Shelter Island's busy launch ramp area will have a much wider entrance for boats, more docks for boat tie-ups and an enlarged basin by early 2011 if a Port of San Diego plan is approved and funded.
Bob Frankel, the Port's director of engineering and construction, said the estimated $5 million project will feature a removal of the earthen jetty, removal of rip-rap from inside the basin and installation of concrete sheet piling that will increase the basin from 28,000 square feet to a little under 50,000 square feet.
Frankel said the Port's plan will go to its board of directors for approval in the spring. From there it will go to the California Department of Boating and Waterways as a grant request that eventually must be approved by the state Legislature. That could take 12 to 18 months, but Frankel said construction of the project could start in early 2010 and finished approximately 12 months later.
“We'll also have to secure a whole bunch of permits to start construction, and we still have to do a lot more evaluations, but it's important to get the grant process going,” Frankel said.
Other launch ramp area improvements include:
A widening of the entrance from 25 feet to 60 feet and moving it more to the center of the basin.
Dock length will go from 120 feet inside the launch basin now to 500 feet of docking for tying up boats. Lack of dock space was one of the main concerns voiced during scoping meetings the Port sponsored.
Partial or complete removal of the earthen jetty, according to Charlene Dennis, capital project manager. Partial removal will cost less, she said, but won't provide as big a basin area as full removal.
Concerned citizens persuaded the Port to postpone its original $1.4 million refurbishment plan of the boat launch in order to do a more substantial improvement of the outdated ramp and basin that was built in 1952.
They called attention to the dangers in the basin at low tide when the size of the basin shrunk and made maneuvering of boats dangerous. Rocks from the rip-rap stuck out and sometimes were hit by boats.
Called the “Gateway to the Pacific,” the launch ramp is the closest to the Mexican border and used often by those traveling to Mexico to fish or recreate.
Frankel said the Port thus far has received $150,000 in grant money from the Department of Boating and Waterways and spent $10,000 of its own money for studies of such things as wave action and more money for scoping meetings and preliminary concept designs. He said the Port has spent about $100,000 so far and plans to do more analysis and plan designs.
“We're in the beginning of the second year of a five-year process,” Frankel said.
