Harbor panel signs off on basin project plan

The first phase of the project (dredging, rock slope protection repairs and installation of temporary docks) will be completed within a couple weeks.

On Tuesday the board approved plans for the remaining rock slope protection repairs and the construction and installation of permanent docks.

Harbor Commissioner Ron Phillips asked why the project is now estimated to cost $28 million — $8 million more than initially proposed three years ago to repair damage from a 2006 tsunami.

“About $8 million is actually in the pilings,” said Ward Stover of Stover Engineering, which is overseeing the project.

Pilings are deep foundation columns drilled into the bedrock to provide structural integrity to the docks.

The Coastal Commission preferred that the project be designed for a 50-year tsunami event, increasing the number of pilings from around 160 to 244, Stover said.

“Once these pilings get put in, if they ever get damaged, there’s no room to put new piles in afterwards, so they need to be a little bit more robust,” Stover said.

The number, size and depth of the out of thepilings was the only significant change to the plans from what the harbor commissioners had seen before. The pilings will be 30 inches in diameter ranging from 21 feet to 37 feet deep. The pilings will vary in strength depending on what is necessary for where they are placed.

The docks will have wharf fire hydrants, potable water and electricity, Stover said.

To finish the project, the harbor still needs $4 million. A small amount of funding might be available through a Community Development Block Grant, which would provide $35,000 for each certified job that is harbor-dependent. The harbor was already awarded $5 million from CDBG for the purchase of docks,  Young said.

The project is primarily funded by the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), but delayed delivery of FEMA payments distributed by the state have been an issue, the commissioners said.

“We’re skating by on the good will of our vendors and using up all of the reserves we have,” Young said.

Working with delayed payments from CalEMA and FEMA has already created a cash flow problem, and the longer delays for FEMA funds have only made it worse, Young said.

“Why there is a longer delay in the check that covers the FEMA share ... we’re not sure what that delay is,” said Wilma Madden, harbor administrative assistant. “Communicating with the state controller’s office is not easy.”  

The federal funding has already been approved and is sitting in state coffers waiting to be dispersed to the harbor, Young said.

The eight-week FEMA delay compared to a four-week delay for CalEMA payments is creating a need to borrow $3 million to $4 million, Young said.

“This is becoming a nationwide game that’s being played by state controllers,” Stover said. “They get money in the pot and then they delay their payments so they can keep the cash flow going.”

A possible strategy for receiving the funds faster would be raising the point that vendors are now giving higher bids since they are aware of the delay in payment, Stover said.

Harbor Commissioner Scott Feller said that he would be having a conversation with state officials Friday regarding the cash flow problem that the state controller’s office is creating for the harbor.

During an update, Young said all of the boats that sank during the tsunami last March have been removed and 95 percent of the temporary docks have been installed.

An ordinance for the fee schedule and related regulations for temporary slips was adopted.

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