Yacht controversy takes a new turn

Mathis Winkler

BALBOA ISLAND -- The boat controversy isn’t over yet.

Lodwrick M. Cook, who owns homes at 1106 and 1108 South Bay Front, has

already tried twice to convince neighbors and city officials that his

55-foot yacht would not cause problems if he parked it parallel to the

beach in front of the properties.

On Tuesday, Cook family members tried a different approach and

anchored the boat perpendicular to their dock to give people a chance to

comment on it.

“It looks like it fits in there,” said Tony Melum, the city’s harbor

resources manager. But “we have to go back and do some scratching our

heads on it.”

More than two dozen residents who had gathered on the boardwalk to

inspect the boat were less optimistic.

“It’s big,” said Pam Sigband, Cook’s next-door neighbor, who has led

the opposition against earlier proposals to park the boat on the island.

“At low tide, it would be sitting on the ground,” Sigband said, adding

that she thought the yacht would still create safety problems for people

swimming in the bay.

Cook’s son, Scott, disagreed.

“I don’t believe that we need to do any dredging,” he said. “We

believe we’ll be just fine.”

That might be the case, said Councilman Steve Bromberg, who represents

Balboa Island and has been closely involved with the issue.

“Right now, as the policy is written, that boat can stay there,”

Bromberg said, standing near Cook’s pier. “Whether that policy needs to

be changed or not is something we need to look at.”

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Bromberg asked city officials to

look into the matter and come back with a report.

Right now, the city only regulates pier sizes and has less concrete

rules for boat sizes.

The Cooks, who live in Sherman Oaks, say they should be entitled to a

60-foot boat because the combined width of their two homes is 60 feet.

Leaning against the boat’s railing, Cook’s wife, Carole, said she and

her husband were planning to spend half their time on Balboa Island after

tearing down the house at 1108 South Bay Front and expanding the one next

door.

“I love the island,” Carole Cook said. “I feel very protective about

the island myself.”

Cook himself was away on business and did not attend Tuesday’s boat

display.

His earlier proposal to move the existing pier 40 feet to the east to

dock the boat ran aground after city officials rejected the idea last

week.

Citing a 1964 City Council policy that prohibits “new, noncommercial

piers . . . unless it is in the public interest or unless it is at such a

location that is not usable for swimming and bathing,” city officials

said Cook’s proposed pier revision would in effect create a new pier.

Neighbors objected to the plan as well, saying the boat would block

views of Newport Harbor, as well as beach access for swimming and other

water activities.