Is Marina del Rey slated to become a waterfront theme park? Or will it continue to fulfill its original purpose as a recreational boating harbor, now the biggest in the world? The new Marina del Rey Local Coastal Plan, which will be considered Wednesday by the county's regional planning committee, trades land development for the interests of the public for which the marina was built, boaters who love the sea.

Go back 50 years to the legislation that established the small boat harbor at Playa del Rey inlet in Venice, California.  The intent was to "Provide all necessary slips, and slip facilities for the repair, service and supply of small craft on terms reasonable and equal to all …"

"The harbor would be built almost wholly for the benefit of pleasure craft owned by private individuals within the Los Angeles Area ... Provide adequate berthing and other facilities for small craft ... provide adequate parking areas … "

"The proposed improvements are designed to meet recreational boating needs … and increase in opportunity for boatowners to operate their small craft …"

"The plan considered is the best plan for making recreational harbor facilities in Santa Monica Bay available to the largest number of boatowners and potential owners in southern California at the least cost."

All quotes are from House Document 389 with emphasis added.

Every one of these laudable, visionary goals is now threatened by the Marina del Rey coastal plan. County officials have lost sight of the fact that the 10 million people of Los Angeles County own the marina, not the county supervisors. The marina's construction was financed by the public, from federal Public Law 780 signed by President Eisenhower, and the county's original bond issue, which required voter approval; to the supplemental $2.1 million the supervisors authorized for the breakwater. 

Throughout the supporting documentation I found no mention of building the marina to provide water views for tourists.
 
Skipper Alan Gornick owns both a 33-foot power boat and a 53-foot ketch.

"Over the past twenty years, the county has lost interest in supporting boaters. The marina is now just a cash cow," he told me.

Debbie Talbot of the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors explained that her department, of which the biggest contributor is Marina del Rey, generated $38 million in revenue for the county last year. Athough the number varies, for this fiscal year the Accumulative Capital Outlay from the county back to the marina,  "was $1 million," Talbot said.

"When the County took over the Santa Monica Windjammers Yacht Club slips, it acted like a slumlord, doing no maintenance," said Nancy Vernon Marino, co-director of  We Are Marina del Rey. "Now the yacht club is losing members and is trying to negotiate a survival deal."

Over 800 slips under 35 feet will be eliminated under the new plan. Most of these slips are now used by active, fee paying boaters. Culling these slips will limit access and drive up costs. The supposed justification for cutting out the smaller slips and replacing them with larger ones is that there are too many vacancies in the small slips. The county wants to partially offset the loss with the construction of a dry stack facility for boats, not the place to host friends for an after sail happy hour, or spend a weekend away from home.

What will happen with the smaller slips? Many will be filled in and built upon. "The county would eliminate all the boats in the Marina if it would mean increasing revenue," said Marco Karpodines, skipper of a Yorktown 34.

There are many openings in the large slips as well. Marino has analyzed LA County figures and noticed that end ties that accommodate larger boats weren't included, understating the number of large boat slips actually available.
 
The county justifies cutting small boat slips by saying that manufacturers are now building bigger boats. It is true that when the economic bubble was expanding, an increasing number of dollars went to larger vessels. The trend was mirrored in the growth of McMansions, ever bigger homes. But economic fundamentals are now different.

In ensuing years, we can expect gradual economic growth. The recovery in the boat manufacturing industry is now from the bottom up, with an increasing number of smaller boats getting made.   Additionally, new manufacturing techniques are increasing the quality and durability of small boats. Even now, well maintained water craft can last for decades, which is why most boat sales are for second hand vessels.

Vessels under 35 ft cover 99% of the needs of Marina del Rey boaters. For 16 years, I sailed a 25-foot sloop up and down Santa Monica Bay. I often sailed back and forth and even all the way around Catalina Island.

The county favors larger slips, not because their construction is justified by economic trends, but because it can charge more for bigger slips. Skipper Rick Beauchemin owns a 34 ft Columbia sloop.

"This entire plan will have the effect of removing the middle class from boating," he said.
 
A year after my first sail out of Marina del Rey, I moved to California. When I looked into getting a slip, I was told that throughout the marina there was a waiting list of several years. When I finally got a slip of my own, rents increased every year until the recession hit. The current vacancies are due to economic distress.

Boaters still savor life on the water, increasing their time spent there last year. Los Angeles County is projected to grow by a million people over the next decade. The economy has resumed growing. With stricter environmental regulations than in the 1950s, it's likely that no new marinas will be built in Southern California. How will Marina del Rey accommodate an increase in boaters after hundreds of smaller slips have been filled in? 
 
Parking has been cut in the new marina plan. Construction is planned on existing lots and filled in docks for hundreds of apartments, tens of thousands of square feet of retail space, and hundreds of restaurant seats, changes that will increase parking pressure on a shrinking number of spaces.

"The marina has been monetized. The county is like a crack addict hungry for immediate cash," Marino said.
 
Remaining slip holders will see their parking cut, too. Current regulations require .75 parking spaces per slip. Under the new plan marinas only need to supply .6 spaces for each slip. Marino points out that there's been no county analysis of multi-use boats like the one she owns with a partner, or of organizations like Fairwinds Yacht Club where hundreds of members share less than a dozen boats. 
 
A theme that runs through the original documentation creating Marina del Rey is that it was built it to meet the public interest. The highest and best use of marina land does not mean that boaters should be shortchanged.  According to the marina's commemorative brass plaque from the 1965 dedication at the end of Fiji Way, "This great recreational and boating facility … will provide relaxation and recreation to countless thousands of persons in the years to come."  If the new local coastal plan amendment passes, the county should chisel off the word "countless."   

Marino objects most to the fact that this has been top down planning rather than a community process. She said that at the most only 16,000 local residents have been invited to hearings. Here's your invitation to make your own voice heard. The Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning will hold its next hearing on the plan Wednesday at 9:00 a.m.  in downtown Los Angeles at 320 West Temple Street in room 150. The agenda can be found here.
 
If you can't attend, remind the LA County Board of Supervisors that Marina del Rey was built for boaters, not developers.