Protest Over Site Holds Up Center for America’s Cup

The Board of Port Commissioners on Tuesday put off for another 45 days a decision on where to build an America’s Cup syndicate center, in part because the Coast Guard has again threatened legal action to stop construction at the favored site, a man-made peninsula near its station on Harbor Drive.

Planning, design and eventual construction of a syndicate center are already several months behind schedule, and a lawsuit by the Coast Guard could delay things further. The Coast Guard contends, among other things, that the masts from the racing yachts docked at the peninsula would be a hazard and interfere with its helicopter takeoffs.

The other major hurdle involves receiving environmental clearances from a bevy of government agencies, ranging from the Army Corps of Engineers and National Marine Fisheries Service to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California Coastal Commission.

Must Replace Habitat

As a rule, before there could be building on the peninsula, the Port District would have to replace habitat lost by dredging, at a minimum acre-per-acre ratio. In essence, that means building or making available a new habitat for fish and birds.

Just as important, in the view of the environmental agencies, is the question of where such a habitat would be located, particularly since little space remains in San Diego Bay.

“It’s difficult to find mitigation (habitat) locations for projects smaller than this,” Robert Hoffman, fishery biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service, told commissioners. “Mitigation will be one of the toughest issues.”

According to consultants for the Port District, the best place for a syndicate center is across from east Harbor Island. That $21.4-million proposed site, one of eight considered in north San Diego Bay, involves building the new peninsula and covering Convair Lagoon with another 10 acres of dirt. The bottom of the lagoon is tainted with PCB, and at least one commissioner, Louis Wolfsheimer, said Tuesday that he is uneasy with that prospect.

Wolfsheimer said the companies that caused the contamination--so far the state Regional Water Quality Control Board has identified Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical as responsible--should help pay for covering the lagoon. Further study on that issue will be among the tasks undertaken by Port District Director Don Nay in the next 45 days.

Wolfsheimer raised another fundamental objection to the peninsula site: a lack of public viewing space where tourists can get a close look at the racing yachts.

Wary of Spending

The Port District’s careful plans for an America’s Cup regatta in 1991 were upset when New Zealander Michael Fay won a court fight allowing his maverick challenge for the cup in a match race this September to go forward.

In the months since that decision, commissioners have been wary of spending much money preparing for the 1991 regatta, since there is no guarantee that skipper Dennis Conner and his crew will beat Fay.

Harry Hallenbeck, whose architectural firm is advising the Port District about cup facilities, told commissioners Tuesday, “We’ve gone as far as we can without a site selection. If you don’t decide today, the project will be shut down.”

However, speaking later to reporters, Hallenbeck said his firm will continue working on auxiliary aspects of the cup, such as the press center, and will attempt to convince the environmental agencies to look at the general environmental problems posed by the eight locations his firm has studied.

Want Specific Site

But Hallenbeck said the agencies are hesitant about wasting their time on a generic review and want to begin looking at specific problems caused by a specific site. “We’ll press it as far as we can,” he said.

Earlier, while talking to the commissioners, Hallenbeck said that, after a review of Federal Aviation Administration data, he believes the peninsula would not interfere with the Coast Guard’s flights.

But Capt. David Andrews, commander of the Coast Guard station, said the FAA rules are only general and that under the flight pattern used by his pilots, the helicopters might clear the tall masts of the yachts, jutting 105 to 115 feet into the air, by only about 35 feet, which he termed unacceptable.

Court Fight Vowed

Should the Port District approve construction of the peninsula, he said, the Coast Guard will seek an injunction in federal court to stop the project.

Responded Hallenbeck, “We still contend he had a sufficient amount of safety and that we comply with the FAA.”

Although some commissioners are clearly concerned about the complaint, others believe the Coast Guard can solve the problem--or at least make it much less severe--by extending its takeoff ramp farther south, something Andrews said he doesn’t want to do, in part because it would require more maintenance.

Port Chairman Raymond Burk, a retired admiral, said he finds Andrews’ arguments weak.

Commissioner Milford Portwood and others advised Nay to hire an outside aviation expert if necessary to further explore the helicopter takeoff issue.

“That is the best site, with the exception of that one problem that is haunting us,” Portwood said.