Thumbnail photo: Moffatt & Nichol representative Younes Nouri discusses the reconstruction of Citizens Dock and its adjacent seawall during a tour of Crescent City Harbor District facilities in January. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
Though his company regularly pursues grants on behalf of the Crescent City Harbor District, commissioners on Wednesday officially added grant writing to the contract Mike Bahr and Community System Solutions has with them.
Bahr asked commissioners to add language to his contract that authorizes him to pursue grants through the California Regional Investment Initiative Implementation Phase Request for Proposal, formerly known as Redwood Region Rise or California Jobs First.
The Harbor District could be eligible for $3 million to $5 million in grant dollars. The district could use those dollars to cover a shortfall in the seawall reconstruction budget, its efforts to re-establish a boatyard and a dredging pilot study, Bahr said.
According to Bahr, recent changes in seismic regulations are responsible for the shortfall in the seawall reconstruction project, which is being funded through a $7.36 million Maritime Administration grant. Moffatt & Nichol, the architect firm spearheading the project’s design, will present more information to the Harbor District Board at a future meeting, Bahr said, along with some options.
“There will be a shortfall,” he repeated. “Whether that’s $3 million or $5 million is still a little bit up in the air and that will be the focus of this [grant] — to make up that shortfall.”
In his letter to the Board, Bahr also said he planned to pursue FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance Program dollars “if the application process is open during the term of this agreement.”
Under its contract with the Harbor District, Community System Solutions is tasked with developing requests for proposals, or RFPs, for projects funded through Hazard Mitigation Grant dollars. CSS is also responsible for reviewing and scoring RFP responses, though Bahr and the other consultants that work with the harbor anticipate fewer RFPs will be issued.
Bahr said adding grant writing to his company’s contract wouldn’t affect the $47,500 the Harbor District is paying CSS for its services.
In its first phase, the California Regional Investment Initiative was a regional grant the Harbor District had applied for about two years ago. There was one grant to be awarded between four Northern California counties that Mendocino wound up getting, Bahr said.
In the grant program’s second phase, though the awards have yet to be announced, Bahr said he expected a small grant would likely be awarded to Del Norte for a community-wide project. The introduction of fresh seafood into local schools is one project, he said.
Now, the CRII program is releasing all the funds, about $20 million for Humboldt, Mendocino, Del Norte and Lake counties, Bahr said. Any grant the Harbor District is awarded must have an impact on the community as a whole, he said.
Bahr added that he and other Harbor District representatives would discuss potential collaboration with Crescent City officials.
In addition to the budget shortfall for the seawall project, Bahr said getting a pilot study related to dredge materials through the California Coastal Commission could cost $1 million. This study will be to determine whether the beach near Whaler Island Groin is a suitable disposal site for dredge material from the port’s inner channel as well as around its piers and docks.
According to Bahr, the $1 million price tag to get the Coastal Commission’s required study doesn’t cover the dredging itself, just “all the steps to do a pilot project.” Bahr said he and Moffatt & Nichol representatives will meet to figure out whether that project could be scaled down or done in phases.
“That’s a tremendous amount of work required just to test a very small amount of dredge materials,” he said.
