Greetings!  

Your DPBA leadership has been pretty quiet lately on the internet, not sending Boater Blasts for a while.  We decided to hold off a bit so we could time this latest Boater Blast to be sent on this, the fourth anniversary of the Dana Point Boaters Association.

That's right!  It was a cold and rainy night on March 15^th, 2007 when we held or very first Members' Only Meeting at the St. Edwards Church in Dana Point.  That night, and in the days immediately following, we signed up over 50 dues paying members.  Wow, have we come a long way since then!  Today we have over 560 dues paying members and our outreach extends to almost everywhere and into everything that involves recreational boating and Dana Point Harbor.

Looking back to late 2006 and early 2007, we thought of ourselves then as persecuted outsiders; activists building a legal defense fund to take on those we saw as boating adversaries, far and wide.  Fortunately we have since grown and softened our edge and as a result been extremely successful, beyond our founder's grandest dreams actually, myself included.

Yes, it turned out that our commitment to working openly and cooperatively with the other stakeholders, in particular, County Supervisors, County and City government officials, our Harbor Director, Merchants and the many private commercial and public interests within the harbor was very much the right thing to do.

Together we've achieved zero net slip loss, nixed the plan to eliminate 1160 small boat slips while accommodating slip size re-mix (more slips in the 30-45' range), rolled back and reduced the boater  Possessory Interest Tax, held slip rate increases, protected our existing dry boat storage resources, avoided parking lot encroachment on the launch ramp, stopped initial plans for over-commercialization (including a failed plan to put retail store where boats are being stored today) as well as a simply horrific waterside convention center.  We also protected and improved dedicated boater parking while increasing the yield from the plan for general use parking by over 30%.  Meanwhile we've participated in the DP Boat Parade of Lights, the DP Boat Show, the Tall Ships Festival, the Harbor Association as well as harbor and community programs too numerous to mention here.  The list really does go on and on.

While there has indeed been much fruit from our efforts so far, we are far from done, and frankly never will be done.  Regardless, the accomplishments of our Boater Association so far demonstrate loud and clear that when an advocacy group such as DPBA works hard, stays well informed and deals in a spirit of cooperation for the common good, while standing firm in protection of boater interests, then the American system of local democracy really does work.  It works very well.

Best wishes as we enter our fifth year of service!

Rodger Beard President

For the Founders, Directors and Advisors of

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MEETINGS WITH OC COUNTY CEO TOM MAUK 

Members of the Board of Directors of DPBA met recently in another private meeting with OC County CEO Tom Mauk to discuss several topics of interest to all Dana Point Boaters.  This was followed a few days later by followup 1-on-1 discussion with Brad Gross, Director OC DPH.   This was our third private meeting with Tom Mauk during the past nine months.  All three meetings have been direct, substantive and constructive. 

In addition to Harbor Revitalization status / schedule, discussed further on below, there were two other key topics discussed at length:

1. Dana Point Harbor Patrol Funding

As those following the status of this issue know, the role and financing of the OC Harbor Patrol has been a contentious issue to say the least, for over 30 years now, believe it or not.  Literally dozens of reports have been written and filed so far.  The latest report, 107 pages long, was filed with the Orange County Board of Supervisors (OC BOS) by the County Performance Audit Department back on November 9th.  Since then, Supervisors Moorlach and Bates have been tasked with meeting / conferring with CEO Tom Mauk and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens (the Harbor Patrol is part of the Sheriff's Department) and coming up with a recommended solution for submission to the entire OC BOS.  The target date for this task was originally in December, but since has been postponed twice and is now is set for April.

DPBA agrees that Harbor Patrol funding is a difficult issue to solve (or better said, Sheriff Department funding is a very difficult issue to solve) but DPBA has continued to reiterate these key points:  the majority of Dana Point Harbor Patrol costs as incurred in support of activities outside the harbor and should not be funded by Dana Point Harbor slip rents.  Further, that the Harbor Patrol should pay rent into the Tidelands Trust for the use of the lands and water based facilities they employ within the harbor.  In short, the 4 million dollars in slip rents allocated annually to Harbor Patrol payments is an extreme financial injustice to Dana Point boaters.  Last but not least, while Dana Point boaters pay (and pay), Harbor Patrol operations in the other two County harbors are funded primary by the County General Fund (in other words they are funded by tax payers at large, including Dana Point boaters).

In the latest meeting, County CEO Tom Mauk went on record that he understands and agrees with our arguments, which by-the-way, are also arguments now being made by the California State Lands Commission (CSLA).  This agreement is important because the Tidelands Trust (Dana Point Harbor) is a contractual agreement under which the CSLA, acting as the responsible state agency representing the people of the State of California, has delegated management of the trust to the County.

Regarding Harbor Patrol funding, there were two major discussion outcomes (subject as always to OC BOS budgetary approval):  1.) The Harbor Patrol will pay rent starting with the next budget year (hopefully starting this July, the beginning of the next County fiscal year).   2.) A formula will be established for separate allocation of outside-of-harbor and inside-harbor costs.  Funding other than slip rents will be employed for the outside-of-harbor costs.

2. Slip Rents and Harbor Financing

There has been a task force that has met on establishing new market based slip rates, many times over the past few months.  Five to six DPBA directors and advisors have served on this task-force along with other appropriate harbor stakeholders.  Included have been boaters on the wait list, yacht brokers, yacht club representatives and marina operators.  At the meeting with Tom Mauk, we shared our disappointment with the lack of progress so far and made recommendations aimed at triggering forward progress.  We jointly agreed that marinas to be included within the study should all be publicly-owned (and therefore nonprofit) and all within Southern California.  Tom Mauk tasked Brad Gross (also present at the meeting) and Rodger Beard, DPBA President, to come back to him with a written recommendation by February 15th.  Needless to add, we hit this date.  We plan to brief our membership on the findings and recommendations during the Q & A section of our upcoming General Membership Meeting.

To learn more about OC Harbor Patrol Performance Audit Report and read it entirety if you wish, go to our website and click on the Documents link on our Home Page:

http://danapointboaters.org/docs_ccc.php 

HARBOR REVITALIZATION PROJECT - WHAT'S NEXT?

As most boaters probably know, the Local Program Amendment (land use) Implementation Plan (LCP/IP) was approved unanimously, with various stipulations, at the Coastal Commission hearings in Long Beach during mid-January.  The heavy lifting was already done well beforehand, with a very favorable outcome for Dana Point boaters we should add.  So DPBA spoke only briefly in support of passage (with inclusion of language we had previously recommended) and otherwise sat back and enjoyed the show.

The plan language approved allows for the change in shape for the auto parking deck, which DPBA strongly advocated (DPBA actually brought to the County) to eliminate encroachment upon the boat launch ramp.  It also allows for the elimination of the extremely expensive, 65 foot high boat barn previously planned in favor of a two story boats-on-trailers storage structure (DPBA brought this design concepts to the County too).  That structure will protect the DIY boating services that boaters enjoy today and cost approximately 8 million dollars less to build.  Since boaters are paying the bills, this means much lower slip and on-the-hard rents than would be possible otherwise following reconstruction.

As for what's ahead, here's what the near term horizon looks like for the overall Revitalization project:     

1. In the May/July time-frame, the LCP/IP goes back to the Coastal Commission one last time to gain approval for the final language, which then will have the force of law going forward for the land-side reconstruction.  Prior to this final step, the language must be approved by City Council, the City of Dana Point. 

2. Subject to formal approval of the LCP/IP, the Request for Proposal (RFP) for land-side architectural and engineering work will be ready for release in approximately the same time-frame.  Bidders do not need to respond to the entire RFP but can pick and choose the sections they feel most qualified to address.  The County anticipates a larger response than otherwise and therefore, potentially lower overall project costs.     

3. Work on the Waterside Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) is underway and the associated document will be for ready public feedback shortly.

We would like to tell our members more about these schedules beyond the events above, for example, when will land-side and water-side construction actually start?  However, despite our best efforts to get Alisa Drakodaidis, Deputy County Executive Officer - Infrastructure & Environmental Services to commit, the crystal ball is really just too cloudy.  Unfortunately, financing remains a key issue.  This is especially true on the land-side given our State's current finances.  As you may know, this has resulted in a continuing failure to pay out tax collection allocations, as well as withholding local funds for operation of state legislated programs.  As for the water-side, while reserves built from boater slip rents will provide the majority of funding, the California Department of Boating and Waterways (a state agency with very shallow pockets) was supposed to provide a substantial loan.  As reported previously, that loan too is very much in doubt.

There is some good news.  We are assured that the mistakes made prior to the existence of OC DPH, namely not performing effective public outreach early on during plan review, will be avoided this time around at all costs.  Note that this means that boaters will need to plan to engage in this process.  We too do not want to repeat the mistakes made prior to forming DPBA back in early 2007.  We'll keep you posted as dates become known.

The other piece of good news (if one manages to stay focused on the positives) is that, given construction plans are finalized in the relatively short term, then actual land-side construction costs should be less than otherwise as a result of current economic conditions.

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 NEXT DPBA GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Our next Members only and new Members meeting is next Monday, March 14th, 7pm to 9pm, and will be held at the Boat House Meeting Room in the Dana Point Harbor Sailing and Events Center.

(That's the building farthest away from the street and closest to the inner channel waterway.

Our guest speaker is Sheila Lagrand, Flotilla Staff Officer, Public Affairs (FSO-PA) for the Dana Point Flotilla for the US Coast Guard Auxiliary.  Sheila also serves on the national Auxiliary staff as Assistant Editor for the USCGA's quarterly publication, Navigator.  Sheila will be speaking about things all recreational boating captains should know, tell and do with their passengers and crew.  Point Flotilla Commander Bob Arovas will also attend and participate during a question and answer discussion during wrap up.

Immediately following will be a DPBA member open forum discussion focused upon the Harbor Patrol, harbor reconstruction financing and slip rates.  These are three VERY inextricably entwined subjects.

For more information go to http://danapointboaters.org/meetings.php 

As time permits we will also solicit member direction regarding 2011 Association projects and key results areas. 

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