Balboa Boat Yard Seeks Lease Agreement to Replace Aging Dock System
March 21, 2021
The shipyard is seeking a new commercial marina lease agreement with the city to allow the dock replacement work and to address their use of the public tidelands in the street-end which is restricted under Title 17 of the city’s municipal code.
NEWPORT BEACH—The Newport Beach Harbor Commission has sent a recommendation to the City Council to approve a five-year lease with Balboa Boat Yard to allow the shipyard to replace their aging dock system and address their use of the public tidelands in the street-end.
The harbor commission was given a presentation on the proposed lease at its March 10 meeting. The shipyard has operated a commercial shipyard at 2414 Newport Boulevard since 1964. Balboa Yacht Club was granted a city permit to install their existing dock system which includes one southern float projecting bay-ward of the bulkhead line along the prolongation of the property’s southern line and a second northern float. Since the northern float is parallel to the southern float, the northern float does not follow the prolongation of the northern property line and therefore encroaches into the public tidelands at the 26th Street street-end.
“If we dive a little deeper into the area their permit occupies, we see that there are 1,559 square feet of public tide-lines and then 924 square feet of private waterway,” said Newport Beach Real Property Administrator Lauren Wooding in a presentation to the Harbor Commission at its March 10 meeting.
Section 17.35.020 Harbor Development Regulations prohibits private piers at street ends but allows for special consideration for areas where property lines are not approximately perpendicular to the bulkhead line and where street ends adjoin the property.
“Staff is proposing to lease to the tenant rather than a permit, a lease agreement so that we can further condition their use,” said Wooding at the commission meeting.
Balboa Yacht Yard is seeking to replace their existing dock system, but all dimensions of the replacement floats and gangways are proposed to remain unchanged from the dimensions of the existing improvements.
The Harbor Commission voted to recommend that City Council approve a five-year lease with Balboa Boat Yard, with two five-year extension options, for the dock replacement.
