Complete renovation includes new docks — and a whole lot more. CHANNEL ISLANDS HARBOR — Ahead of schedule and nearing completion, Channel Islands Harbor Marina is getting ready to open new slips in the last phase of the complete renovation of the aging marina. “We are glad it is done,” stated an elated Brian Dunn, president of Vintage Marina Partners, operators of Channel Islands Harbor Marina. “We’ve had a few setbacks on the way, but we will have completed the waterside part of the renovation — all the docks systems — in March. That’s 15 months from the beginning of construction.”

The more-than-40-year-old marina was formerly showing its age, with listing and weatherbeaten wooden docks, unstable gangways and crumbling concrete. Its new aluminum ramps, contemporary entry gates and Unifloat concrete docks are a testament to modern technology. Cash and Associates and Bellingham Marine have provided design and construction support for the renovation.

The $15 million-plus project, which had been scheduled to take up to two years to complete, will be finished this month. Some shoreside improvements are still to be completed — including refurbishing the marina office, restrooms and showers.

Dunn stated that marina construction would have begun sooner if it hadn’t been for delays caused by two local environmental groups with concerns about noise levels affecting nesting birds in the area near construction.

“We hired a full-time biologist to help with bird and noise level monitoring,” Dunn explained. “This added about $100,000 to the cost of the development.

“We even used a mesh sound curtain to help reduce noise further, by about 20 decibels, during pile driving,” Dunn added. He also said that the sound curtain was a custom design, as he knew of no one else who had used this before.

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MAGAZINE: The Log
ISSUE: March 2008