Rock slope nears completion at Crescent City Harbor

The first phase of reconstruction at Crescent City Harbor is almost wrapped up.

The initial phase will be complete once the remaining rock slope is installed, which should be done in a few more days, said Harbormaster Richard Young this week.

The rock slope project was scheduled to be finished earlier this week, but Dutra Group, a company contracted to do the work, could not get the rock on time, Young said.

“They’d like to get done and go home,” Young said at Tuesday’s Harbor Commission meeting.

All of the temporary docks have been installed, and the harbor is ready for crab season less than nine months after the March tsunami. However, the commercial crab season has been delayed until Jan. 16.

“All of the boats that we promised a home for the crab season have a slip to safely moor in,” Young said.

Not all of the slips, however, have electricity and water hookups.

Vessels on docks without power and water are only being charged half the regular rate, but some boats have occasionally been using power on A Dock, the only dock with power and electricity, Young said.

The Crescent City Harbor Commission voted to start charging vessels that choose to temporarily use A Dock if they aren’t assigned to A Dock.

Currently vessels tie up to A Dock when the boats assigned to A dock are out of the area.

“They’re doing so without charge even though they’re benefitting from the power services on A Dock,” said Harbormaster Richard Young.

The harbor will now charge $5 to $15 a day to use A Dock, depending on the vessel and if its skipper already has a slip elsewhere in the harbor.

“Otherwise we have people that just camp at A Dock all the time,” Young said.

The harbor is considering installing power on D Dock this crab season, Young said.

During the meeting Mary Wilson, owner of Ocean World, disputed the necessity of relocating a pump facility used to draw water into her aquariums. The inner boat basin rebuilding project currently calls for moving the pump facility in order to install the large rock slope required for a 50-year tsunami event.

The commission directed Ocean World to work with the harbor’s engineer to study the possibility of not relocating the pump house.

The commission hopes to resolve the issue by the first meeting in January so the inner boat basin rebuilding project can go to bid by mid-January.

Nine construction companies have already been prequalified for the second phase of the project, Young said.

“There’s been extensive interest from the construction community in bidding,” Young said.

Also Tuesday, Commissioner Scott Feller reported that the cash flow problem caused by delayed Federal Emergency Management Agency funds seems to be resolved. As district representative for state Sen. Doug LaMalfa, Feller said he spoke to the state controller’s office, which distributes the FEMA checks.

“Everything’s been expedited, and we’ve gotten almost all of our checks in less than a month now,” Feller said. “We’re caught up.”

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