WESTPORT — Huge gaping holes on parts of the Washington Crab dock will soon be repaired, after state approval was given Monday to move forward with the dock renovation.

The approval by the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife ended a long and contentious permitting process that dates back five years.

“I am excited that we will finally have the opportunity to give better service to our fleet — to give more space to boats and give a major facelift to the dock and port area,” said Glen White, general manager of Washington Crab Producers Inc.

White received the good news Tuesday morning, moments before Kent Craford, principal with the Gallatin Group out of Portland, told the Port of Grays Harbor commissioners that the state had finally agreed to the company’s proposal.

Washington Crab had long ago obtained approval for all permits for a cement dock replacement, but the state had balked, saying the facility needed to build a far more expensive steel dock with 60 percent lighted grates to allow for fish navigation.

Craford, who was hired by White to draw up the proposals and battle with the state over the plan, said the decision means “we can build the dock without the grates.”

It was more than just good news for White and Washington Crab, it also meant the pricetag would be closer to the budgeted $500,000 the company has on hand, rather than the estimated more than $1 million the steel grates and additional pilings would have cost.

“We now know we can move forward, out of the planning and regulatory phase and into the get-the-job-done phase,” said Craford.

White said the next step would be to get the engineering done (blueprints for the project) by Berglund Schmidt & Associates of Aberdeen and put the project out to bid.

“I’ve already contacted three contractors to come out for the bidding process,” said White, noting that Quigg Bros. of Aberdeen was one of them.

Craford said he believes the engineering process will be finished within three or four weeks and a contractor bid accepted shortly after. Work should begin by early fall and be completed before the end of January.

“We have to finish within the ‘fish window,’” he said, explaining, “there is a certain time frame we are given — when the driving of pilings and creating excessive noise and turbidity in the water — when certain species are not present or are least-impacted.”

White had high praise for Craford, who persevered when things looked bleak. “He has been a great support to me to get this done. He had the right contacts and wrote up all the papers. We couldn't have done it without him.”

White said he felt the state “was pretty unfair in their demands until we were able to get the right people involved, thanks to Kent. We asked for their support two years ago and it should have been done by now.”

The crab company manager also praised the support he had from the Port and, in particular, Leonard Barnes, business and development director.

“I’ve known Lenny a long time, and he was very accommodating to me,” said White. “All the commissioners have been very gracious about letting us get ‘all our ducks in a row,’ so we would be able to service our fleet better and provide a major facelift for the port.”

Port Commission Chairman Jack Thompson was most happy with the decision.

“We certainly didn’t want to set a precedent at Westport (with an expensive grated dock). We’re extremely happy with this good news,” he said Tuesday.

Barnes said permits have been the big hold-up. “We are very ecstatic for them. We worked together as a team to get this done. It’s taken more time than we anticipated, but the end result is they will end up with a very good facility. It’s win-win for everybody.”

Two sections of the 500-foot dock will be replaced. The northwest and southeast portions were demolished in 2000 following years of deterioration. Some portions were dilapidated and even collapsed into the water.

The project will replace the previous wood docks with new pilings and cement decking.

White said the new dock has potential to provide more jobs for the area. “Provided we don’t shrink in other areas, we have the ability to attract more vessels to our docks. No place in Westport has the ability to service the fleet to the level we will have; space to offload, dock to load and hoist product. We have the only facility in Westport to handle a multitude of products at once.”