Channel Islands Harbor Explained

Channel Islands Harbor
Country:United States
Location:Oxnard, California
Owner:County of Ventura[1]
Type:Artificial
Berths:2,150

Channel Islands Harbor is a small craft harbor[2] and shore-protection project[3] in Oxnard, California at the southern end of the Santa Barbara Channel. It is the fifth largest harbor for small-craft recreation in the state of California[4] and is a waterfront resort, recreation, and dining marketplace. Recreational activities include diving, boat charters, sea kayaking, sportfishing, and whale watching (gray whales January through early April; blue and humpback whales July to September).

The horseshoe shaped harbor contains 166acres of water surrounded by 126acres of land[5] and supports more than 2,500 vessels, four yacht clubs, and nine full-service marinas.[6] The five Channel Islands are a popular destination, the closest of which is Anacapa Island.[4] The Ventura County Maritime Museum has a regularly rotating exhibit, maritime-themed art, and model ships. Water taxis are available to drop diners and shoppers at various docks within the harbor.[7] Every three years the harbor is host to the Channel Islands Tall Ships Festival[8] which includes between two and five large sailing vessels and draws thousands of visitors.

History

The US Army Corps of Engineers formed the harbor in 1960 by scooping out sand dunes and wetlands at the edge of Oxnard Plain and depositing the surplus sand at the nearby beaches of Port Hueneme.[9] The sand trap at the harbor entrance was designed to retain sand that otherwise might be diverted into the ocean due to the impacts of the construction of the Port of Hueneme.[10] The sand was to be regularly dredged and placed on Hueneme Beach which suffers erosion due to the port blocking the littoral drift of sand.[11]

While the County of Ventura arranged to oversee the harbor and manage it in 1963, they formed an agreement with the City of Oxnard to annex the then vacant county land and provide sewage service, water and utilities. The city built the infrastructure and under the agreement began to receive sales, property and lodging tax revenues.[12] After the annexation agreement between the county and city had expired, the city stopped keeping up the parks, parking lots and restrooms in public areas in 2018.[13] They also were no longer going to pay the water bills for these facilities.[14] Oxnard harbor residents also elected to end payments to harbor patrol which ended an annual revenue stream.[15] The Mandalay Generating Station closed in 2018 which circulated water as part of the power plant's cooling process.[16]

Operation and facilities

Ventura County Harbor Department patrols the main harbor which is south of the Channel Islands Boulevard bridges. The city of Oxnard maintains the northern neighborhood waterways.[17]

The harbor is part of Ocean Resources Enhancement and Hatchery Program.[18]

Neighborhood and destinations

The harbor waters connect to the north with Mandalay Bay, a residential waterfront development built in 1972 consisting of over 700 boat dock homes. Additional developments expanded the Harbor in the 2000s.[19] The development consists of single-family homes and townhouses with reinforced concrete bulkheads lining a series of short navigable canal-like waterways.[20] Between 1950 and 1981 Mandalay Bay was a permitted oil field waste disposal site which caused the release of numerous hazardous chemicals.[21] The records of what was dumped were subsequently lost, resulting in calls for an investigation and millions of dollars in lawsuits from home buyers who were told the area was safe for habitation.[22]

The Channel Islands Boating Center opened in 2013.[23] [24] Great blue herons and white egrets nest in trees around the harbor.[25]

Notes and References

  1. http://channelislandsharbor.org/about/index.html Channel Islands Harbor Website "About Us/Harbor Information"
  2. Book: United States Army Corps of Engineers, South Pacific Division . Water resources development by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in California. South Pacific Division. 1973. 89. University of California Libraries. 978-1-125-52499-2.
  3. Herron, William J.; Harris, Robert L. (1966) LITTORAL BYPASSING AND BEACH RESTORATION IN THE VICINITY OF PORT HUENEME CALIFORNIA Proceedings of 10th Conference on Coastal Engineering, Tokyo, Japan
  4. Book: Fodor's Southern California. Travis. William. Second. 2006. 385. Random House. New York. 978-1-4000-1603-7.
  5. Web site: Smith . Patricia . Channel Islands Harbor Master Plan . 1998 . 1 May 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111003104730/http://portal.countyofventura.org/portal/page/portal/harbor/harbor_reports/1998DraftHarborMasterPlan_0.pdf . 3 October 2011 . dead .
  6. Book: Quick escapes Los Angeles: 20 weekend getaways from the metro area. Harris. Elanor. Lichtig. Claudia Harris. 7th. 2006. 124. Globe Pequot Press. Guilford, CT. 978-0-7627-4219-6.
  7. News: Water Taxi! Water Taxi!. Los Angeles Times. July 4, 1999. Diana. Marcum.
  8. Web site: Tall Ships Relocate to Channel Islands Harbor Through Feb. 15th . 2022-12-29 . Ventura Harbor Village . en-US.
  9. Book: McKinney , John . California's coastal parks: a day hiker's guide. 1st. 2005. 78. Wilderness press. Berkeley, CA. 0-89997-388-4.
  10. Meyers, Jeff (November 1, 1990) "An Era of Sail Lies Anchored in Two Harbors : Boating: Ventura County shoreline took on greater appeal with construction of marinas in Ventura and Oxnard." Los Angeles Times
  11. (September 8, 2014) "Dredging at Channel Islands Harbor will begin Oct. 1" Ventura County Star
  12. News: County stuck with $500K maintenance bill at Channel Islands Harbor. Wilson. Kathleen. February 17, 2019. Ventura County Star. en. 18 February 2019.
  13. 2021-05-19. County of Ventura and City of Oxnard Reach Cooperation Agreement for Channel Islands Harbor. 2021-05-20. Channel Islands Harbor. en-US.
  14. News: New Oxnard city manager Alex Nguyen says county's comments on harbor wrong-headed. Wilson. Kathleen. March 3, 2019. Ventura County Star. 3 March 2019.
  15. News: With budget slashed, Channel Islands Harbor Fourth of July fireworks show in danger. Leung. Wendy. February 29, 2020. Ventura County Star. en. 2020-03-02.
  16. News: Varela . Brian J. . 2024-01-06 . Residents at odds with Oxnard over water testing costs for Channel Islands Harbor . 2024-01-06 . Ventura County Star . en-US.
  17. News: Varela . Brian J. . January 12, 2023 . Rain brings tricky trash problem to Channel Islands Harbor . 2023-01-17 . Ventura County Star . en-US.
  18. News: Varela . Brian J. . March 13, 2024 . In Channel Islands Harbor, sea bass have a place to grow . 2024-02-14 . Ventura County Star . en-US.
  19. Boyd-Barrett, Claudia (Jun 27, 2014) "Oxnard harbor-area residents push for central authority" Ventura County Star
  20. News: Oxnard Condo Development to Get Start . The Los Angeles Times . Los Angeles, California . 29 March 1987 . Section 8 p.14 .
  21. Public Meeting Fact Sheet (October 2005) "Cleanup Proposal for North Shore at Mandalay Bay Site—Oxnard, California" State of California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Retrieved 2 August 2014
  22. News: Flynn Calls for Mandalay Bay Investigation : Oxnard: At issue is whether all traces of a landfill and oil-waste dump were removed before the waterfront housing was built . Los Angeles Times . Patrick . McCartney . 10 November 1991.
  23. Biasotti, Tony (Apr 3, 2013) "Much-delayed Channel Islands Boating Center opens in Oxnard" Ventura County Star
  24. News: County balks at agreement for boating center, saying university operator has fallen short . Kathleen . Wilson . . July 21, 2016. 22 July 2016.
  25. News: Rivers. Kimberly. 2021-03-18. Residents Protect Nesting Birds Channel Islands Harbor gathering saves tree used by herons, egrets. 2021-03-23. VC Reporter . Times Media Group. en-US.

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