Kirkland’s downtown municipal docks welcome boaters from Lake Washington and beyond, giving downtown businesses a big boost during the warm summer months.

But while the busy municipal docks are good for city business, the overnight Marina visitors can be a double-edged sword for the area’s residents.

The city’s two publicly owned docks on 2nd Avenue South and at the Kirkland Marina offer “transient” moorage (no reservations allowed) for up to five days on a first-come, first-served basis. The popular docks have drawn visitors from Seattle, across the Puget Sound and even as far as Canada and California for years. During the summer, the municipal docks hum with activity as yachts, pleasure craft and jet-skis zoom in and out of the city’s approximately 100 slips.

More than 8,000 boats use the Marina Park and 2nd Avenue South docks annually — most over the summer — and about 6,000 stay overnight.

City Business Services Director Mike Metteer said the big draw is based on Kirkland’s waterfront access to the downtown area and the popularity of the city’s bars and restaurants. It also helps that the price is right — boats up to 30 feet long can stay overnight for an $8 to $12 fee — and the city has made an effort over recent years to upgrade the facilities to make the docks easier to use. The city has installed automated pay stations for moorage and hired dockmasters to run the docks during peak hours, all with the goal of making downtown businesses more accessible to waterborne visitors.

Along with the private slips at the neighboring Homeport Marina, the dock is a vital conduit for area tourism, boosting sales numbers at local businesses as tourists spend money.

Marina Park Grill Bar Manager Mark Ard credited the docks with raising the restaurant’s income nearly 50 percent in the summer. Wilde Rover Pub owner Billy Whelan attributed an additional 100 to 200 customers per week to the dock-side tourists.

“They’re coming in from Seattle — from all over the place,” Whelan said. “They meet up here and then meet up (with) their friends on a boat.”

Generally, downtown businesses seem happy with the city’s handling of the docks. But the influx of visitors also has a downside: Many overnight boaters come for the downtown’s concentrated bar scene, partying into the early morning hours and aggravating some residents living within earshot of the docks.

Mariner Condominiums property manager Ginger Rodgers, who maintains a property between the city’s two docks, said the noise is a nuisance to many of her residents, but it is not to the point where they would publicly complain.

“They’re pretty gung-ho Kirkland, so I’m not sure they’d be willing to say anything negative,” she said.

One resident, who asked not to be identified, said the noise is worst around 1:15 a.m., a time when all the bars along Lake Street close and after the dockmasters have gone home.

“In the past, it’s been rowdy, but there’s definitely been a change from a few years ago,” said Metteer, citing the improvements made through the dockmaster program.

Dockmasters Matt Gallagher and Chris Schei keep boaters within the rules. Wearing bright orange shirts, the two men stay late on the weekends to try and keep the noise down. No alcohol is allowed on the dock and “quiet hours” are enforced from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

Before the city hired the seasonal help, Metteer estimated 1,000 annual visitors did not bother to pay a moorage fee. Now, tickets are a regular occurrence at the docks. The fee for skipping out on the pay station: $66.