Twin Bridges Marina:
A Saga of Persistence
More Than 26 Years of Litigation Pays off for Rare ‘Dry’ Boat-storage Facility

by Janet O’Mara

Unlike other marinas in this area that have boats with individual slips and fingers of docks and pilings reaching out into the water, most of the new Twin Bridges Marina consists of a big, blue building. It’s the state’s first indoor, heated, dry-stack marina — and only the second of its kind on the entire West Coast.

Inside that building, situated along Highway 20 on the Swinomish Channel near Anacortes, boats are stacked floor to ceiling on metal racks like furniture in a wholesale warehouse. The building is as big inside as it looks from the highway — 55 feet tall, 388 feet long and 130 feet wide. It can hold at least 300 large and small boats.

A giant forklift, weighing 70,000 pounds and costing nearly a quarter of a million dollars, stands by to lift any boat, up to 40 feet long, from the racks, carry it to the dock outside and gently place it in the water. Its tremendous claws can safely support a boat up to 16 feet below the dock as well, so launching at low tide is never a problem.

“It’s a natural,” proclaims Bill Youngsman, Marina managing partner. “Boats are protected; it takes only five minutes to launch; we have full-service fuel, and there is a washstand for rinsing boats from top to bottom when they come back in.” Customers can call ahead and their boats will be waiting for them in the water, ready for fun, when they arrive.

“In addition,” he notes, “with our dry storage, boat owners can save thousands on maintenance and replacements — there is never any need for bottom paint, no barnacles to scrape, no winterization necessary, no damage from the sun and no deterioration of the interior from mildew.”

The monthly rent, which ranges from $200 to $500, depending on the size of the boat, includes unlimited launching, free parking, building and lot security, use of washstands and electrical power, and overnight moorage on the 800-foot dock. Boaters can arrange pressure washing, engine flushing and detailing at additional cost. Only about 20 percent occupied now, spaces are still available.

 

Important new tenants

In December, Cap Sante Marine also opened a 7,000-square-foot shop and showroom in the marina, offering maintenance, repair, parts and accessories. Future marina plans also include adding a leased 7,000-square-foot boat dealership.

Twin Bridges also is unusual in that it’s taken 26 years to be allowed to get its feet wet. Building this marina has been unbelievably complicated, with lawsuits and permit disputes piled up as high as the boats are now. “Taking that long to do this project certainly has driven up costs,” Youngsman recounts dryly.

Because he was a child when it all began, Youngsman, now 36, admits he got involved much later. In a document relating the rocky history of the project, he describes that it all started in 1974 when his uncle, Ken Youngsman, purchased 20 acres as a location for his business, Marine Construction and Dredging, which required a large site for barges and heavy equipment. The land was rezoned from agricultural use to industrial, and the environmental-impact statement was reviewed and adopted by Skagit County.

In 1986, a shoreline/conditional-use permit, one of many to come, was issued by Skagit County to allow filling, and the work began. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued an injunction claiming the site was a wetlands. A year later, the Federal District Court ruled the site was not a wetlands and ordered the Corps to pay court costs. Also in 1986, the third shoreline permit was issued by Skagit County to allow a greater dredged basin area.

 

Going ahead with plans

As plans proceeded and the years went on, Ken Youngsman decided to downsize his business, and eventually asked his nephew Bill, by then a real estate developer, to sell the property.

“I originally was going to try to sell it for him; but then I came up with the concept we now have,” explains Bill.

“It’s done in Florida and all over the East Coast, and I saw it as being a real good use for this site,” he says. “I convinced my uncle and my dad to became a partner, too — we decided to go ahead and do it.” Bill Youngsman’s father, Jim, served as a state representative, and also founded Skagit Gardens, selling it about four years ago to join his son in real estate development.

Meanwhile, the permitting and disputes continued. Filling continued on the site, according to Youngsman, from 1987 to 1995, until the county challenged the validity of the earlier shoreline permit. The Skagit County Hearing Examiner ruled the permit was valid and filling could continue.

In 1996-97, the Washington Department of Fisheries, the Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Ecology agreed to approve a new moorage-basin plan; and the following year, the consolidated shoreline permits were revised to allow the altered basin plan. All other agencies issued their approvals and the basin was dredged and completed later that year.

Several building permits later, site development and building construction began. But that wasn’t the end, Youngsman discloses. More permit disputes delayed the work. By June 2000, the buildings were fully constructed, but site development was forced to stop, and more litigious disputes followed. Finally, Twin Bridges Marina reached a settlement with the Department of Ecology, Skagit County and the City of Anacortes, and all parties dropped lawsuits and appeals.

In March of last year, construction began again. But that was not the end, either. DoE issued another penalty. Twin Bridges Marina appealed it to the Shoreline Hearings Boards and asked for help from local legislators. With Skagit County’s approval of the permits for development and operation, the marina opened for business in June 2001.

 

A bright future

Despite the expensive and frustrating delays in getting the marina completed, Youngsman now sees a bright future for his facility and for others around the state. Every port has toured his marina and reports, “They’re all planning to do the same thing, eventually,” according to Youngsman.

“If these were easier to build, we already would have 15 of these in Washington,” he comments. “Until the state gets reasonable with its land-use policies around water, marina costs are going to continue to go up dramatically, and there’s going to continue to be a shortage of slips.”

Heated, dry-stack storage is a new concept here, he observes. “But our customers absolutely love this facility — and our future customers will, too.”

For more information, a tour or to reserve a space, call 360-466-1443, e-mail at info@TwinBridgesMarina.com or check their Web site at www.TwinBridgesMarina.com.