Marina Project Environmental Report Faulted

Critics of a proposed boating and safety center at Channel Islands Harbor assailed an environmental review of the project Wednesday, calling it biased and inadequate.

The 300-page study failed to fully investigate the traffic, environmental and safety implications of building a 26,000-square-foot center at the Oxnard-area marina, several speakers told a Ventura County environmental review panel.

Speakers also faulted the study for failing to extensively review other sites as alternatives to the county’s preferred location near Bluefin Circle on the harbor’s western flank.

Several suggested that the county had already made up its mind and was only going through the motions of holding hearings to be in compliance with law.

“You’re about to have a public perception that this [environmental impact report] was made for a foregone conclusion,” said Mary Dodd, who lives on Hollywood Beach adjacent to the harbor.

A supporter of the boating center, however, argued that the Bluefin Circle site is by far the safest location to teach beginning sailors.

Prevailing winds there are upwinds, which allow a sailor to slow a vessel as it approaches the dock, making it easier to control, said Bob Snyders, a competitive sailor and president of a youth sailing organization at the harbor.

By contrast, an alternative site favored by many opponents has downwinds and is less than 100 feet from rocky breakwaters, Snyders said. That combination is too dangerous for novice sailors, he said.

“One hundred feet is perilously close, particularly with kids,” he said.

Wednesday’s public hearing before the Environmental Report Review Committee precedes a decision by that panel on the technical adequacy of the project’s environmental analysis.

Operated by the county, the $6-million boating center would offer sailing and marine ecology courses in partnership with Cal State University Channel Islands. It was first proposed in 2000.

The state Department of Boating and Waterways is contributing $4.2 million to the project, with the county kicking in $1.8 million.

But controversy over where the center should be located has held up its construction for at least a year. Opponents of the Bluefin site are primarily residents who live near the project area and object to the loss of parkland and harbor views.

Critics also cite environmental concerns, saying herons nest in trees at the proposed site. To answer those concerns, the harbor commission recommended that the building be designed in a way that would save most of the trees.

The California Department of Fish and Game has also endorsed that proposal, harbor Director Lyn Krieger told the review panel.

A final decision will be made by the county Board of Supervisors, possibly by fall. The board in June appeared to be backing off from its initial support of the Bluefin Circle location when it ordered additional studies of prevailing winds at the harbor.

Those studies are expected to help supervisors determine whether they should choose another location for the project.

An official with the state boating department said there was little danger that the county would lose the state’s share of funding due to further delay.

“It’s not a grant, so there is no deadline,” said Megan Standard, a department spokeswoman. “We’d like for everybody to be happy before we go forward with a project like that.”