A multi-million dollar project for a small boat haul-out a few miles south of Petersburg is now fully funded.
The long-anticipated Small Vessel Haul-out project at Scow Bay is slated to receive $8.88 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation through its Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant program. That’s in addition to the millions of dollars the federal department promised the project last year.
Petersburg Harbormaster Glorianne Wollen said, after decades of planning, she’s excited the money will be used to fund actual site work for the project.
“I’m just thrilled because it’s a much needed project,” said Wollen. “We’ve been talking about it for many years, and it’s going to make huge impacts for our community, both on the economic and the ability for local people and visitors to be able to, you know, use our waterfront to its fullest potential.”
Scow Bay doesn’t have a bonafide vessel haul-out, but it does have an old concrete ramp that was originally built for seaplanes. Due to its shallow slope, using that ramp to haul vessels out of the water heavily depends on the tide. Wollen said it can only be used for a few hours in a day — and some days, not at all.
Because boat haul-outs are limited in Petersburg, it isn’t uncommon for local boat owners to take their vessels to another town for out-of-water work.
“There’s a lot of demand for haul-out services, not just locally, but regionally,” said Liz Cabrera, director of Petersburg’s economic development council. “We want to preserve a way for people to be able to haul and work on their own boat if they want to, here in our community.”
Cabrera said the infrastructure improvements will help make Scow Bay more efficient, less constricted by tides, and will make year-round use at the facility possible.
In addition to the new boat haul-out, which will go into deeper water, the federal funding will be used to extend the existing breakwater and construct a dedicated boarding float. A heated washdown pad with water filtration to prevent heavy metals from entering marine waters, along with power utilities for boat work on land, are part of the plan as well.
“All aspects of this project can be done by local contractors,” Wollen added. “That’s another aspect of it that’s really exciting — it’s a small enough project that we can do it here locally.”
Wollen said the funding is not only great for the local economy, but also for the psyche of the community.
“Washington D.C. believes in Petersburg enough to send us [nearly] $9 million to promote this project,” she said. “That’s also a really good feeling.”
The project is estimated to cost about $11.4 million.
Last March, Congress dedicated $4.1 million to the project from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Combined with the RAISE grant, the federal department is expected to provide about $13 million for the project — funding it in excess.
Petersburg had applied for the RAISE grant eight times before receiving word on Jan. 10 that the project was selected.
“I almost can’t still believe it,” said Cabrera. “I keep looking back at the email [from DOT]… like okay, yeah, it did happen.”
Petersburg Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said in an email that this high-priority project will be taken off of the borough’s recently-approved list of requests for capital funding “if all of the funds currently ‘promised’ show up.”
Work on the project could happen later in 2025, depending on when permits and grant agreements are secured and funds come through to the borough.
Cabrera said public meetings will be held to gather input for the project’s final design.
“A lot of the folks here have been to boat yards all over the West Coast, so that information about what works well in other yards —and what they like or don’t like— could really inform a great design here,” she said. “We want to make sure that it works for the fleet and is set up to be successful.”
Wollen said the haul-out project “puts the footprint down to the expansion out there…”
“As a Harbormaster, I’ve been looking at this general area [Scow Bay] as the next place to develop and … give the community water access,” she said. “We are so excited about this really big bump in funding that will get us through … this [first] project.”
