Group tries to make it easier for boaters to navigate
Dana Point Harbor red tape
By TAYLOR HILL
2013-05-03
11:15:24
With the increasing number of managers, operators
and overseers in Dana Point Harbor, boaters and harbor users can have a hard
time figuring out exactly which person or what agency they should turn to with
questions and concerns regarding topics such as the harbor's upcoming $140
million landside revitalization, dock maintenance or who takes care of
recycling.
But the boating advocacy group Dana Point
Boaters Association has created a one-stop shop that it hopes will give those
looking for answers a place to ask questions and raise concerns that will be
heard by the right ears.
"The harbor's gotten complicated these
days," said association vice president James Lenthall. "Boaters who
have been around a long time have seen the governance of the harbor change
drastically over the years."
The harbor, once operated by two private
marina companies in the east and west basins, has become a complex system run
by Orange County. Three marina operators – one landside (Embarcadero Marina)
and two waterside (Dana Point Marina Co. and Dana West Marina) – are now
contracted to manage their respective marinas, while OC Parks and OC Dana Point
Harbor and the Harbor Patrol divvy up authority of the day-to-day operations.
"When you don't know who to ask the
question to, it's hard to get the right answer," Lenthall said.
Under the group's boater liaison program,
once a boater submits a question on the Dana Point Boaters Association website,
www.danapointboaters.org, the
group will review it and determine which harbor entity should be informed.
Every month, the association will meet with
harbor agency heads and raise questions, concerns, comments and ideas submitted
on the website. Topics can be anything, as long as they pertain to Dana Point
Harbor.
"We think we can press these agencies
into providing a thoughtful response," Lenthall said.
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