Redondo Beach waterfront study to include Seaside Lagoon, public boat launch
Paddlers Kurt Fry and PJ Wilson at the King Harbor boat launch. Though intended for small boats, the boat launch is currently only suitable for hand launched crafts, such as paddleboards and kayaks. Photo by JP Cordero
by Rachel Reeves
A public boat launch, reconfiguration of Seaside Lagoon, and a new sport fishing pier are among the Redondo Beach waterfront features to be considered by a plan the city council authorized at its March 16 meeting. An RFP (request for proposals) to develop the plan, which is estimated to cost between $200,000 and $250,000, was approved following a lengthy review by the Harbor Commission.
“I know the harbor commission is very eager to get this process up and running,” Stephen Proud, director of the Waterfront and Economic Development, said at the council meeting.
The RFP was prepared by the city’s Waterfront and Economic Development Department, Public Works Department, and the Office of the City Manager. It emphasises public participation in developing a plan for the area bordered by Quality Seafood and Portofino Way.
“Most of our past planning efforts in the waterfront have focused on individual improvements, whether that be the sportfishing pier, the public boat launch, design work on Seaside Lagoon. … There’s been an identified need to have a comprehensive plan that really considers the interrelationships and the placement of these various amenities within the harbor,” Proud said.
The Harbor Commission unanimously approved the RFP, following two meetings. Mark Hansen, a member of the boating community, phoned into the council meeting to thank the harbor commission and waterfront director for “just a phenomenal amount of work.”
But he also noted, “The one item I think is conspicuously absent is mention of dry boat storage. As we all know, for 60 years or something we were supposed to have a boat ramp and the Coastal Commission finally caught us on it … And on the spot, they ordered us to construct one. I’m concerned if we get too far down this process and start drawing pictures of where everything’s going to be, that when we go to the Coastal Commission to get approved, they remind us we’re not meeting our obligation [for dry boat storage] to the State trust. Much of this land is not city property, it’s state property.”
Roger Carlson, co-chair of the harbor commission, said this plan is just the first step.
“Each of us on the commission at one point during the discussion fell into the trap of trying to design the whole harbor, there in that meeting room … we kept reeling ourselves back and going, this is the initial RFP,” he said.
The RFP deadline is May 1and calls for a work plan of no longer than nine months. ER