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Home  Community Voices Wilmington Marinas, Refusing to Give up on the Dream
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Wilmington Marinas, Refusing to Give up on the Dream |
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Written by Donna Ethington
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Thursday, 30 July 2009 |
Marina Parkway Is Key Piece In Larger Whole
To many it may look like a lost cause, but the Wilmington marina folks refuse to give up on the dream of a recreational boating area that will make them proud to call it home.
The Wilmington marinas have been in the Port’s East Basin since the early 1920’s, surrounding 170 acres of what was once part of a great expanse of salt marshes, now the remnants of a 130-acre oil field owned by the Port of Long Beach (POLB), and 40 acres of contaminated dirt owned by the Port of Los Angeles (POLA).
Since the 1980’s, the Wilmington community has attempted to develop public and marine-related recreational uses on the 170-acre site, yet it and the marinas remain in limbo while redevelopment plans for the LA Waterfront, from the federal breakwater to Banning’s Landing, move forward.
As part of the Alameda Corridor railway project in 2001, a portion of Henry Ford Avenue, which is the eleven Wilmington marina’s only access road, was relocated east and four rail lines were built across it, creating access problems for emergency vehicles and a nightmare for the boaters. As part of the TraPac terminal redevelopment, Pacific Harbor Line’s rail yard will be relocated adjacent to the marinas adding another east-west rail line across Henry Ford parallel to a fifth rail line.
In 2002, when POLA hired SMWM to create a concept to redevelop the area along Harry Bridges Blvd and the Avalon Corridor, the Wilmington boating community tried in vain to include the marinas in those plans.
Since that time, the Wilmington Boat Owners Association (WBA) has initiated a score of Port Community Advisory Committee (PCAC) motions to try and upgrade the infrastructure, eliminate the mountain of contaminated dirt and resolve the access issue. One motion in 2005 prevented POLA from widening the East Turning Basin and Cerritos Channel and eliminating half of the 1700 boat slips. The POLA Board of Harbor Commissioners (BOHC) gave the marinas a stay of execution but the issue is far from being resolved. The Port still intends to bring in bigger ships.
For the last two years POLA staff has assured the WBA that no more dredged soil would be placed at the 40-acre site, but the 2006 PCAC motion ‘to find an alternate location to store the soil’ has never gone to the BOHC. In April 2009 the disposal of dredged material at the site resumed. The WBA has since been informed that another 200,000 – 300,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil will be disposed of at the site, filling it to capacity with no plan to reuse it.
CalTrans has approved the ACTA SR-47 (Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority) Heim Bridge Replacement and Expressway project that could displace slips at Leeward Bay Marina. Although funding is sketchy, the project is scheduled to begin in 2011. ACTA is currently working on a second two-track train trestle that will be located adjacent to and west of the existing trestle, potentially displacing Island Yacht Marina.
Despite all the impacts, the WBA is optimistic. At the April 2009 meeting, the BOHC approved PCAC’s 2007 motion to evaluate proposed upgrades to the marina infrastructure. At the request of the WBA the BOHC amended the motion to ensure the marina and boat owners, Wilmington community and POLB are involved in that evaluation.
The Wilmington Youth Sailing Center, the first China Shipping aesthetic mitigation proposal submitted in 2003, is making progress. Although POLA has designated a half-acre of land and water within the marinas rather than building it along the Consolidated Slip, and creating new waterfront access as proposed, this regional facility will be a great benefit for at-risk youth.
On July 16, the BOHC approved $1.45M to build a Wilmington Marinas Parkway as one of six aesthetic mitigation proposals. The project will create a tree-lined, landscaped buffer between the Wilmington marinas and the dredged soil storage site, expand a salt marsh to one-half acre, and construct sidewalks and a jogging path.
The POLB consolidated the oil operations, is hydroseeding 100 acres of the oil field with natural vegetation and is considering using it for solar energy and other green tech projects, rather than container backlands.
On July 21, PCAC approved the WBA’s recommendation to build an internal road that would bypass all the rail lines and connect the marinas to the community at Banning’s Landing.
With this combination of actions, there is hope that the Wilmington marinas will eventually become fully integrated with the rest of Wilmington and the entire harbor community. The boating community doesn’t expect all of this to happen overnight, but after nine years of persistence, high-fives are definitely in order.
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