OC Sailing & Events Center,<\/a> located near Baby Beach, has served the community since the mid-1980s, when it opened as part of a tidelands grant. For decades, several water-oriented groups, such as the Dana Point Outrigger Canoe Club, the Mariners 936 Sea Scouts, and Westwind Sailing, have used the center as a base from which they and others have taught the public and schoolchildren about life in and around the ocean.<\/p>\nBut the building has grown tired, so now as the harbor undergoes a $700 million rehabilitation through a public-private partnership with the Dana Point Harbor Partners, county officials are seeing an opportunity to make their side of the harbor shine for public use.<\/p>\n
County officials said the cost of replacing just the docks \u2014 expected by year\u2019s end \u2014 is about $4.2 million, with a $3.2 million grant from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife helping offset the cost. An estimate to modernize the events center with a new two-story building, including classrooms, modern technology and storage areas, hasn\u2019t been determined yet.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, as a step forward, county stakeholders will discuss the vision and gather input. Areas of discussion include plans for improved parking; a review of community needs, public spaces, and recreation opportunities; the restoration of the facility\u2019s docks; and the future of the nearby basin, channel, and Baby Beach.<\/p>\n
Among those excited to weigh in is Diane Wenzel, who operates Westwind Sailing, a group that sees about 15,000 users a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI and my constituents are very excited about the potential,\u201d she said. \u201cThe building is old, breaking down, and is not functional for needs nowadays. It doesn\u2019t have audio or visual; it\u2019s not wired for wi-fi. It\u2019s got decent square footage, but it\u2019s not usable because it\u2019s just a big space. There are no usable classrooms and dorms for overnight programming.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the center first opened, Wenzel said it was a \u201chub for public access and educational programs\u201d\u00a0 with recreational activities, classes, sandcastle-building, tidepool exploration and Coast Guard courses. The center was called the Dana Point Youth and Group Facility then.<\/p>\n
But the center declined over the next 20 years, as did its use.<\/p>\n
Then, once the county entered into a 66-year lease agreement with the Dana Point Harbor Partners, Wenzel said the energy changed again.<\/p>\n
She credits Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley for her efforts to clear clutter from the classrooms so that, in June, the groups could use some of the interior space.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has really wanted to see this become accessible for the public and bring it back to its glory,\u201d Wenzel said. \u201cWhat she has done so far has been huge to promote the public programs that are going on right now. We\u2019re very excited about the potential for this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among Wenzel\u2019s greatest interests is that the center remain public in perpetuity for educational boating and recreation, as \u201cit was intended.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the county was given the rights to develop the land, that part where the events center sits was specifically earmarked for public boating, education and recreation with a tideland grant,\u201d she said. \u201cThe remaining programs have been continuing what we do for public access, but there are so many more potential activities that can go on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plans had been floated to \u201cprivatize\u201d the events center, Baby Beach and the Dana Cove Park section of the harbor, Foley said. \u201cThe community was opposed, demanding we protect the remaining spaces at the harbor.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is eager to hear from the community at Wednesday\u2019s town hall about what comes next for the county\u2019s side of the harbor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the opportunity to enhance the community space, increase open space, engage in additional programming and fix long-term parking struggles in the area,\u201d she said. \u201cI look forward to gathering feedback from the community to shape the next chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you go<\/p>\n
When: 6 to 8 p.m. tonight, Aug. 19<\/p>\n
Where: OC Sailing and Events Center, Cove Room, 34451 Ensenada Place, Dana Point<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A plan to overhaul a treasured county facility in Dana Point Harbor that provides education and ocean recreation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,7,179,12,152869,23,611,136],"class_list":["post-436875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-california","tag-community","tag-dana-point","tag-dana-point-harbor","tag-local-news","tag-orange-county","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}