Dash Point Pier Has Its Funding. It Still Won't Be Open for Squid Season.

The money for Dash Point Pier is no longer the open question. In April 2026, Park District voters renewed a $155 million Parks Tacoma bond, and the project list includes "Redevelopment of Dash Point Pier." What the bond didn't produce is a construction date. Parks Tacoma says the pier will be among the first bond projects to move forward, but more design and permitting work comes before any pile goes in the water. WDFW expects squid to reach the Tacoma area in late November and December. That makes the 2026–27 run the sixth winter since the pier closed, and the end of the fence-and-quiet era at Dash Point Park is now on a calendar, just one nobody has published yet.

How a Five-Year Closure Got to "Funded, Not Scheduled"

The pier at 1500 Beach Dr NE has a longer history than most of the houses above it. Here is the sequence that led to this fall:

1. 1917. The original timber and concrete pier is built, giving people deep-water fishing from land without a boat.
2. 1922. Dash Point Park is established with 700 feet of sandy beach.
3. 1995. A concrete pier nearly 500 feet long replaces the original.
4. July 2021. The pier closes over concerns about its structural integrity. Engineering analysis concludes it needs full reconstruction or replacement rather than repair.
5. Late 2024. Engineering consultants take in-water and uplands core samples, followed by geotechnical work for seismic modeling.
6. October 6, 2025. Parks Tacoma staff and the design firm MacKay Sposito present the pier design and a schematic for the whole park at Center for Norpoint.
7. April 28, 2026. Voters renew the bond, which is meant to fund more than 100 projects over six years.

The gap between steps six and seven explains why the vote mattered so much. When the design came out in September 2025, Parks Tacoma said plainly that there was no funding to rebuild the pier or improve the park. It estimated the project would cost upwards of $5.5 million. The only funded phase at that point was planning and design, which the 2014 bond and a Washington State Recreation & Conservation Office grant covered with $715,000. Kristi Evans, the capital program manager, said the agency would "continue searching for funding to push this project forward because it is a treasured space in Northeast Tacoma."

Seven months later, the search ended. The public bond page names the pier project but doesn't list a dollar amount for it, so the $5.5 million figure is a pre-vote cost estimate, not a confirmed allocation. The project page's latest update is still headed October 2025.

What the New Pier Is Designed to Be

The design keeps the pier's current length. It would be rebuilt with steel piles, concrete pile caps, a grated deck and steel rails, possibly with bump-outs so people can pass each other and stations for cleaning fish. The deck would sit about three feet higher than today's to allow for projected sea level rise and stronger storms.

Those three feet hint at how long the agency expects this structure to last. The 1995 pier gave a little more than a quarter century before the salt water and daily use wore it out. The replacement is being sized for the water levels of the decades it will actually stand in.

The pier also matters beyond the neighborhood. Parks Tacoma describes it as one of only three places in the city where people can fish deep water from land without a boat. That regional role is why reopening it is about more than a neighborhood amenity coming back.

The Quiet Beach Has an Expiration Date

The closure changed the park, and one nearby business owner has said so on the record. Gino Rivera, who runs Gino's at the Point at 6912 Sound View Dr NE, told KIRO 7 in April that the area had been less crowded, with fewer anglers taking up parking, which has always been a concern there.

"It's been a little quiet, but still plenty of people coming in to enjoy the beach and the beautiful view and seeing the whales go by. I've seen the community come down and enjoy the park and be able to be with the kids and play on the beach and not be oversaturated by fishermen."

He gave that description to KIRO 7 weeks before the vote. Terry Jungman, Parks Tacoma's capital improvement program manager, described the other side of it in the same story. "We are responsive to the neighborhood and the community that lives around the pier, but also fulfilling the need, the regional need for fishing. It's definitely a balancing act for us," he said.

The two quotes describe one park at two points in time. Since 2021 the beach has been the main draw. Once a rebuilt pier opens, the anglers return, and so do the parking questions that come with a regional fishing destination. The bond moved that change from "maybe" to "coming." Permitting will decide when.

In the meantime, the rules are simple. People can use the beach away from the pier, but the deck and the area underneath it are off limits. The park page still shows a restroom closure notice dated October 6, 2025, marked "until further notice," so check its status on the Dash Point Park page before bringing young kids down for an afternoon.

Where the Squid Jigging Goes This Winter

Dash Point used to show up on lists of Puget Sound squid spots, next to Les Davis, Point Defiance, Redondo and Des Moines. With the pier closed again this winter, these are the nearby public piers and how they handle squid:

Squid jigging is mostly a night activity, which makes the Point Defiance daylight-only rule a real limit. Les Davis is the closest pier from Browns Point that stays open all night. The Redondo reopening is worth knowing about because it shows the order of events that Dash Point still has ahead of it. Des Moines spent the spring announcing a target date, held a grand opening in June, and reported the rebuilt pier open for fishing in its June 18 city manager report.

Before heading out, here are the WDFW basics from its squid fishing page:

• Season. Recreational squid fishing is open year-round in Washington waters, except in certain marine preserves and conservation areas.
• Timing. Squid typically reach Tacoma and Des Moines in late November and December, and are likely throughout South Puget Sound in December and January.
• License. Harvesters generally need a valid shellfish/seaweed license. Under WDFW's license rules, anglers 15 and younger don't need a fishing license.
• Limits. The daily limit is 5 quarts or 10 pounds of market squid and other species, or one Humboldt squid, with one line per person.

From today's date, the first Tacoma-area squid are about seven weeks away. Parks Tacoma's Dash Point Park & Pier project page is where the next milestone will appear. Its feedback link at Engage Pierce County is how the agency has been collecting community input on the park and pier.

At The Misener Group, we follow public projects like the Dash Point Pier rebuild because they change how a shoreline gets used long before a construction fence goes up. If you own near Dash Point or Browns Point and want to talk through what a reopened regional fishing pier could mean for your street, let's schedule a consult.