Greetings!
Sorry to be sending you what is a partly a duplicate of what we sent you late Friday afternoon. To be frank, we've been having some "technology issues" on our end, as well as with our ESP (Email Services Provider).
However, it turns out that our mistake actually presented an opportunity. You see, there's additional and really important late breaking news below that you'll definitely be interested in. We attended the monthly Harbor Coffee Chat at the Coffee Importers Friday morning and there, quite unexpectedly, the Revitalization Project overall scheduling windows were shared for the first time. This is an added topic, presented last below.
Rodger Beard, President
Alan Johnson, Secretary
The Dana Point Boaters Association
WHAT WILL THE NEW COMMERCIAL CORE LOOK LIKE?
The long awaited digital renderings of the Dana Point Harbor Commercial Core business district, post Revitalization Project, have finally been released. Click here to take a look. Some (at least a few) are based on the story poles the were up for a week in February.
About 10 of these renderings were displayed on poster boards at the Friday morning Harbor Coffee Chat and received generally favorable feedback. You should be able to see those poster boards for yourself if you contact OC DPH to arrange this. No doubt they will also be available for viewing at a future boater outreach meeting, hopefully later this year.
We are interested in your feedback - send us your thoughts at [email protected], or if you have questions or suggestions you'd like us to share with harbor management, submit your issue by visiting our Boater Liaison Program by clicking here.
Your DPBA leadership recently contacted Brad Gross, Director, Dana Point Harbor, and Sgt. Mike Scalise, Dana Point Harbor Patrol, when yet another boat ran aground near "Danalina Beach". That's the sandbar that as been re-emerging on the interior side of the jetty near the Ocean Institute. This time it was Timeshaver, a J/125 sailboat and it happened during the DPYC beer can race the Thursday evening before last. The water at low tide at the spot of the grounding, well on the supposedly "safe side" of the buoy channel markers, was only 18 inches deep!
When we contacted them, OC Dana Point Harbor immediately issued an official warning announcement. Click here to read. At the time they claimed they were already in the process of acquiring new buoys because the existing buoys were stuck in the sand. On Friday new buoys were placed to properly mark the rapidly growing shoal.
By the way, the next harbor dredging project, a periodically required maintenance activity at any California harbor, is already in the planning stages. The various measurements, tests and reports take about a year to complete. We've been told that the next dredging is expected to be done in stages during 2014 and 2015, subject to the usual government agency approvals cycle.
4TH OF JULY HOLIDAY WEEKEND
OC Dana Point Harbor and The City of Dana Point Police Services Department have just released the 2013 Dana Point Harbor Fourth of July Parking and Crowd Management Plan. Click here to read.
Note that the program is very similar to last year in most all respects. The Dana Hills High School will again be available all weekend for offsite parking and a shuttle service will operate to, from and within the harbor all weekend. Uniformed and supervised guards will be stationed at the boater parking lot entrances each holiday weekend day to assure that parking is being employed exclusively for authorized boating uses. You may of course escalate issues directly to OC DPH if appropriate. Paul Lawrence reportedly is to be on duty in the harbor all weekend.
We last checked on Friday and written responses to agenda items discussed in the first Boater Liaison Program meeting are still promised from OC Dana Point Harbor by the end of the month.
Once again our thanks to Brad Gross, Director of Orange County Dana Point Harbor, and his staff for collaborating with the Dana Point Boaters Association to address important boater issues on an ongoing basis. Note also that Brad Gross asked that we remind boaters that they may also come to the Harbor Department directly. In fact we were told that they are going to set up some sort of program of their own that will reportedly parallel ours.
Anyway, stay tuned for those official OC DPH written responses. And if you have issues, suggestions, concerns or questions now or later you'd like us to give attention to, please visit the Boater Liaison Program website to submit.
HARBOR REVITALIZATION PROJECT
As mentioned in our introduction above, for the very first time Brad Gross, OC DPH Director, has shared the general project planning windows associated with the complex projects ahead for reconstruction of the land and water sides of the harbor. The dates actually came "fast and furious" and we struggled to get them all down. Below is what we heard. - The overall financing plan for entire Revitalization Project (the 3 separate projects, or project phases outlined below) is due to the OC CEO by end of summer:
- In response to a question, Brad Gross commented that not all funds were available today but the Financial Plan would address this.
- During offline discussion with DPBA in the past the use of annually accumulating reserves (derived from surplus operating revenue, the majority being from slip rents) has been much discussed. OC DPH has also been talking recently about possible slip rate increases.
- Stay tuned... the specifics of this plan is extremely important to all Dana Point boaters!
- Land Side reconstruction window is 2015 - 2019:
- The CDP (Coastal development Permit) application is due to the City of Dana Point "soon". (We understand it may be in July-August - no actual date has been given.)
- Land Side infrastructure (streets, sewers, traffic rerouting, etc.) will start by 2015 subject to CDP approval.
- Parking deck construction will occur in 2016-2017.
- Commercial Core building tear-down and reconstruction will start in 2016.
- Dana Wharf buildings (Turk's, etc.) will get "new skin" (siding and roofing) to be compatible in appearance with new construction we've seen in the various artists' renderings. Click here to view.
- The goal is that Commercial Core businesses be able to operate throughout the construction period.
- An aside, the lease for the new tenant to replace the defunct Jolly Roger Restaurant goes before the OC Board of Supervisors next Tuesday. Reconstruction, at an announced cost of about 1 million dollars, will reportedly start soon after approval.
- It'll take about 4 years from the actual start of the Embarcadero project before all boats are back in the harbor:
- Embarcadero Marina reconstruction plans (the CDP) will be ready for City of Dana Point and Coastal Commission review during 2017.
- Actual tear-down and reconstruction will take 18 months, beginning in 2018 given necessary approval(s).
- Appropriately 250 boats will be moved offsite (to the hopefully permanently available new boat yard in the South Coast Water District Property beside the San Juan Creek channel. (Yes! We're still working on this and will provide a detailed status update soon.)
- The maximum boat length in the new boat barn will be 38', subject to measurement of upper and lower extremities. All current Embarcadero tenant boaters can/will reportedly be accommodated.
- On an ongoing basis, according to OC DPH, there have been a maximum of 60 sailboats in Embarcadero dry storage over the past several years. These boats will be given priority for the 96 mast up spaces to be available in the target design.
- On the Water Side, the docks, pilings and supporting infrastructure will all be replaced, in kind, using modern materials, while also adhering to current engineering standards, legal requirements and design guidelines. However the existing design will largely be retained. (Nothing new there.)
- The waterside CDP (Coastal Development Permit) is targeted to go before the California Coastal Commission directly during 2016 and 2017.
- Boaters with boats in slips will start experiencing displacements to other locations, reportedly all within the harbor, as their docks come up for replacement. No schedule is expected to be available until the CDP review cycle begins (2016 at the earliest).
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