The Lakebay Marina Redevelopment project is seeking to improve water access, add amenities, and honor the site’s historic significance—and they need your help!

Priorities for the project include: Engaging the community, agency partners, and Tribal governments. Outlining opportunities for environmental restoration, outdoor education, and recreational boating, while improving connections to nearby Penrose State Park. And addressing health, safety, and code compliance issues.

The public, and especially boaters, is encouraged to take a survey to help focus efforts around the issues that matter most and inform future development. Click here to take the survey.

Lakebay Marina is located on Key Peninsula in Pierce County, across the water from Penrose Point State Park in Mayo Cove, with picturesque views of Mount Rainier. This is an underserved, strategic location for recreational boaters between Olympia and Tacoma.

In its current condition, the site is not capable of meeting the needs of recreational enthusiasts. The facilities are closed to visitors and the docks have been removed due to safety risks.

In 2021, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in partnership with the Recreational Boaters Association of Washington (RBAW’s) Marine Parks Conservancy purchased the marina with funding from the Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO), the Washington State Department of Commerce, and Pierce County.

The redevelopment of this marina is pivotal to preserving public access at this site and its rich history. Lakebay Marina dates back to 1884, when the pier was built for small cargo ships and servicing the renowned Mosquito Fleet. The site also housed an egg and poultry cooperative, which sustained the economy of the Key Peninsula during the Great Depression.

There is a tremendous opportunity to restore this marina and make it publicly accessible for a wide range of recreational activities. Additionally, there is significant potential to restore and protect habitat and water quality in Mayo Cove, which is a pocket estuary with kelp, and eelgrass that supports rearing salmon, Pacific herring, and numerous shellfish species. The preservation and redevelopment of Lakebay is cited in Pierce County’s growth management plan.

The egg and poultry cooperative building is on the Pierce County Register of Historic Places. This project will evaluate the potential and cost for relocating and preserving the building, if possible.

Visit the project website for more information.

Note: Feature image courtesy of Bruce Bateau.