Harbor panel to discuss improvements

City officials will meet next week to discuss a proposal to spend about $1 million on improvements to the city’s aging harbor, including new lighting, a new patrol boat and security upgrades.

About half of that money, $500,000, would be spent replacing old Harbor Patrol boat, said Peter Weiss, the city’s former city manager who is now a consultant.

Weiss developed a list of recommendations as part of the harbor’s capital improvements plan for the upcoming fiscal year.

The Harbor and Beaches Advisory Committee will consider the plan when it meets Thursday to make its own recommendations to the City Council.

Les George, a staff commodore at the Oceanside Yacht Club and a member of the harbor advisory committee, said the group may need more time to consider the plan. He said he wondered whether buying a new patrol boat was a top priority.

“We’re going to be asking a lot of questions,” George said. “I will be stating that we need more time to make our recommendations.”

Opened in 1963, the Oceanside Harbor is one of the city’s top attractions. Popular restaurants, hotels and boat rental shops line the water’s edge. The Oceanside Yacht Club sits on the northern edge near a fence that separates the city from Camp Pendleton.

The harbor has an annual budget of about $6.8 million, most of it generated from slip rentals, leases and parking fees. Much of it is spent on maintenance, $2.6 million; harbor police, $1.9 million; and administration costs, about $720,000.

Whatever revenues are left each year is placed into a harbor fund to pay for capital improvement projects, Weiss said. That budget has about $3.5 million, he said.

But the harbor — which caters primarily to retired workers and their modest vessels — doesn’t have a plan that lays out all the repairs and improvements that will be needed over the next several years, Weiss said.

That’s why he is also recommending that the harbor’s maintenance personnel create a document spelling out all the repairs that will eventually be needed, how much they will cost and how to pay for them.

“The harbor does not have a list with all key components that need to be replaced,” Weiss said. “Right now, we wait for things to break down and then we fix or replace them.”

The harbor has a 20-year, $9.4 million capital improvements plan that includes items such as dock and gangway replacement and restroom redesign projects. But it doesn’t include other things, such as parking lot improvements, sewer line replacement or replacing the Habor Patrol’s aging boat fleet, Weiss said.

In his list of recommendations for next year, Weiss included $500,000 to replace a 29-year-old, 29-foot fire and rescue patrol boat that has far outlasted its estimated 20-year life span. It also includes $150,000 to convert all harbor parking and streetlights to LED.

Replacing the lights is not only necessary but it will save money in energy costs in the long run, Weiss said.

About $200,000 is earmarked to replace locks on harbor dock gates, restrooms and laundry rooms doors. The metal keys that are used now would be replaced with an electronic card system, Weiss said.

Slip renters have complained that the proliferation of keys has allowed non-renters to gain access to dock gates, restrooms and other harbor facilities, Weiss said. The electronic card system would allow harbor personnel to disable the cards if they are lost or stolen, he said.

George said he has concerns about some of the proposals, such as the purchase of a new patrol boat.

“I’m not saying it’s necessary or not necessary,” he said. “I’m saying I need more information.”

Weiss said he is also recommending that Harbor Police, which has four patrol boats, reassess how many boats and personnel it needs.

“I’d like to see some kind of a staffing plan,” Weiss said. “I don’t know that they need four boats, they may need five, but I don’t know. The question is how many do you really need.”

The meeting is set for 3 p.m. Thursday at Council Chambers, 300 N. Coast Highway.