Peter’s Landing Marina in Huntington Harbour to add public fishing areas

A new fishing dock and fishing platform, along with other improvements, are coming to Peter’s Landing Marina in Huntington Harbour.

The California Coastal Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a revised permit that will allow the dock and platform to be built, along with a 610-square-foot area of salt marsh restoration. Eelgrass also will be planted.

Peter’s Landing Marina will also install two floating trash skimmers. Each skimmer can remove up to 500 pounds of trash per month.

The project will start within 60 days and is expected to be completed within five years, said Scott Seaton, who has managed Peter’s Landing Marina with his wife, Joanie, since 1996. That was the year it was purchased by Pegasus Group.

The additions of two fishing areas were originally promised by the property’s prior developer Robert Maguire in the late 1970s, when the large complex, which also includes a mall and condominium homes, was being developed.

Peter’s Landing Marina in Huntington Harbour, pictured on Thursday.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

“He agreed to do all of these different things, and he didn’t follow through on a lot of them,” Seaton said. “Pegasus Group inherited his obligations, but we didn’t know about them for over 15 years … We found out about 10 years ago that we had an obligation to do some areas that would also allow fishing.”

He added that there are multi-use areas that are beneficial to the community.

“Anybody can go sit on the bench at the balcony that is between the ‘D’ and ‘E’ dock,” he said. “There’s a protruding balcony there, and that will be one of the areas where somebody can take their child or grandchild or niece or nephew for the first time, show them how you fish. It’s a safe and stable area.”

Seaton said a 10- by 14-foot fishing platform also will be constructed on the interior of the marina, at the west end of the “A” dock.

Each fishing area would contain a bench, lighting and fishing line recycling and trash receptacles, according to a Coastal Commission staff report.

The report says that the intent of the marsh restoration and eelgrass planting is to enhance the public’s fishing experience and draw more fish to the site, to offset the significant length of time there were no fishing piers available for the public to use.

“The benefits of the marina operation have been enjoyed by the applicant (and their predecessors) for nearly 40 years without the required fishing piers, inconsistent with the public access and recreation policies of the certified [Land Use Plan] and the Coastal Act,” the report said. “To address this, special conditions are imposed to provide some assurance that the proposed fishing experience is in fact enhanced. The special conditions require construction of the expanded coastal salt marsh, and require that both the marsh restoration and the eelgrass planting be monitored in a way that success can be determined.”

One special condition is that signage be made available in English, Spanish and other languages. Another requires preparation and implementation of a promotional plan.

“As conditioned, the addition of the fishing platform and fishing dock presents an opportunity to provide waterfront recreational opportunities to historically underserved communities that have been historically excluded from the coast,” the report said.

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