Dear Dana Point Boater (or wait list member),
Boaters for Dana Point Harbor recommends that
you vote in the current OC DPH poll, and write to your County Supervisor
and the Coastal Commissioners to protect your (and the public's) boating
resources. Our specific suggestions are included in the Boater Voter
Information Packet following this brief discussion of how we arrived at
this point.
The California Coastal Commission is requiring
the City of Dana Point to refine their forecasted slip loss from the
proposed Revitalization Plan before the October Hearings. This way
they will be in a better position to evaluate the proposed parking
solution for the commercial expansion. The City is leaving this
activity to OC DPH and its Boaters Focus Group (BFG). This
"public" process is being marketed by the City and the County's
PR firm and has been touted by the OC DPH Director, Brad Gross, to the
Coastal Commission several times. In his October 2008 testimony,
Gross stated that there were over 35 participants at all of the 5
meetings that had been held. At that point, the average attendance
was 25 and there had only been 3 meetings. Over half of those
participating in the three meetings and voting on the slip loss proposals
were merchants, OC DPH employees, agents of the OC DPH and others who had
clear conflicts of interest. Many of the participating boaters have
abandoned the BFG due to the unfair process.
In the City's rush to fulfill the requirements
of the California Coastal Commission regarding proposed slip loss, OC DPH
has pushed forward with a voting process on four possible
alternatives. The voting opened in July and will close on the 16th
of August. At the last BFG meeting, it was moved by the Dana Point
Boaters Association (DPBA) and passed that only existing wet slip renters
or those on the wait list will be allowed to vote on the proposed slip
loss. Voting instructions have been forwarded to all boaters for
whom OC DPH has email addresses and a postcard was mailed to all boaters
on either the wait lists or in a wet slip. Other than a brief
explanation of the process, no additional information was provided to the
boaters. They are directed to the OC DPH web site where there are
five power point slides contrasting the four alternatives.
Numerous requests have been made to OC DPH to
allow us to have contact information so that we can help to keep all
boaters informed. These requests have always been met with
responses by the County of Orange that it would be a violation of the
California Constitution to provide the requested contact
information. However, the City of Long Beach does make this
information available and they have not been found to be violators,
merely a governmental agency that is willing to allow their customers to
be fully informed.
Boaters for Dana Point Harbor have expressed
concerns about several elements of this process and have prepared the
attached Voter Information. We continue to attend BFG meetings, as
we have always said we will participate in any process within the
harbor. However, it continues to amazes us what OC and the City of
Dana Point consider a public process.
click here for Boater Voter
Information Packet
Respectfully,
Bruce Heyman
Founder Dana Point Boaters Association, October 10, 2006
Boaters for Dana Point Harbor, October 24, 2008
BruceHeyman@cox.net
949-289-8400
www.boaters4dph.com
