Sea base work ready to set sail

Paul Clinton

More than four years after launching an effort for a new sea base

in Corona del Mar, local Boy Scouts are at last ready to turn over

the first shovel of dirt to build their new digs.

Construction is set to begin today on the new $5.2-million Scout

Sea Base, which is expected to be completed in June, exactly five

years after they had first hoped to build it. The work will kick off

with a 6:30 p.m. ground-breaking ceremony.

The new base, which includes expanded classroom space, a new dock

and a rowing center, hit a few bumps along the road, including

objections from the California Coastal Commission and a long-running

effort to raise funds to pay for the project.

“It’s on its way now,” said Dave Janes, the chairman of the Boy

Scout committee overseeing the project. “We have all the approvals.

We jumped through every hoop and every wicket.”

The new base will expand the scouts’ current operation, doubling

the number of boys now using it. The new building measures 22,060

square feet, compared with the 9,942-square-foot current building. It

will add a significant amount of new classroom space in the new

two-story building.

The base was established in 1937 and last remodeled in 1980.

The L-shaped addition, at 1931 W. Coast Highway, will be used

primarily as a base for local Troop 90, but is expected to bring in a

much broader cross-section of the community.

The new base will also be safer, Janes said. As part of the

design, a drive-through path will be added to allow parents and

visitors to drop off their children. Now, parents must stop at the

West Coast Highway curb, with cars whizzing by on the street as the

children head into the base.

In addition to holding classes on sailing skills for scouts and

sea scouts, and offering merit-badge courses, the base is expected to

be a destination for schoolchildren on field trips. The base will

also serve as the permanent home for the Lynx, the 19th-century

sailing ship built by Newport Beach resident Woodson K. Woods.

Janes said he has been working with Orange County schools to offer

children tours of the Lynx, the replica of a privateer from the War

of 1812, as a lesson in living history.

Other activities will be offered to bring the public to the base’s

doorstep, said Catherine Malm, the base’s director.

“It’s not only an upgrade and benefit for the scouts, but for the

community,” Malm said. “It’s expanding for the community.”

Much of the funding to build the base, Janes said, has been raised

from donors living near it. The scouts are still raising funds; they

have raised about $4 million so far, Janes said.

The base caused some controversy earlier this year, when staff

members of the California Coastal Commission objected to the size of

the new building. In a staff report, analyst Fernie Sy complained

that the base blocked too much of the view of Newport Harbor.

In June, the commission ultimately overrode Sy’s recommendation to

deny the project on a 7 to 1 vote.

“It’s not going to obstruct the [view of the] harbor,” Janes said.

“We’ve been extremely sensitive about not building something that

looks like the Balboa Bay Club.”

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment and politics. He may be

reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at paul.clinton@latimes.com.