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Council considers future of harbor bridge and landfill
by Jason Dietrich
The city council on Tuesday took a cursory look at a five-year, $113 million capital improvement plan that details a wish list of projects from the repair and replacement of aging sewers to the construction of a skateboard park.
The plan, which was first introduced in May, serves mainly as an overview and is dependent to a large degree on the results of the "Heart of the City" plan, which would create a harbor area downtown, southwest of where the AES power plant now stands. The Heart of the City plan is under development by consultants.
"We do not have specific priorities tonight and we don't even know how we're going to pay for this," said Mayor Greg Hill.
City officials are hoping to use state and federal funds to pay for a large percentage of the projects, particularly those in the harbor area. Each project will have to come back before the city council individually for approval.
Tuesday night the council discussed coming up with a consistent logo and sign design and nodded at funding a study of repairs to the historic Morrell House in Dominguez Park from the city's general fund reserves, after a grant request was denied. But the council focused on projects in the park system and harbor area, having discussed street and sewer improvements last meeting.
Two of the projects getting the most attention were a proposed pedestrian bridge over the part of the marina closest to the International Boardwalk and a two and-a-half acre landfill on the projection of land that now houses Moonstone Park and harbor patrol offices.
Plans for the landfill were criticized by harbor-area master leaseholder Les Guthrie for including boat launch with what he called inadequate parking and queuing facilities. The arrangement would be dangerous, said Guthrie, as inexperienced boaters would be launching their crafts into a narrowed channel, at an angle to the wind.
The pedestrian bridge seemed to find some favor on the council. Councilmen Mike Gin and Gerard Bisignano expressed tentative approval of the idea, depending on the results of further studies.
Business owners on the International Boardwalk fear that the bridge could hurt their business by decreasing foot traffic on the boardwalk.
Both projects fit into a larger plan of improvements for the harbor, which includes dredging operations and the replacement of pier pilings, as well as reconfiguring the entire area into a more pedestrian friendly downtown. ER