Photo and article by Alfredo Fernandez
On Thursday January 13, The Coastal Commission approved with a unanimous vote the Permit which allows the Marine Bureau to start the marina rebuild.
This was the last permit needed to start the project. The Meeting was well attended by numerous organization and individuals showing support for the rebuild with only five participants speaking against it, at the start Mark Sandoval asked for the audience to stand if they were in support of the rebuild at which time approximately 90% of an almost a full house stood up.
The first speaker was a local activist, Larry Goodhue, this is the same individual that appealed the EIR to the full City Council after they had approved it in December 17, 2009 City Council Meeting. His appeal was later denied at a City Council Meeting on February 2, 2010. This time he also spoke of the same issues that the City Council had denied.
Three of the other speakers were from outside the area; their opposition was with the reduction of smaller slips in general as it might affect their marinas and nothing to do with Alamitos Bay.
One individual’s concern (a permittee in Basin One) had to do with the Mercury
contamination in that basin. His concern was not with the rebuild plans which he said he fully supported, but rather that there were no plans to monitor for future mercury contamination once the Bain was dredged and rebuilt. For this the Costal Commission asked that a plan be added for the California State Water Resources Control Board to monitor.
The reminder of the speakers, over 40 in total were in full support of the rebuild with a large portion of them giving Mark Sandoval accolades for a job well done. Also one of the Commissioners congratulated and thanked the audience for attending and speaking, saying that they were heard and their input was appreciated.
The link below is the webcast from the meeting. After clicking on the link, page down to item 18b and click on the reel icon
Coastal Commission Approval
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