Dana Point Boaters Send out an S.O.S.— Save Our Slips

DANA POINT— On March 17 at 8:30 a.m., Supervisor Katrina Foley was the guest speaker at the Dana Point Civic Association Coffee Chat held at Coffee Importers in the Dana Point Harbor. While multiple topics were discussed, one topic that generated a lot of conversation was Dana Point boaters versus the Dana Point Harbor Revitalization Project. 

The Dana Point Boaters Association (DPBA) had presented the Dana Point Harbor Partners (DPHP) with a list of questions prior to the meeting that needed to be answered. At the meeting, a fact sheet with the answers to the questions was passed out to the attendees. 

 However, the DPHP did not respond to DPBA; therefore, the questions were transferred to Supervisor Foley’s office. It took time to get a response from DPHP, but one was received. 

The questions and their responses are below:

DOCK BOXES 

Q: Why are dock boxes not being provided?

A: See Attachment 1 Boater Communication regarding the selection of Power Pedestals over Dock Boxes.

Attachment 1 reads, “Dock boxes have minimal space for components or technology, instead prioritizing the majority of its volume to discretional storage. In most cases, locker boxes promote the storage of bait, trash, paints, batteries, propane tanks, oils, cleaning solutions and other hazardous materials which unfortunately then find themselves as pollutants in the harbor. We have already removed an enormous amount of toxic materials and trash from dock boxes in just the demolition of phase 1 & 2.”

Q: Location of recent Marinas without dock boxes?

A: In 2022, Bellingham Marine worked on 329 projects (excluding our licensees). Of those projects, 90 were international and had no dock boxes, with the remaining 239 projects located in the United States. Bellingham’s Southwest Division constructed 129 projects, over 100 in California. A vast majority of those projects did not use dock boxes. Nationwide, less than 5 percent of the projects Bellingham constructed had dock boxes, while less than 10 percent of Southwest projects had them. Here is a link to a recent project without dock boxes: https://www.bellinghammarine.com/projects/cap-sante/.

PUMP-OUT STATIONS

Q: How many pump-out stations are available at the fuel dock?

A: The Outer Basin has not been designed yet, so details are not known

Q: Is there a cost to use the stand-alone pump stations?

A: There may be a cost for visiting vessels.

Q: Are there any public pump-out stations in the West Basin?

A: The need for a public pump-out station in the West Basin is being evaluated.

SLIP LAYOUT

Q: Has there been any change in the layout of the Marina since approval by the CCC?

A: No. See Attachment 2 for a slip layout comparison.

Attachment two is a map.

BOAT SERVICE BUILDING

Q: Will there be any impact on boater services due to a delay in hotel development?

A: No, there will be no impact on the boater service buildings due to the delay in hotel development. The boater service areas in Buildings 3 and 4 will remain available.

UTILITIES: WATER & ELECTRICAL 

Q: How will monthly water and electric bills be calculated? How will the utilities be controlled?

A: See Attachment 1 Boater Communication, which contains Power Pedestal and Electrical information.

DREDGING

Q: What is the schedule for dredging?

A: Per the lease with the County, DPHP is required to do an annual survey to determine if dredging is necessary. To date, no survey data has indicated that dredging is needed (See Attachment 3 D.P.H. Conditions Survey). DPHP is also coordinating with the Corps on this effort. In addition, the Corps is currently undertaking planning efforts to repair the west breakwater. This project will also require access dredging in the main channel and west anchorage to allow equipment to access the breakwater for necessary repairs. The Corps is planning to commence construction in late 2024 and complete construction in late 2025/early 2026.

SLIP ASSIGNMENTS

Q: How will slip holders with a wrong-sized slip will be treated, and how will they be accommodated if their slip size is not available?

A: Based on current information, DPHP anticipates accommodating all of our existing tenants that have seaworthy vessels in the applicable sized slip.

For the full document, please visit https://danapointboaters.org/documents/dphp/Boater%20Facts%20march%202023.pdf. Additionally, Dana Point resident George Hughes has organized a Go Fund Me to save the boaters’ slips which can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/SOS—Save-Our-Slips-in-Dana-Point.