The Harbor Report: Plenty covered at final Harbor Commission meeting of the year

About 50 people attended the last Harbor Commission meeting of the year Dec. 10 aboard Seymour Beek’s car ferry “Admiral.”

Harbor Commissioner Paul Blank was assigned the task of cruise director and outlined the cruise around the harbor.

The first topic was derelict vessels on the different offshore mooring around the harbor.

Commissioner Joe Stapleton defined what a derelict boat is. According to Stapleton, a vessel must propel itself to and from the Harbor Department docks. By completing this task the vessel’s owner is proving the boat is operational.

Other definitions I have heard over the years included that the vessel is not taking on water, or in disrepair.

Stapleton praised Harbor Resources analyst Shannon Levin on all her hard work she has done maintaining the Vessel Turn In Program (VTIP), which is a grant from California with a value of $120,000 per year.

The grant allows boat owners to relinquish their vessel’s title to the city for demolition. To date Newport Beach has removed 28 boats over the last two years.

It is my understanding that the city has applied for the VTIP program for next year. Mooring permit holders by now should know that they do not have to keep a vessel on their moorings any longer.

Another topic covered was our harbor’s 10 waste pump-out stations. Commissioner David Girling explained that the problem the city is having is that boat operators are using the waste pumps to pump out their bilges.

Quite often these bilges have toxic waste in them, along with sharp objects. The sharp objects are breaking down the pump systems and it’s the No. 1 cause for their malfunction.

Please note that while operating the pump system to follow the written instructions. My opinion is that we should have marine recycling centers around town so that boat operators have a place to dispose of types of hazardous waste, rather than using our waste pump-out stations.

During the meeting, the ferry approached channel marker 11 off Bay Island. That’s when City Council member Brad Avery was asked to talk about the navigational markers around the harbor.

Avery was quick to point out that the Coast Guard is responsible for the maintenance of these channel markers and are the only ones that have permission to remove them when damaged.

We have seen this problem twice now over the last 10 years with the Coast Guard taking more than a year to remove these damaged markers. These oversized commercial markers truly are a threat to our local boaters and need to be replaced with smaller buoys around our harbor, Avery explained.

After heading west around the No. 11 channel marker, Commissioner Doug West was asked to review the new RGP 54 and Eel grass mitigation plan.

“This project has been done with no little expense, with as many as six or seven state agencies involved, West said.

Harbor Resources has received 50 applications with only a handful of residents able to complete the process.

“There is still some red tape in the process and more work to be done,” West said. “The devil is always in the details.”

Because of the RGP and the Eel Grass Medication plan, dredging companies are willing to return to our harbor. At this time there are just two companies working our harbor.

What now needs to be remembered is that Eelgrass is our friend. As Commissioner Blank asked the crowd to repeat a number of times during the cruise: “Eelgrass, the more we have, the more we can disturb!”

I am tempted to make some T- shirts with this saying on them and give a couple to Blank.

Alternative Anchorages was another topic on the agenda. Of course we are referring to the temporary anchorage in front of Lido Village or Z Mark. Over the last two years, it has been very successful.

With the addition of a public dock off Central Avenue, right next to the Elks Club, I am going to assume it will not be temporary much longer. Please note that this anchorage will not have raft ups and the noise levels will be closely monitored.

Other topics that were discussed included the public walkway starting from the previous Ardell property, heading west wrapping around the harbor and ending up by the Cannery.

The meeting also featured: Harbor speed limits, boat overhang and all the different harbor users meeting together and reviewing their individual needs.

Also, the four-acre Lower Castaways property that is designated as a Marine Protected Area by our State Department of Fish and Wildlife will most likely be turned into a park.

The only access to the harbor will be for manual propelled crafts. You might not know it, there is access to the harbor now on this site and from what I have heard, one of the hottest fishing spots in the harbor.

The final topic was launch ramps and where the city can place another one in our harbor.

Commissioner Duncan McIntosh is chairing this task and said, “I have no clue. We have been talking about this for years. The problem is not only the ramp, it is the parking. If you have any ideas please let me know.”

The need for a second launch ramp in town is tremendous and the only way I see it happening is we are going to have to want it.

The only place for a launch ramp that I have found is next to Newport Aquatic Center.

On a side note, the launch ramp at the Dunes was a nightmare the first night of the boat parade this year.

With the low tide at an extreme, many people were not able to launch their vessels. I feel we need to do better at this matter.

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist for the Daily Pilot.