Photo and image courtesy of the Crescent City Harbor District
An $8 million Port Infrastructure Development Program grant will allow the Crescent City Harbor District to begin constructing a new Citizens Dock.
But, according to interim harbormaster Mike Rademaker, representatives with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD), which is offering the grant, questioned whether or not the harbor could manage it.
This uncertainty was due to the recent resignation of previous harbormaster Tim Petrick amid concerns that he had misused a Harbor District credit card, Rademaker told harbor commissioners on Tuesday. There was also some concern when the Harbor District’s contract with its grant consultants, Community System Solutions, ran out on Oct. 1, Rademaker said.
Rademaker said he was able to show MARAD that the harbor district had been effectively managing its grants over the past six weeks and that it was able to meet deadlines, turn in reports and submit financial statements.
“The fact that we got this grant for $8 million is a validation that what we’re doing is working,” the interim harbormaster said. “That grant was in jeopardy. Somebody who was very well informed told me that we had a 1 percent chance of getting that grant based on the drama that’s been happening.”
Rademaker credited Harbor District staff, including Finance Director David Negus and Office Manager Kristina Hanks for being able to secure the grant despite the recent shakeup.
This is the Harbor District’s second PIDP grant. In 2022, it received $7.36 million to replace a seawall immediately adjacent to Citizens Dock. According to Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr, whose company worked as a grant administrator for the Harbor District, a person needs to cross the seawall to get to the dock. He said he hopes both projects could be under construction at the same time.
The second PIDP grant will be used to build the first of two docks that will eventually replace the 70-plus year-old Citizens Dock, Bahr told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday.
According to Bahr and his associate Aislene Delane, the new dock will be constructed alongside the older facility.
“There will be no period in time where we do not have a working dock,” Delane said. “It will stay operational until this is complete.”
According to a Crescent City Harbor District news release, though it’s a cornerstone of the local commercial fishing industry, Citizens Dock is at risk of failure. It’s made of wood beams, timber piles and concrete decking. The south wharf is 210 feet long and roughly 62 feet wide. The west wharf is 260 feet long and roughly 40 feet wide.
“If the dock were to fail, it would jeopardize the safety of all harbor users, cause severe damage to natural habitats and prevent the commercial fishing fleet from using the harbor,” CCHD officials stated in a description of the project. “This would directly precipitate job losses across the commercial fishing industry and within the businesses and services that support the commercial fleet.”
The project is expected to cost $10 million, according to the Harbor District press release. In addition to using the PIDP grant, the Harbor District will use $2 million in state and local matching funds.
The new facility will incorporate material that is weather resistant, as well as including “state-of-the-art” hoists, public viewing platforms and new modern equipment.
It will also allow forklifts, large trucks and boats easy access, which is important since more than 9 million pounds of seafood crosses the dock each year, according to the press release.
In March, representatives with Moffatt & Nichol, the architect firm spearheading the design, gave harbor commissioners a look at six potential designs for a rebuilt Citizens Dock. They had developed these options after a series of community meetings as well as an online survey to get community input.
According to Delane, those meetings, along with the environmental review for the Citizens Dock rebuild was possible through a $1.38 million California Coastal Conservancy grant.
In March, one of the six options consisted of building a new smaller pier and then extending the existing dock another 60 feet. That sixth option, the one ultimately chosen, also called for expanding the dock’s width to between 60 and 65 feet, which allows space for seafood buyers, hoists and large trucks.
Maintaining navigation space between the two piers is important to avoid creating a bottleneck of boats, Sloop told commissioners on March 19.
On Monday, Bahr told Redwood Voice that construction on the new Citizens Dock is expected to be completed in 2026. He pointed out that because of environmental concerns and the weather, the construction window at the harbor is about four to five months long during the year.
He said he hopes both the seawall and Citizens Dock could be built at the same time.
“Our goal is that this coming summer and fall demolition could potentially start on the sea wall,” Bahr said.
On Tuesday, Rademaker said that now that the Harbor District was awarded the $8 million PIDP grant, Bahr has indicated his interest in continuing to administer grants for the harbor. According to Rademaker, Bahr is interested in signing a new contract around the first of the year.
“I think they’ve done a good job,” Rademaker said. “I’m happy with their work, but I also know we could do a lot of work in-house.”
Other grants the Harbor District is pursuing includes a $20 million Environmental Protection Agency grant to try to get a boatyard operational again. Rademaker said the application is due by the end of the week.
He said he is also pursuing a cyber security grant to install surveillance cameras in the parking lot in an effort to increase security. However, he said the grant is $2.5 million for the whole country, so he wasn’t sure what the Harbor District’s chances are.
