Restaurateur-commissioned study questions Redondo Beach boat launch plans

by Garth Meyer

Chris Bredeson is a co-owner of Captain Kidd’s and the new Riviera Mexican Cantina, just across the parking lot from each other in the section of the Redondo waterfront known as Mole D. This is where the city has proposed building a long-sought boat launch.     

Last month, city councilmembers approved the hiring of Moffatt & Nichol engineering, to study the matter. 

Bredeson hired another firm, GeoSoils, Inc., to study it as well.

“I have a vested interest, obviously,” he said. “How realistic is a boat ramp here? I did my due diligence, on my own dime. No lobbying or any of that, it’s strictly scientific. Strictly data. This location hadn’t been studied yet. GeoSoils did that.”

They finished their analysis in August, concluding the boat ramp plan is “problematic.”

“In theory, this is the same data as what Moffat is using,” Bredeson said.

What if Moffattt determines that a boat ramp there is feasible?

“Then that’s the science. That would refute the data we have right now,” Bredeson said. 

The Geosoils, Inc. study was led by David Skelly, a semi-retired coastal engineer. His 40-plus year career includes work on Navy contracts while he was employed by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 

In his Redondo report, Skelly found that Mole D is a tricky spot for a boat launch because of wave surge in that part of King Harbor, which he says would require another breakwall for protection.

A public boat launch has been sought for the Redondo Beach waterfront since at least 1959. Fifty years later, in  2009, the Coastal Commission ordered the city to build a boat ramp to coincide with any significant new development, for the purpose of increasing public access to the water.

In 2017, Measure C added the parameter that no further harbor developments of more than 10,000 square feet will be approved before a boat launch is built, or deemed to be unfeasible. 

A boat ramp was also part of the city’s Harbor Amenities Plan, produced by SWA Architects and approved by the council in 2022. SWA’s report included illustrations of a proposed ramp on Mole D, as well as the three other moles.

David Skelly, former owner and current consultant for GeoSoils, Inc. Photo courtesy Chris Bredeson

“It’s not fair to do illustrations (yet) because the studies haven’t been done,” Bredeson said. “Everything is just theoretical.”

He has co-owned Captain Kidd’s since 2012. Riviera Mexican Cantina opened in May.

The city’s  Harbor Amenities Working Group, appointed by the city council, studied five to six possible spots for a boat launch, one of which was Mole B, where the Lanakila Outrigger Canoe Club is located, along with Redondo Beach Fire Station Three and Moonstone Park.

“That is the most realistic spot,” Bredeson said of Mole B. “(Lanakila) did a really good job lobbying.”

Another spot that was considered was the closed Joe’s Crab Shack location, Mole C.

Mole D was the Harbor Amenities Group’s final choice.

“But no one was there to say anything,” Bredeson said, referring to the closed Samba Brazilian Steakhouse, which then occupied the Cantina building.

The city maintains that if a boat launch is built at Mole D, at least part of the building may be subject to teardown. 

Bredeson points to the GeoSoils, Inc. study finding that for a boat launch at Mole D to function safely, it would require another rock breakwall.

 “Even a two-foot surge would take water up 14 feet horizontally on a ramp. That’s just normal surge. It happens often. This is why the area is so heavily fortified,” Bredesen said.

To protect against higher, less common wave surges, Bredeson said, the Cantina and Captain Kidd’s parking lot would need to be raised to prevent flooding. 

The lot is two to three feet lower than the boardwalk. As a result, it would need to be lifted, he asserts, as does the GeoSoils report, to avoid encroaching waves running up the boat ramp. 

“Let’s see what Moffat comes back with. (But) this has the potential to be the most expensive part of the whole amenities plan,” Bredeson said. 

Moffatt & Nichol’s assignment from the city is to determine if Mole D is suitable — whether it has the space needed, and how much demand there is for a boat ramp.  

GeoSoils, Inc. is based in Carlsbad. It formed its report using data gathered on swell heights from a 2015 Noble Consultants’ Environmental Impact Report, done for the proposed CenterCal waterfront project.

GeoSoils cites the Noble Consultants numbers purporting to show that “waves can be over two feet in height at Mole D proper.” 

“… And smaller waves on the order of one foot occur more frequently (and) even smaller waves will run up the boat launch ramp and create an unsafe condition.”

Skelly’s report includes a short video version.

In it, he points out the nearby rock breakwall for the hand watercraft launch. Skelly estimates a breakwall for a Mole D boat launch would need to be 100 feet long.

“The fact that (a) protection structure is necessary for the smaller hand launch crafts makes the necessity of a similar but larger breakwater necessary for the public boat launch,” the GeoSoils’ report says. “From a coastal engineering viewpoint, the safe launch and retrieval of boats at the proposed Mole D public boat launch cannot be accomplished without (it).” 

The video also notes the concrete splash wall at Mole D (which runs along the waterfront side of the Cantina) was built because of frequent waves and surge activity. Mole A and Mole B do not have any splash walls or added breakwalls. 

“It should be noted that no such protection system would be required at the Mole A and Mole B sites,” the report states.

An illustration of a Mole D boat launch, created by SWA Architects, as part of the King Harbor Amenities Plan. Photo courtesy City of Redondo Beach

“We would suggest that the City approve further investigation of the engineering challenges to better understand what is needed, and what it would cost to put a safe public boat launch at Mole D,” the GeoSoils study concludes.

Last year, Bredeson signed a four-year lease with the city for the former Samba building. 

“Did (the city) give me a good deal? No, they gave me a regular deal. We all pay the same percentage rent,” he said, referring to waterfront neighbors R10 and the under-construction California Surf Club.

The Redondo Beach council voted 5-0 to hire Moffatt & Nichol on Aug. 20. 

A boat ramp is estimated to cost $14 million, with funds sought from the California Department of Boating and Waterways.

Studies to be undertaken by Moffatt & Nichol are for parking, traffic and environmental impacts. A King Harbor boat launch would require Harbor Commission and Coastal Commission approval. 

The Moffatt & Nichol study results are expected in 2026. 

Dave Sharobee, city senior management analyst, told the city council that the goal is to issue a boat launch permit by July 2026. He counted nine attempts since 1959 to build a public boat launch in Redondo Beach.

The Moffatt & Nichol process will include public hearings.

King Harbor Amenities’ Mark Hansen

“After 25 years of everyone in the community working on it, we came to the conclusion that Mole D is the best place for the boat ramp,” said Mark Hansen, veteran Redondo Beach boater and member of the King Harbor Amenities Working Group.

He was at the Coastal Commission hearing in San Luis Obispo in 2009 when it mandated a boat launch precede future development in King Harbor.

“We really started rolling up our sleeves on this about (1999),” Hansen said.

As far as the local moles, he said Mole A and Mole B were discounted as boat launch sites because of a shared factor.

“There is no maneuvering water in either,” he said, referring to room for boats to enter and orient in the water, and perhaps line up to wait to be taken out of the water.

Hansen makes the case that a boat launch at the Mole A/King Harbor Yacht Club location is a bad idea because it is up against the main harbor breakwall, which is a dangerous, “attractive nuisance.”

He said the club members are all experienced boaters, and have been at the location for decades, and understand how waves can crash and spill over those rocks.

Hansen is a Yacht Club member.

In the 2010s, Mole C, where the closed Joe’s Crab Shack is, leading to Portofino Hotel, was designated as a likely option for a ramp. The city paid $750,000 to the leaseholders of Joe’s for the right to vacate on a 60-day notice. This was during the CenterCal project era. Also, in this time, the city went as far as making an offer to King Harbor Yacht Club to contribute the starter cost to build another clubhouse elsewhere, so a boat launch could be built at Mole A.

Yacht Club members had little interest in the deal. 

Later, at Mole C, after complaints rose from Portofino Hotel management, Mole B got a closer look.

“At the bar at the Yacht Club, we would joke, ‘well, we’ll get free entertainment watching a Mole B boat launch,’” Hansen said, of the spot just across from the Yacht Club.

The boat launch pursuit increasingly narrowed to Mole C or D.

Redondo Beach Mayor Jim Light. Photo courtesy South Bay Parkland Conservancy

“I had always seen pluses and minuses to both,” Hansen said. “But the more we talked about it, I became supportive of the Mole D area.”

Would it need a breakwall?

“Not necessarily. It’s just something that needs to be looked at,” he said. “This GeoSoils report isn’t bringing anything new to the table. I’ve read a lot of engineering studies over the last two and a half decades. Surge is a factor. We’ve been talking about that for 25 years. It needs more study.”

Hansen suggested extending the south stub of the existing breakwall.

How sure is he that Mole D is the answer?

“In a certain way, 100 percent,” he said. “We can’t build a perfect boat ramp at this point because we already built out the harbor.”

He mentioned the “market hall” piece of the CenterCal development plan which was broadly popular. He suggested that it could be built, allowing prime second-floor square footage for Captain Kidd’s and Riviera Mexican Cantina to move into. 

Then the existing buildings can be “bulldozed” to create a wide-open Mole D. 

As for those second-story restaurant windows, “You’ll be looking out at the boat ramp, which is highly entertaining,” Hansen said. 

The idea was listed by the Harbor Amenities Group as worth considering.

“I was an advocate of that,” said Redondo Beach Mayor Jim Light. “And, in the amenities plan, we limited the amount of space for commercial development.”

The Joe’s Crab Shack spot is now slated for a waterfront education center. 

Mr. Skelly

David Skelly is the former owner and a current consultant for GeoSoils. 

“I just basically looked at available information and raised some questions. I’m looking at the proposed boat ramp from a coastal engineering viewpoint,” he said. “It appeared that a decision was made without consideration for the receiving environment. You can put a man on the moon, but there’s a cost to it.”

“There are safer locations in the harbor where that amount of surging doesn’t take place.”

He said a breakwall would be needed for safe-launching, to stop surges such as two feet of water, which equates to 14-feet up the ramp’s incline.

“At least in my opinion, you are going to have to put some kind of structure there,” Skelly said.

His wave information comes from a 2015 Redondo waterfront Environmental Impact Report, done by Noble Consultants for the proposed CenterCal project.

“Noble is very competent. Moffat & Nichol, they’re a well-respected firm with smart people. They know what they’re doing,” Skelly said. “In my mind, they need to address my concerns, or come to the same conclusion as I did.”

He lives in San Diego, north county.

Looking out from Mole D on the Redondo Beach waterfront. At left is the edge of Riviera Mexican Cantina. Photo by Garth Meyer

How did he get involved with the Bredeson contract? 

“I surf with his father. (Chris) gave me a call,” Skelly said. “I’m not an advocate. I’m not an attorney. You don’t hire me to support your position. I would like to think of myself as an interested party and an educated party.”

“I never said you cannot do this here (Mole D),” he said. “But it seems a significant issue has been put by the wayside. 

“How much of the public does this serve? Not everyone has a boat. A small percentage would be using the boat launch. Bottom line, I raised some concerns. Let’s go in with our eyes wide open.”

Mayor Jim Light

“GeoSoils cherry-picked the data from the EIR,” said Mayor Light, who was a member of the harbor commission before being appointed mayor earlier this year.

“If the surge gets bad like it does not very often, we’d just close it down. Maybe a dozen times per year. In those conditions you don’t want boaters out there anyway,” he said.

As far as space, Light said Bredeson has reason for concern.

“Our plan was always, the (Cantina) building goes away when the boat ramp goes in,” said Light. 

He pointed to the coming Moffatt & Nichol work.

“They’re going to do a significant wave study, using a wave sensor.”

As far as cost, if extending the south breakwater is needed, Light is unbothered.

“The department of waterways would cover a breakwall,” he said. 

“… There is a solution to anything they come up with in the (GeoSoils, Inc.) study. I’m not concerned that Mole D is the place. It’s just what we have to do (to assure that it functions well).”

He has been involved in the boat ramp question since 2002. 

“We went through workshop after workshop, meeting after meeting and Mole D is what the public picked,” he said. “Baywatch, the Harbor Patrol, boaters, etc… It’s a little maddening that Bredeson, now that they picked a spot and everybody was happy with it, he puts together his cherry-picked study to suggest it’s unfeasible,” Light said. “I respect him as a businessman and a restaurateur, but he knew what he was getting into. I kind of feel like he was negotiating in bad faith.”

“There’s nothing cherry-picked about it,” Bredeson said. “These are the studies. Nature is nature, I can’t help that the opening of the harbor is right there. By the way, it’s not my study. But Mayor Light is doing what he thinks is best. I don’t fault him at all, he is being told by the Coastal Commission to put in a boat ramp if he wants to keep improving this area.”

In the end, Bredeson goes back to his central point.

“How can I have an opinion on something if the study for it isn’t even done yet?” he said, adding that the city should have studied all of the moles first before the harbor amenities plan was complete.

“All of us, we’ll wait and see what Moffatt comes back with,” he said. ER