Huntington Beach : Coastal Agency OKs Plans for Boating Dock

The California Coastal Commission has approved an application from the city to construct a public boating dock in Huntington Harbour.

The commission, meeting Thursday in San Francisco, approved a scaled-down version of a plan that permits 4,300 square feet of the harbor to be filled in order to construct a parking lot, said Gary Tamn, a planner for the commission.

The public dock and parking lot will be constructed 900 feet east of Pacific Coast Highway, on the north side of Warner Avenue, he said.

An earlier plan was rejected because the parking lot would have extended too far into the harbor, Tamn said.

The size of the proposed lot was reduced from 45 spaces to 17 spaces, he said. Each space will accommodate a vehicle with a boat trailer, he said. Most of the parking lot will be constructed on a parcel of land next to the site.

The commission also approved the city’s plan to dredge 7,000 cubic yards from the bottom of the harbor, deeming it “necessary to allow the passage of boats” to the new dock, Tamn said.

Approval was predicated on the city’s acceptance of a plan designed to offset the destruction of marine life caused by the dock’s construction, Tamn said.

“For every square foot of habitat that is lost, they must restore a foot of habitat in Upper Newport Bay,” he said.