There will be an In-Water Boat Show in Marina del Rey this year.
But there won’t be any dredging this year of the Marina del Rey entry channel.
BOAT SHOW — The West-chester/LAX-Marina del Rey Chamber of Commerce will sponsor the Boat Show and it will be produced by Duncan McIntosh.
Boat Show dates will be Thursday through Sunday, May 18th to 21st.
McIntosh is scheduled to speak to members of the chamber Marina Affairs Committee at 8 a.m. Tuesday, April 4th, at Tony P’s Dockside Grill, 4455 Admiralty Way.
So, after the chamber committee meeting, we should know more about the Boat Show.
CHANNEL DREDGING — The south side of the entrance channel to the Marina has begun shoaling again.
Usually, it is the north side of the entry channel that gets filled with sand and other sediment, causing dangers to boaters coming in and out of the Marina.
But this time, it is the south side that has been hit with sediment that has sneaked through the rock breakwater.
County officials were at one time talking about $1.4 million or so for a dredging job.
But now the word from the U.S. Corps of Engineers — which is responsible for navigation in the Marina entrance channel — is that it will take about $14 million or so to get the job done.
It will take a lot of cookie sales for locals to make up the difference.
One of the benefits to the argument that the channel should always be open is that the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Halibut is homeported in the Marina and needs to get in and out of the channel quickly.
Add to that the need to have quick access to the bay off Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). So the Marina has some good arguments on its side that there should always be dredging when needed.
DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH —
n Once again, the folks are talking about a link between the Route 90 freeway expressway and Admiralty Way in the Marina.
This is a project that was first planned during the administration of the late Supervisor Deane Dana.
Now, a consultant has formally announced that it will be no earlier than 2011 before the new project could even “start.”
n There has been a lot of opposition to the proposed mixed-use — retail and apartments — project planned on the site of the present Harbor House and Edie’s Diner restaurants.
Again, this is a project that — in our opinion — will take a long, long time to get started and build.
The project requires an amendment to the Marina del Rey Local Coastal Plan, which — again, in our opinion — could open a real can of worms.
Some of our closest friends think the LCP amendment process could just take a few years. They are much more optimistic on this than we are.
This project has already gone through several committee meetings and we don’t see a rush of support for what would be a striking departure from buildings in the rest of the Marina.
ON THE OTHER HAND — Meanwhile, some Marina projects that have seemed to drag on forever may actually be making some progress.
At Opening Day ceremonies at the Santa Monica Windjammers Yacht Club (SMWYC), club officials publicly stated that they are “close” to making a decision with the county on where the yacht club will move so that the county can expand Burton Chace Park.
The buzz is that the yacht club would take over the former site used by Waikiki Willie’s and Cyrano restaurants and more recently a real estate sales firm.
But the yacht club would have to make major interior and exterior renovations to meet county standards, we’re told.
And, of course, there have been some grumbles from new neighbors — members of another yacht club, we’re told.
Not as many grumbles, though, as those that are coming from SMWYC members who have been told how much it will cost to renovate their new digs.
FINALLY, A QUORUM — It is good to see that the County Small Craft Harbor Commission finally has a quorum and can start officially doing business again.
Albert Landini, Jr., was nominated by Supervisor Zev Yaro-slavsky and approved by the full Board of Supervisors, giving the Small Craft Harbor Commission three members and a quorum for the first time in months.
It was especially good to see Yaroslavsky successfully making a nomination because the supervisor had not been able to “find” a commission nominee for what seemed like more than a year.
We hear Supervisor Michael Antonovich may also be close to making a commission nominee.
That would leave just Supervisor Gloria Molina to find a replacement for Carole Stevens, who had to resign for health purposes.
