VENTURA COUNTY ROUNDUP : Seacliff : Donation Aimed at Restoring Surf Spot

The nonprofit group trying to establish a public park and restore the surf at the once popular site known as Oil Piers has received a $25,000 donation--the first major financial contribution toward its effort.

The donation from the Los Angeles-based Wallis Foundation will enable the group of surf enthusiasts to spread the word about its mission, said Quantum Reef Foundation Vice President Gary Ross.

“This is really going to get the foundation going, allow us to buy stamps and lick envelopes and let people know we’re trying to create a park here for the community,” said Ross, a local surfer and inventor who has patented an artificial reef technology.

A spokesman for the Wallis Foundation, named after the late film producer Hal B. Wallis, said the group gives to many charitable causes, including environmental organizations

For decades, two wooden piers that led to Mobil Oil’s operation created good wave patterns that drew surfers to the spot. The waves flattened last year after Mobil, which no longer has a presence in the area, dismantled the piers.

Quantum Reef formed earlier this year, in the hope of turning the coastal spot near the piers into a public surfing park complete with an artificial reef. Previous efforts to build an artificial reef in Ventura County have been unsuccessful.

Quantum Reef’s first step is to acquire a lease from the state, which now controls the strip of coast but has no plans for it. The State Lands Commission is expected to consider the group’s proposal in January.

In the meantime, the group has applied for $1 million in state-administered grants and could learn by the end of this month whether it will receive any of those funds. The grants are funded largely by oil companies.