Ocean Shores Marina Sinking -- Dream Community Gets A Wakeup Call

OCEAN SHORES - For a quick study in contrasts, consider the two marinas of Ocean Shores.

One is a colorful, active boat basin, where proud fishermen show off 30-pound king salmon, where campers stay in RVs nearby and tourists relax in a restaurant and bar.

The other is a tired, decrepit facility where rotted ramps disappear into the drink, where only two boats remain moored, where the RV park is a lonely mud field and yellow paint peels from the closed restaurant.

Unfortunately for Ocean Shores, the first marina - the happy one - exists only in postcards and snapshots and memories.

It is the second one - the one repossessed last month at a trustee's sale - that greets visitors who venture to the southern end of this sandy peninsula.

"It's a disgrace," said local historian Margaret Rasmussen. "It used to be a delight to go out there."

In the 1960s, when developers promoted this canal-laced community as a modern-day Venice of the Pacific, a thriving marina with robust commercial and charter fishing fleets was seen as a cornerstone of the dream.

"I guess you could say some aspects of that dream have faltered," said Larry Thevik, "even though the city itself is growing."

Few people have had a better view of the marina's decline than Thevik. He's the last year-round commercial fisherman moored in these shallow waters.

"It seems like this end of Ocean Shores is dying while the rest of it is thriving," said Thevik, owner and skipper of the 42-foot Midnight Star.

Thevik, a 43-year-old political-science graduate of the University of Washington, came to Ocean Shores to fish for a summer - and stayed.

Thevik, who fishes for crab, salmon, black cod and halibut, knows that in fishing, uncertainty is a fact of life. This month, for example, Dungeness crab fishing was delayed first by a price dispute and now because toxic domoic acid has been found in crab innards.

But Thevik faces the additional uncertainty of not knowing how long he can keep his boat in the port that's been home since 1970. Although the ramp and dock to his slip are secure, some other sections of dock are tattered, half-sunk or missing.

If he can't stay, Thevik would probably move the boat to Westport, across the mouth of Grays Harbor, with the bulk of the area's fishing fleet. But that would mean a three-hour, round-trip drive to work via Aberdeen and Hoquiam.

Gary and Rose Robinett, who moved here in April to manage a condominium/motel by the dock, said the October closure of the marina's restaurant will have the biggest impact on their business.

"Our customers kind of depended on the restaurant," Mrs. Robinett said. "Now the nearest one is five miles away."

To the visitor, Ocean Shores presents the look of a promise unkept. A sparsely populated network of streets and boulevards such as Razor Clam Drive and Mount Olympus Avenue winds through seaside shrubs and grasses as if waiting for neighborhoods that never arrived.

Of the city's 12,000 lots, only 2,000 have been developed, although many more have been sold. Developers who hastily laid out the roads, along with money for promised amenities, disappeared decades ago in a flurry of bankruptcy and lawsuits.

But when the developers' Ocean Shores vanished, a self-made Ocean Shores took its place, incorporating in 1970 and today boasting gradual growth.

"A lot of people several years ago said, `Well it just didn't work out,' " said City Manager Michael Pence. "But even though we don't have overwhelming growth rates, it is pretty steady. We're building 85 or 90 homes a year and for a small town, that's pretty significant."

The city's year-round population of 2,400 swells to 20,000 or more some busy summer weekends.

But whether it can support a successful marina is an open question. Fishing declined sharply after the 1974 Boldt decision granted treaty Indians the opportunity to catch half the salmon returning to traditional waters.

City and port officials say the only way the marina property can make money here is through the ancillary businesses, such as a restaurant, store and RV park.

Even David Carere doesn't know what will happen next to this marina - and he owns it.

Carere, who splits his time between California and Victoria, B.C., sold the marina and adjacent property in 1981 for $1.5 million. But it became his again Nov. 22 in a 10-minute proceeding on the steps of the Grays Harbor County Courthouse.

The sale was triggered by legal action Carere brought after the man he sold the property to, Dean Grossman of Granada Hills, Calif., failed to make a series of payments, including $986,000 due in June 1990.

"We haven't made any plans yet," Carere said last week during a visit to the marina. "But it is for sale if someone wants to get in now."

Although Carere said the five parcels of marina property were appraised earlier this year for more than $4 million, "It's safe to say it's for sale at a fraction of that." County officials put the property's assessed value at $953,000.

Carere said he's convinced the marina could be a viable business again and blames Grossman's inexperience for its current state.

Some Ocean Shores residents, as well, fault Grossman for not keeping up the marina during his tenure. "This Grossman, he ran everybody off. For the moment all I can say is good riddance," said Bob Brown, owner of the nearby Bo-Jo Deli.

Grossman, at sea this week on a business trip, could not be reached for comment.

Thevik believes that saving the marina, which once had space for 200 small boats, could require a public-private partnership. He'd like to see the Port of Grays Harbor, which owns the Westport marina, operate this one as well.

But Cliff Muller, port executive director, said that would be difficult to justify, since the 800-slip Westport harbor is only about half full. "How can the port make the case for acquiring another marina when we can't fill up the one we have?"