Marina Boss Goes on the Record
This interview was conducted via email, with Marina Manager Mark Sandoval responding to questions posed by the BOA board of directors
Question: What is your estimate of when the rebuild of Basin 4 in the Alamitos Bay Marina will start?
Answer: I am still holding out hope that we will start the rebuild of ABM in mid- to late-2010.
Q: What is preventing the rebuild from starting?
A: Rebuilding the marina is a multi-phased endeavor. The first is to identify the design and the cost of the rebuild. The second is to obtain permits for the rebuild from the various regulatory agencies. The third is to identify and secure funding for the rebuild.
We are working on all three simul-taneously, since they are all related
Question: What is your estimate of when the rebuild of Basin 4 in the Alamitos Bay Marina will start?
Answer: I am still holding out hope that we will start the rebuild of ABM in mid- to late-2010.
Q: What is preventing the rebuild from starting?
A: Rebuilding the marina is a multi-phased endeavor. The first is to identify the design and the cost of the rebuild. The second is to obtain permits for the rebuild from the various regulatory agencies. The third is to identify and secure funding for the rebuild.
We are working on all three simul-taneously, since they are all related.
We cannot determine the funding needs until we develop a conceptual plan. We cannot complete the permitting until we have a conceptual plan and a good deal of engineering to determine how the rebuild will take place from an environmental perspective.
With regard to the conceptual plan, we developed and have been working with a conceptual plan for about four years. This plan was used to prepare a bid package and obtain costs for the project. It also enabled us to begin the engineering process, since we bid the project at about a 25% stage, meaning the company that we will use to complete the project completes about 75% of the design and engineering.
With regard to the identification of a contractor, we went through a bid process, and
received two bids. We chose the company with the lowest bid, but the project was
still estimated to cost about $88 million. Of the $88 million, we have secured
about $22 million in loan funds from the California Department of Boating and
Waterways, leaving us about $66 million short. We received authorization to obtain a revenue bond for the differential, but the current economic condition could not be worse for trying to obtain bond funding.
With regards to permitting, we will need to complete an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), get it certified by the City’s Planning Commission (which may then be appealed to the City Council) and finally obtain a California Coastal Commission Development Permit.
The Draft EIR is nearly complete, and I believe will be reviewed and complete by the end of August 2009. There will then be a response period, so I anticipate it will be to the Planning Commission by November. I anticipate it will be appealed because the rowing community is opposing the design, so I anticipate the appeal will be heard by City Council in December or January.
It takes about three to four months to get onto a Coastal Commission agenda, so
I am hoping for a Coastal Commis¬sion hearing is July or August 2010, and a Development Permit shortly thereafter.
Once we have the Coastal Development Permit, if we have figured out the funding, we can be constructing by the end of 2010. Bond financing can happen relatively quickly, but the key challenge is currently the condi¬tion of the national economy, and by extension, the City’s economy.
Q: Once the Basin 4 rebuild starts, when do you expect it to be completed?
A: The contractor has determined that the project will take 4 1/2 to 5 years to complete once construction starts.
Q: What is your best estimate of when the remainder of the ABM rebuild will start?
A: Basin 4 should take less than a year, so Basin 1, the second phase, should start within a year of the start of Basin 4.
Q: From your expected start date, when do you expect the entire ABM rebuild to be finished?
A: Basin 4, 2011; Basin 1: 2012; Basins 2 and 3:2015, Basins 5, 6 and 7:2015
Q: Considering the present state of the California economy, how do you expect the ABM rebuild to be funded?
A: I have answered that above. The Department of Boating and Waterways loan program is being decimated by raids on the fund by the State government. As a result, the only alternatives are to borrow from another area of the City (which is unlikely) or to obtain bond financing.
Q: Has the recession affected ABM rebuild plans? Are projec¬tions that showed there is higher demand for slips for large, expensive yachts still valid?
A: Yes, I believe so. We have a number of large-vessel custom¬ers who are ready to purchase larger vessels if we had larger slips, and we also have a waiting list for the larger slips.
My personal philosophy is that a marina design should not only anticipate the demand for the future, but also develop a marina that affords the most flexibility.
We need to develop this marina for the next 40 years or so. If we are wrong, then we will still have the capability to put smaller vessels in larger slips. If we design a marina for the next four decades where we build slips that are too small, we will have much more unproductive water space because it will be impossible to fit larger vessels in the smaller slips.
Q: We’ve heard that it will cost $4 million to $5 million to dispose of mercury-contaminated silt in Basin 1. Boaters didn’t put that hazardous waste there. What action is the city taking to determine who is responsible for it, and to recover the costs of disposing of the waste?
A: I have had discussions with every agency and consultant that I can think of, as well as my own staff members who pre-date me by decades, and no one has an inkling of an idea as to where this came from.
What we do know is that it occurs only in the silt that has accumulated AFTER the marina was originally built, which rules out any activity prior to the mid-1950s.
On a positive note, I am working towards a potential solution that will cost a fraction of the $5 million. It is to use the 25,000 cubic meters of contaminated silt for landfill in a Port of Long Beach project. It will be a timing chal¬lenge, but one worthy of managing to save millions on the disposal
.