Low tides and strong currents often shut down the Keystone ferry, so the state is looking for a better location for the ferry terminal.

A meeting was held Tuesday in Coupeville to open discussions about finding a new terminal location.

Coupeville resident Julia Hodson, chair of the North Sound Ferry Advisory Committee, described the effort as “brainstorming at this point.” Held in the Rec Hall, the meeting was attended by people from State Ferries, State Parks, State Fisheries, Island County, Ebey’s Reserve and others, under the leadership of the consulting engineering firm, CH2M Hill.

“We have to cancel an awful lot of runs,” Hodson said Thursday, explaining why the issue arose.

This week, for example, low tides and ebb currents will cancel some sailings from Wednesday through Saturday.

The Keystone terminal on Whidbey Island provides access to Port Townsend five miles across Admiralty Inlet. The terminal is located in a small, shallow harbor.

Ray Deardorf, planning director for Washington State Ferries, said ferry trips to Port Townsend are frequently canceled due to low tides, especially during the busy summer months.

Further, the shallow harbor can accommodate only boats with extremely low drafts. This limits the choice of vessels on the route to the oldest in the fleet, the 75-car Steel Electrics, built in 1927. The vessels are scheduled to be replaced.

Larger, 130-car Issaquah Class ferries, such as those that presently serve the Clinton-Mukilteo route, would be preferable at Keystone, Deardorf said.

“However, a vessel of this size would not fit into Keystone terminal at its current location,” he said.

Deardorf cautioned Thursday that any terminal move is a long way off.

“We’re just starting to figure out if it’s

feasible,” he said.

The ferry system has

hired CH2M Hill as a consultant, and studies will be done on the current, weather and underwater conditions at alternative sites generally located east of the present harbor, somewhere along Keystone Spit.

All acknowledge that plenty of questions need to be answered before a decision is made on whether to move the terminal. Keystone is located within the Ebey’s Prairie National Historic Reserve, right alongside Fort Casey State Park. Most of Keystone Spit to the east is publicly owned by one agency or another.

“There’s a long history there and a lot of issues,” said Hodson of the Ferry Advisory Committee. The committee’s meetings are public. The next one is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 15 at 6:30 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeland.