REPORT UPDATE — Abandoned and Derelict Vessels
A follow-up status of two significant derelict vessels, both of which were removed from the harbor last week.
I am pleased to report that “New Beginnings”, a 1972 Hatteras 56’, which was known as a problematic vessel in several Southern California harbors, was dismantled and removed from Newport Harbor last Friday, January 16th. During its dubious final stay in Newport Harbor, it racked up more than $50K in fines and fees. The cost to have the vessel and its hazardous contents removed was more than $30K. It’s unlikely another harbor would have dealt with this situation as swiftly and completely as we have. Other harbors don’t have the laws/codes, resources, and focus on the potential for situations like this to devolve so thoroughly.
New Beginnings – Dismantled
The vessel “Haven” was also removed permanently from the harbor last week after a lengthy and complicated stay.
A foreign owner purchased the vessel about a year ago with the best of intentions for having it transported to a lake near his home in Europe and then undertaking a restoration.
Unfortunately, the owner was unfamiliar with many of the challenges associated with such a project, including but not limited to:
- How a 60+ year old, 40’ wooden boat could be transported internationally
- The boat yard that handled the inspection and was keeping the boat until transport arrived wanted to be paid and the boat removed so the space could be freed up for other work
- Aside: the boat yard eventually asked the Harbor Department to execute an impound to have the vessel removed from their premises
- There were costs associated with continuing to store the boat here in Newport Harbor, as arrangements were made to transport it
- Registration and insurance requirements associated with storing a boat in Newport Harbor
- Operability requirements associated with storing a boat in Newport Harbor
All this to say, the owner quickly gave up on the project and left the situation for us to deal with.
In this case, we were able to recoup a portion of the costs for removal and destruction from the owner who abandoned the vessel.
There is one other significant vessel in our sights at the moment. The boat is in impound with us, and we have just initiated the process to declare the boat abandoned.
The registered owner has claimed for several months that he is prepared to retrieve it and have it brought into compliance with harbor requirements.
However, the boat yard with which he has been in negotiations just last week informed us they are no longer willing to do business with the owner.
We will move forward as quickly as legally allowed with the eventual removal of this vessel as well.
Warm regards,
Paul Blank
Harbormaster
Harbor Department
City of Newport Beach
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.”
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