COOS BAY — The Coos Bay Urban Renewal Agency approved the purchase of up to $140,000 worth of aluminum floats docks last week.

The agency voted unanimously to replace damaged wooden floats at Empire Boat Dock on Tuesday, May 19.

According to Public Works Director Jim Hossley, the aluminum floats would be more durable, though they cost twice as much as their wooden counterparts. The wooden floats currently in use cost approximately $7,500 per 20-foot section. The aluminum floats cost approximately $15,000 for each section.

According to a staff report, the southern of the two floating dock lanes at Empire Boat Ramp was removed to encourage social distancing and comply with state orders regarding the novel coronavirus. Removing the lane allowed city staff to remove five damaged sections of the dock, which had rotted.

Unfortunately, removing the southern dock lane resulted in faster degradation of the northern dock lane. Further, according to the document, the lack of a southern dock makes the northern dock less safe to launch or load a boat.

The issue was declared an emergency in order to quickly replace the floats.

The project to replace the floats will go up for bid and the amount of floats that will be replaced will depend on the bidding process. Hossley estimated that between five and eight floating docks could be purchased with the money approved by the URA. The city will apply for grants to replace the remaining floats.

The goal is for the floats to be replaced prior to the end of summer salmon run.