From Shambles To Strength -- Swift Rebuilding Of Edmonds Marina Comes As A Surprise

EDMONDS - Bill Toskey strolls casually along the waterfront at the Edmonds marina, pointing to the glistening new steel beams that help provide shelter for hundreds of boats.

Fourteen months ago he stood in the same spot, with quite a different view. The marina was in shambles. Its prized covered moorages were collapsing under the weight of snow that hit the region in late December 1996.

All but one of the 14 covered moorages were destroyed, sinking about 100 boats and damaging 300 more.

Boat owners were at Toskey's throat, saying maintenance crews did not do enough to remove snow. Damage was pegged at $10 million to the boats and $14 million to the marina.

Today, Toskey, who is executive director of the Port of Edmonds, presides over what is essentially a brand-new marina. The final work will be completed in mid-April, in plenty of time for boating season's opening day, May 2.

"We feel it will be one of the best marinas in the Northwest," Toskey said.

It was rebuilt at a cost of $18 million, paid for by a combination of federal and state grants, insurance benefits and money the Port had in the bank.

More than anyone, Toskey can take credit for rebuilding the marina so rapidly, said Ben Cain, one of the Port's three commissioners.

Ironically, Cain pointed out, one of the reasons Toskey was chosen to run the Port three years ago was because commissioners wanted to rebuild the marina in a project that was scheduled to take up to 14 years.

Commissioners were impressed with his engineering background, Cain said, which included management of several large capital-improvement projects in Alaska and in the Army Corps of Engineers.

"But instead of rebuilding over a decade, he wound up doing it all in a year," said Cain.

"People were generally amazed by how fast he did it. Even his critics."

And Toskey, 60, has had his share, particularly in the days after the collapse. He took the most heat from boat owners who criticized him for not doing enough to remove the snow.

Worse, they said, he gave up too soon, ordering snow shovelers to quit at dark.

But Cain defends Toskey. "He was putting the safety of his people first," Cain said. "If one of those guys would have gone into the water at night, we may never have found him."

Toskey, a native of Whidbey Island, is a 1959 graduate of West Point. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam and later was commander of Fort Lawton in Seattle.

After retiring from the Army in 1979, Toskey worked for ports in Alaska and Port Townsend before taking the job in Edmonds.

Toskey, a low-key man with a gravelly voice, tries hard to deflect praise for rebuilding the marina. The key to getting things done so fast, he said, was that the Port had more than $5 million in the bank and that commissioners made decisions quickly.

Also, a contractor was already on site, preparing to work for the Port when the storm hit. The construction effort simply turned into a salvage and reconstruction project, Toskey said.

State and federal officials also were quick to provide permits and matching grants.

"You'll notice I didn't mention the city," he said, referring to disputes with the Edmonds Planning Department that delayed the project.

City planners said at first that the Port would have to abide by the state Shoreline Management Act for permits, which would have required public hearings and delayed rebuilding by several months.

In late February of last year, though, the City Council decided to granted an emergency exemption, saying the temporary measures holding the moorage slips together could fail in a severe storm.

Planner Jeff Wilson defended the city, saying it had only the authority to grant an emergency exemption to rebuild moorage structures that were damaged, not to remodel the marina. The one remaining moorage area that was not damaged now sticks out like a sore thumb among the modern moorages.

"From my perspective, the city worked with them a lot to find ways to avoid delays," Wilson said.

The reconstruction was completed in December, Toskey said. The only work that remains was scheduled even before the marina collapsed. That's a $3 million project to build a concrete promenade and to renovate the marina's bulkhead. Work is expected to be finished next month.

If a snowstorm as severe as the one that wrecked the marina in December 1996 were to hit this year, Toskey said, the reconstructed marina would survive.

The new steel structures are three times stronger than the old wooden facility. The roofs also have more slope, which would prevent such a heavy snow buildup.

All 800 slips are now filled, and the waiting list to get a boat into the marina is about 20 years.

Toskey, who lives in Mukilteo, said he enjoys boating but doesn't do much of it himself.

"To do it right, takes a lot of time," he said. "I just don't have the time."