What Changes When Parks Tacoma Takes Over Breakwater Marina?

Breakwater Marina has been part of the Point Defiance waterfront for decades, tucked beside Dune Peninsula and the Tacoma Yacht Club. On Thursday, October 1, Parks Tacoma begins operating it as part of the Point Defiance Marina complex. The change follows the expiration of a long-standing lease arrangement with the yacht club; the handoff date was set back in 1993.

It has been an anxious transition for some of the marina’s 123 tenants. Earlier this year, boat owners and people living aboard their vessels faced uncertainty about whether they would have to leave. Parks Tacoma now says tenants in good standing can apply for new agreements covering their current slips and vessels. Those agreements must be completed by September 30.

The new terms will change what some tenants pay. Parks Tacoma says 67 current tenants would see their rent decrease under its rates, while 56 would see an increase. Rates depend on slip size or vessel length, whichever is greater. Existing liveaboards and boathouse owners also face separate license fees and requirements.

The transition took an unexpected turn when the Environmental Protection Agency halted a planned cleanup phase in the yacht basin. Earlier designs called for the marina’s removal during that work. With the project no longer moving forward on that timetable, Parks Tacoma had to prepare to operate the existing docks when the lease ended.

For boaters who aren’t already tenants, Parks Tacoma says slips will become available to the public after October 1 as space opens up. Its longer-term plan calls for a mix of permanent and short-term moorage. The district also says it hopes the marina can create more opportunities for public waterfront access and programming, though those plans have yet to take a more specific shape.

For now, the most immediate change is who answers to the people on the docks. Parks Tacoma has posted the new rates, rules and moorage application for anyone trying to understand what the handoff means for them. The bigger question is what this publicly operated piece of the waterfront will become once the transition is behind it.

Timeline and rates can be found here.