers’ to read ‘commercial tenants’ under the Port Activities agenda item and revise the listed marina associations to read Squalicum and Blaine Marinas.
• Add Mark Henderson’s name to the meeting attendees.

• Action: Incorporate the above revisions and distribute the 11/20/02 Drayton Harbor Meeting Summary as Final.

3. DOH Reclassification Update

Geoff distributed a joint letter of intent from the Community Oyster Farm and the AC to the DOH in response to DOH’s letter (November 2002) regarding the reclassification of Drayton Harbor. The letter to DOH listed the following steps as the highest priority:

• Continue to conduct water circulation studies in coordination with Frank Meriwether (DOH). Efforts will focus on determining where water circulates from the marina and from Stations #8 and #15 and whether this water impacts Stations#4 and #6 (site of the oyster beds). The circulation studies will incorporate tracking at varying water depths and will occur during late ebb tide through a complete flood tide and fecal coliform (FC) samples will be collected from these various water depths to help determine the impact these waters have on the beds, if any.
• Work with DOH to conduct dye tests at Stations #8 and #15 during a flood tide to determine if the dilution is sufficient by the time the water reaches Stations#4 and #6 to indicate that these sites have little impact on the shellfish beds.

The letter also mentions the following intermediate priorities:

• Work with the City of Blaine to dye-test all the sewer lines near the commercial portion of the Blaine Harbor.
• Continue to work with the Port of Bellingham to address live-aboard practices and get pump-out signage in place.
• Have DOH review the correlation of rainfall and water quality exceedances for the Drayton Harbor area.
• Follow a major rain event with twice daily sampling for 1 week after the rain, which will be funded by the Puget Sound Restoration Fund.

Geoff said that the results of both the dye-tests and the circulation studies should be done in January or February.

Alan Birdsall mentioned that the Port would like to be involved in both of these tests as they will be affected with whatever results are discovered.

One AC member asked for clarification on the purpose of this study or what these studies will attempt to identify. Geoff mentioned that the research would not try to locate a source but rather to identify a relationship between that water movement in the commercial portion of the Blaine Harbor and Stations #4 and #6.

Alan asked about the recently discussed MRC Action Grant project, which will focus on Drayton Harbor and the ability to use any of MRC’s results to present to DOH. Ami mentioned that any information they gain from this project that may be helpful in reclassifying Drayton Harbor would be accessible for this effort.

Geoff also mentioned that the research that will be conducted by Trinity Western deals directly with contaminate loading from birds which may be very helpful.

• Action: Geoff will contact Trinity Western regarding the status of the research project in the Drayton Harbor Marina and will update the AC committee with any new information.

4. Marina Area Signage Activity Update

Geoff mentioned that they have installed five 3’ by 3’ signs all around the commercial area of Drayton Harbor. One sign in Seak is located on the sliding door that is very noticeable to boaters. In addition, there are 4’ by 4’ signs with 6-inch lettering that have been placed at the entrance to the marina, one near the entrance to the Semiahmoo Marina and a couple near the pilings.

One AC member suggested placing a sign at the Starfish wall. Geoff mentioned that there is extra money available through the Shuckin’ on the Spit funds that may be used for this purpose.

5. Port of Bellingham/Marina Issues Discussion

Marina Signage
The Port is ready to install pump out signs in Drayton Harbor and are waiting to get the signs from Washington Parks in Olympia. Geoff mentioned that the pump-out stations in the Semiahmoo marina are clearly marked and the Drayton Harbor signs should be placed in a similar location.

Alan reported that the zero discharge signs cite portions of the Revised Code of Washington in relation to ‘untreated’ sewage, which may be misinterpreted. To eliminate any confusion, the Port is currently working to reword these signs.

• Action: Alan will update AC members on the locations of the new pump-out and zero discharge signage when the information becomes available to him.
• Action: Geoff will send Don Lennartson an email regarding marina signage (pump out) and see when these signs can be picked up in Olympia.

Commercial Tenant Fact Sheet
Alan updated AC members on the status of the commercial tenant fact sheet and mentioned that there was confusion within POB staff regarding who was tasked with this item. Mike Stoner is following up on this item and AC members will be updated with any new news.

• Action: If available, Alan will email an update regarding the above issue to Geoff or Ami for distribution to AC members.

Shilshole Marina Info
Alan has contacted the Port of Everett, as well as Shilshole Marina, regarding the use of dye tablets in their marinas as discussed during the previous AC meeting.

Alan spoke with Kathy Goodman, Operations Manager at Shilshole Marina, to discuss the components of the Pledge Program and determined this is the direction that the Port wants to go.

This is the second declaration of intent that the Port of Seattle has drafted with their live-aboard association. The declaration includes an update to the existing best management practices and as of January 1, 2004, the Port will enact their zero discharge policies.

Comments on the Draft Marina Pledge Program
AC members presented their comments regarding the Draft Marina Pledge Program to Alan. The port presented the program to local agencies and received many comments from the Squalicum Harbor with suggestions on providing more than one pump out station as well as providing a recycling station.

The Port is hoping to kick-off this program on the opening day of boating season in the Squalicum Harbor.

Educational Needs of the POB
Geoff mentioned that his suggested changes to the Port of Bellingham’s live-aboard authorization agreement cites ‘if there are not appropriate holding tanks’ which contradicts the policy that all live-aboards must have adequate holding tanks. The Port asked the AC to provide the Port with a fact sheet on the sensitivity of the harbor.

6. Discussion on Proposed Revision to OSS Regulations

At a previous County Council meeting, there was discussion regarding the revisions to the On-site Sewage Regulations.

One AC member mentioned that it seems unnecessary to have these regulations for those people who have properly functioning sewage systems. The member mentioned that this assumes that sewage systems will not work properly.

Follow-up meetings will take place to decide whether or not to finalize these items.

7. Drayton Harbor Open House

Ami distributed flyers for this year’s open house to AC members for local distribution. Jan Hansen agreed to post flyers in the Blaine area, Alan will post flyers near Squalicum Harbor, and Sharon Roy will be sent flyers for Birch Bay distribution.

One AC member asked whether or not formal invitations were going to be made for the event because the Port has expressed interest in sending out invitations to their commercial tenants to show support for tenant’s attendance at this event.

• Action: Ami will send an electronic version of the open house invitation to Alan and the Port of Bellingham for distribution to local commercial tenants.

This year’s presenters include (this is not an inclusive list):

• Shellfish Committee
• Whatcom County Water Resources
• Marine Resources Committee
• Community Oyster Farm
• Puget Sound Action Team
• Port of Bellingham
• Semiahmoo First Nation

8. New Business / Next Meeting’s Agenda

New Business

• Action: Anvil will distribute hard copies of all meeting materials to Charlie Hawkins until further notice.

Next Meeting’s Agenda
To be determined