Harbor patrol keeps eye on facility face lift

The Orange County Harbor Patrol’s mobile building is showing its age. The sign outside the unit, on Huntington Harbour at the end of Edinger Avenue, is peeling, and the bottom of the 20-year-old structure has had to be covered because animals were crawling under and dying, station commander Sgt. Mike Jansen said.

Much to the delight of the men and women who serve the harbor, the patrol is one step closer to a much-needed new facility. The California Coastal Commission recently approved the plan, though there a still several regulatory hurdles to clear.

The plans call for a new mobile unit that will be more than twice the size of the current 700-square-foot building.

By comparison, the main station of the Orange County Harbor Patrol in Newport Beach has a 7,200-square-foot permanent building. Dana Point Harbor Patrol Sgt. John Whitman estimates that his permanent building is 1,500 to 2,000 square feet.

The new trailer will be in the same spot as the current facility, but it will face the water, making it easier for the sheriffs to get to their two boats quickly. It will also have new equipment and a wheelchair ramp compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

To get the building approved, the Harbor Patrol had to go through the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the California Coastal Commission, which greenlighted the $200,000 plan after five months of deliberation, said Clark Shen, manager of architecture and engineering with the county’s resource development and management department.

The funds were allocated from the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Fund, which comes from property taxes.

Jansen said he’s excited for the project to finally come to fruition.

“It’s actually been in the works for a while,” Jansen said. “We were held up by the Coastal Commission, and then finally it all got approved.”

The approval steps are not all completed, however.

The Harbor Patrol Division must still get approval from the Orange County Planning and Development Services Department.

From there, the Harbor Patrol will go back to the board of supervisors for plan approval, at which point it can start accepting bids for the construction.

“I’d say it’s a nine-month process [from now],” Shen said. “January is the best-case scenario ? that’s what we’re shooting for. I’d rather be optimistic instead of pessimistic.”

Jansen hopes the construction will begin in the fall and be completed by January 2007.

The Harbor Patrol Division acts as law enforcement, firefighters, open-water rescuers and vessel assistance in and around the harbors. They are also first responders to many incidents, including those having to do with environmental law and hazardous material spills.