Devon Morgante says he doesn’t want to come to the Crescent City Harbor District Board of Commissioners with an agenda, even though people ask him if he’s got one.

Instead, he says he wants to hear the community’s concerns, “filter that through education and experience,” work with his potential colleagues and the harbormaster and come up with a solution.

“Being here for about 19 years, we always enjoyed the harbor,” Morgante told KFUG Community Radio’s Paul Critz and Redwood Voice Community News last week. “There is a lot that could be done to improve the harbor. Then, as you start peeling back the layers, you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s not just about small business development, it’s not just about fishermen and their access….’ You start getting into the infrastructure and maintenance, the safety and, I guess, there’s a lot of different layers.”

Morgante, who ran the popular eatery Vita Cucina with his wife Michele until it closed in 2019, is one of six candidates seeking three open seats on the Crescent City Harbor Board.

During his conversation with KFUG, Morgante spoke of creating an environment that would allow food-related businesses to grow and thrive. This could include a food truck hub, building a community kitchen and supporting ventures like the Community Food Council’s Sea-to-Market Project, which aims to provide fishermen a place to process their catch and sell it directly to the public.

When it comes to a community kitchen, Morgante said he can see cooking and preserving classes being held there as well as the possibility of the Harbor District renting it out to those who have cottage businesses. He referred to the time he and Michelle Morgante spent as cooks at McMurdo Station in Antarctica before moving to Crescent City, saying a tilt skillet is a piece of equipment that was invaluable for them and could be for someone wanting to make a lot of food at once.

“You could prepare several gallons of product all at once instead of making three or four or five batches at home,” he said.

But after attending Harbor District meetings for the last six months or so, Morgante said he’s witnessed a lot of dysfunction. This includes the recent resignation of Harbormaster Tim Petrick amid allegations that he misused a Harbor District credit card. There’s also the ongoing difficulty of reinstating the district’s permit to dredge the inner boat basin.

Plus, Morgante said, he’s never heard the Board of Commissioners mention any kind of vision or set of goals, though he acknowledged its recent decision to enter into a $10,000 month-to-month agreement with Community Real Estate Development Enterprises. The Orange County-based firm is tasked with creating a master plan, assessing market interest and analyzing the financial performance for various development options at the Crescent City Harbor.

Morgante said he liked the idea of an outside company conducting the economic study. He said he’d also like to get to the bottom of why it’s so difficult to develop anything at the Crescent City Harbor.

“What about Carmel, you know? What about Santa Barbara? What about Santa Cruz?” He asked rhetorically. “These are all California harbors and coastal communities, why do they have it and we don’t? I’d like to ask the Coastal Commission that — why are they a thriving harbor and we’re not?”

When asked if the Crescent City Harbor should be a working harbor or a tourist destination, Morgante argued that it could be both. It needs to be safe for boats, and the fishing fleet needs ice — something current leaders are working on after Pacific Choice Seafoods stopped operating the local plant earlier this month.

But there’s no reason why the Crescent City Harbor can’t have a boardwalk with shops and eateries or a food truck hub or a commercial kitchen, Morgante said. He spoke about the Harbor District’s recently-updated strategic development plan which floats the idea of building a high-end hotel and said there could be a place for a Hyatt or a Marriott if it makes sense.

“Once you get a ‘high-end’ hotel there, that’s going to bring in other businesses that say, ‘Hey, I want to be next to them,’” Morgante said, adding that the time is right, due to the development of Beachfront Park and the community’s recovery from the 2011 tsunami. “And then all of a sudden you’ve got a lot of businesses wanting to be in the harbor.”

Morgante mentioned something current Harbor Commissioner Rick Shepherd said that resonated with him. According to Morgante, Shepherd, a commercial fisherman and long-time Del Norter, said he was always against major development at the harbor.

“[He said] that he felt we got it wrong trying to keep Crescent City small or trying to keep people out — keep it our own little secret area,” Morgante said.

Morgante said he heard the same concerns from a restaurant owner when he and his wife moved to Del Norte County — the fear that growth might hurt the small town atmosphere in Crescent City. But if someone had invested $150,000 or $200,000 into a business at the harbor back then, that return on investment could have been substantial. Now, he said, that $200,000 goes for less than it did back then.

“I kind of think that’s what Shepherd was alluding to. Had we done some of these investments early on, we would have been reaping the benefit of that now,” Morgante said. “So, my goal now is let’s get some of those projects going so in 10 years, 20 years, we’re reaping those benefits.”