On the Waterfront
EXAMINING LONG RANGE GOALS TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE THE NEWPORT HARBOR
By Matt Morrison
For a generation of youngsters who grew up around the Newport Harbor, there’s a legacy to perpetuate. OK, maybe they’re only considered youngsters on a geologic scale, yet together they’ve accumulated decades of passion for the fabulous waterway central to our community. The goal now is to preserve it for generations to come.
Chairman Dennis Durgan
We might compare it to fixing up a stately landmark home; the curb appeal is still magnificent but the bones need attention. Dennis Durgan can certainly relate to the analogy.
A residential real estate professional in the community for more than four decades, Durgan grew up on the harbor, beginning in the early 1960’s when it was a seasonal recreation destination. He learned to sail here, then went on to crew in three America’s Cup competitions working with both Ted Turner and Dennis Connor. Now it’s a cause for the future, and not just his own.
“There are numerous issues the harbor has, and will continue to have, as we move forward. There’s more and more people that want to use it,” Durgan explains. “I used to call it the sandbox. Well, the sandbox is overflowing with kids that want to play.”
“With all of their toys…” chimes in Val Lyon, like Durgan, a board member of the Newport Harbor Foundation, established in 2019.
Ah yes, all the toys.
Board Member Edward “Val” Lyon
“Those damn Duffys!,” quips Marshall ‘Duffy’ Duffield, also a BBC member more noted as the inventor of the popular electric touring boat. Some three thousand Duffy boats are in use around local waterways. That’s in addition to all the sailboats, yachts, sport racing shells, paddleboards, kayaks – and the list goes on. The former Newport Beach Mayor has been a City Council member for eight years, and a key ally in the harbor improvement movement.
The long-time friends and lifelong denizens of Newport Beach are only the tip of an iceberg of fellow residents focusing energy and resources on important marine issues. They believe stewardship is best directed by those most concerned; homeowners, local businesses, and recreational users.
“The goal of the NHF is to educate the public on key issues and support City leadership in creating a comprehensive, locally contained Harbor Safety Department,” Lyon explains.
The foundation hosted more than 175 guests including government officials at its pandemic-delayed kickoff fundraiser at the Balboa Bay Resort last October. The event raised over a half million dollars to seed the NHF’s stated mission to study, research, and educate the general public regarding the maintenance and improvement of the Newport Harbor as a valuable environmental, cultural, and recreational asset. The further goal is to equip the local police and fire departments with patrol boats and other equipment so that the public safety component can be fully contained under City jurisdiction.
Mayor Marshall “Duffy” Duffield
“The harbor is this city’s number one asset and the maintenance of any asset takes proper resources, and time, and dedication,” Durgan explains. “It really is the center of Newport Beach. It isn’t Fashion Island and it’s not the peninsula. Everything revolves around the harbor.”
“Basically, we want to take it to the next level, since the City Council adopted a Harbor Department in 2018,” continues Durgan, who served as the City’s first Harbormaster. “We had no policies and procedures, at all. Because they hadn’t had anything on the harbor for four decades. It took a long time to develop that whole system. We got it up and running, and we had tons of derelict boats out there.”
Critical to the eco-health, the Newport Harbor hasn’t been formally dredged to its specified 25-foot depth since 1938. It’s a big part of why Duffield ran for City Council in the first place. He remembers a time when he regularly dug fresh clams from the shoreline. As he terms out of office later this year, Duffy’s managed to sway colleagues locally, and lobby a handful of times in Washington, DC, to help secure Newport Beach approximately $16 million in federal funding for the dredging project.
Since the 1970’s, public safety on the water has been handled by the county Sheriffs department.
“They’re in charge because the City doesn’t have any law enforcement or fire capability on the harbor,” Durgan explains. “This is one of the largest recreational harbors in the world, and we don’t have either. We have a fantastic fire department. If you have a fire at a restaurant or any facility, they can get to it by land but they don’t have anyway to get to it by water.”
With only praise for the OC Sheriff’s department, members of the NHF feel the recreational safety and business aspects around the harbor could best be served with dedicated local law enforcement that have closer ties to community. The County, in cooperation with the Coast Guard and federal Homeland Security Agency, would still oversee the broader criminal threats such as drug smuggling and human trafficking from a boundary extending three miles off the coast.
“If we can use our own police for security, and our own fire department for safety, those are key elements. At that point, we can say to the Sheriffs, ‘we got this covered’,” Durgan explains. “We don’t want them to tell us how to manage our harbor.”
For the past two decades, the Harbor Commission has served as an advisory panel to identify and remedy important issues on the waterway. Yet the slow grind of government operations has been an impediment. With the City’s newly-established Harbor Department, and citizen involvement like the Harbor Foundation, momentum is accelerating. Paul Blank was appointed the new Harbormaster a year ago.
Harbormaster Paul Blank
A Newport Beach native, accomplished sailor and avid yachtsman, Blank previously served eight years on the Harbor Commission. A career IT professional and hotel proprietor, his leadership resume includes Rear Commodore of the Balboa Yacht Club.
“I feel tremendously supported by my colleagues in city government. They are an incredibly impressive group of professionals,” Blank says, while admitting processes can be frustratingly slow. “The best decisions for the greater community are being made. It’s a matter of priorities. I’ve witnessed the healthy discussion and the healthy disagreements.”
The Harbor Department currently has three fulltime employees and another 19 part-time workers.
“We’re going to have all kinds of things that need attention,” Durgan points out. “With the foundation, I think we can help identify those things and make contributions to support the harbor. If people have the means to donate, it’s a good cause that will resonate for generations.”
The article was first published in the June, 2022 edition of Bay Window.
By Laylan Connelly – Orange County Register
Officials have secured $8.3 million to dredge Newport Harbor in the $14 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, but sand replenishment projects for two stretches of Orange County coastline were not included.
U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel said dredging of Newport Beach’s harbor is long overdue in her announcement Wednesday, Jan. 19, about the federal funding, but also stressed the need for added sand along the coastline. Funding for the Surfside-Sunset Replenishment Project, which would seed beaches through Huntington Beach south to Newport Beach will have to hope for final approval from another Congressional appropriations bill, the timeline of which has been unclear.
So is the San Clemente Shoreline Project, which would replenish beaches in the southern city, including improving the buffer of shoreline along a key coastal rail line.
Both projects have been stalled for years, awaiting funding for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do the replenishments that help create a beach buffer that would protect roads, homes and infrastructure from ocean flooding, as well as keep beaches – one of the region’s major tourism draws – from disappearing.
In 1962, Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act, which required the Army Corps of Engineers to address the impacts of the constructed flood control structures on the sand deposits that should be happening naturally along shorelines.
The $23 million Surfside-Sunset project – $15.5 million in federal money and $7.63 from local agencies – would add 1.75 million cubic yards of sand to Surfside, which would then be pushed down the coast by ocean currents and waves, spreading it 12 miles south to Newport Beach.
The last time sand was added was 2010 – previously the replenishment happened every five to seven years.
“There is more work to do, and I will continue to demand action from the administration and the Army Corps to fully fund the Surfside-Sunset Replenishment Project because we are one natural disaster away from devastation,” Steel said in a statement.
San Clemente has been waiting about two decades for its big replenishment project. The city two years ago received a boost in the amount of $500,000 in federal funding for the design phase.
With no beach left, a wave crashes against the rocks and stairs just below the railroad tracks at North Beach in San Clemente on Wednesday, October 20, 2021.(Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The project would add 251,000 cubic yards of sand from Linda Lane beach to T-Street beach south of the pier. The sand has shrunk so much there in recent years, city leaders have discussed the possibly of moving San Clemente’s Marine Safety Headquarters off the beach. When big surf hits, the surf laps onto the railroad tracks.
About $9.3 million was requested in the bipartisan infrastructure bill by U.S. Rep. Mike Levin for the San Clemente Shoreline Project.
Levin helped secure $30.5 million in federal funding for the Encinitas-Solana Beach Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project and $1.8 million for the Oceanside Special Shoreline Study, his office announced Wednesday.
The Encinitas-Solana Beach project involves placing 700,000 cubic yards of sand along 7,200 feet of beach in Solana Beach and 340,000 cubic yards of sand along 7,800 feet of beach in Encinitas.
The Oceanside shoreline study will create a plan to mitigate erosion and other effects from the construction of Camp Pendleton Harbor and will restore beach conditions along the affected shores to the conditions that existed before its development.
Levin’s office said he is also “continuing to fight to finalize federal funding for the San Clemente Shoreline Project.”
Paul BlankBy Amy Senk
Corona del Mar resident Paul Blank was named Newport Beach Harbormaster last spring, a grand achievement to cap off an on-the-water lifestyle that began at age 10 with a two-week sailing class offered through the city’s recreation department. The harbormaster’s job is typically described as being a lead ambassador for Newport Harbor, one of the largest recreational harbors in the country, and includes overseeing a dozen or so employees and an annual budget of $1 million-plus. But like most things in the past year or so, the first several months have been filled with surprises. I caught up with him to learn more.
Q: What role did you play as harbormaster in the days after the oil spill, and what stands out in your mind now as the most notable thing that happened?
A: The response to the Amplify Energy Oil spill in early October was swift and multifaceted. My specific roles included surveying the harbor beaches for oil contamination, monitoring the harbor entrance for potential intrusion or contamination and participation in the City of Newport Beach Emergency Operations Center, which integrated with the Unified Command Response managed by the U.S. Coast Guard. A huge amount of my time was spent communicating my findings to others in the EOC and the UCR as well as with Harbor constituents and my patrol team in the Harbor Department. When the decision was made to close the harbor entrance, I was there to witness it and then established a patrol presence to advise mariners in a firm but friendly way of the closure and alternatives while they were unable to get in or out of the harbor. As the situation evolved, my role shifted into advising mariners, local businesses and residents where they could go for support or to file claims for loss or damage sustained as a result of the spill. I also spent considerable time and effort supporting the vessel decontamination site that was established at Marina Park. I am thankful that through the duration of the crisis, we were not forced to close or curtail activities on the harbor. Sailing classes, races, rowing, paddle boarding and casual harbor cruising all continued even though the entrance was closed. While not everyone could engage in all the activities they may have wished to while the entrance was closed, the harbor remained clean, safe and well enjoyed.
Q: We keep seeing mega yachts off the coast of Newport Beach. Have they caused any problems?
A: Newport Harbor has become a more popular port of call for mega yachts this year. Some vessels choose to enjoy anchorage off Big Corona Beach for their visits. Others have stopped there while waiting for a favorable tide to enter and transit the harbor. I am pleased to have made the process of reserving and making use of the Large Vessel Anchorage easier for the yacht managers. I am also pleased with the tenor and tone of the dialogue that continues with nearby residents and businesses. Concerns remain about traffic and congestion in that part of the harbor, but no negative impacts have been observed or reported to me. Newport Harbor is a “no-discharge harbor,” meaning no waste or refuse may go overboard. All vessels mooring or anchoring in Newport Harbor, including these mega yachts with dozens of paid, professional crews, are subject to dye-tab testing of their marine sanitation systems. This is the method we use to test the integrity of the vessel’s plumbing and waste holding tank. One vessel was tested upon arrival recently and didn’t pass. We allowed the crew an opportunity to check the settings on all their pumps and valves. A little less than an hour later we returned to re-test and the vessel passed. No pollution or waste was discharged into the bay in that first test, so no citation was issued, and the vessel was welcome to stay in the harbor. If any vessel is subsequently witnessed discharging into the bay, citations are written which come with a financial penalty and the vessel may be asked to leave the harbor. Thankfully it doesn’t happen very often.
Q: What is the Take Back Our Harbor movement, and what are your thoughts about it?
A: Take Back Our Harbor is the tagline for the newly formed Newport Harbor Foundation. The Foundation is a nonprofit group with a mission similar to the Newport Bay Conservancy. While the Newport Bay Conservancy is focused exclusively on improving Upper Newport Bay –essentially everything north of the PCH Bridge – the Newport Harbor Foundation is focused on preserving and improving the lower Newport Harbor. While I am not directly involved with the group, I am supportive of their mission. The group’s efforts align nicely with the Harbor Department’s goal of keeping the harbor clean, safe and well enjoyed.
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