Quartermaster Marina owner agrees to remove debris from beach

Published 3:25 pm Tuesday, June 24, 2014

By NATALIE MARTIN

The owner of the Quartermaster Marina said he will remove several old docks and a shed tied up on the beach near the marina after being contacted by the state.

Steven Choe, a Tacoma resident who owns the marina in Burton, said last week that he didn’t realize the marina wasn’t supposed to have debris on the shore below the high-water line, but that he was happy to dispose of it after being asked to do so by the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

“We didn’t know,” Choe said. “Now it’s becoming an issue, and I’m working with the state. … I told them that if it’s a violation, we’ll take it out and move it.”

Choe said some of the debris was left on the beach a couple years ago when the marina replaced its docks. The project’s contractor tied up some of the old docks on the beach between the marina and the Quartermaster Yacht Club instead of hauling them away. More recently, a large floating shed was also tied up on the beach for repairs.

A Vashon resident recently reported the items on the beach to the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, which gave the information to Sound Action, formerly known as Preserve Our Islands. Amy Carey, director of Sound Action, passed it onto the state.

DNR spokeswoman Jane Chavey said that while Choe owns the beach, DNR has a conservation easement there, and the debris violates that easement agreement.

DNR sent the marina a notice on June 10 and originally gave Choe 30 days to remove the debris, which the agency considers damaging to marine habitat. However, the agency recently extended that deadline to six months to align with another request from the state Department of Fish & Wildlife, which issued the marina a permit for the dock replacement project.

Choe said he plans to have the docks and shed removed by the end of July.