Channel Islands Harbor

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).

Channel Islands Harbor
Scene from commercial fishing boat unloading pier facing southeast with hotel in background
Click on the map for a fullscreen view
Location
CountryUnited States
LocationOxnard, California
Coordinates34°10′12″N 119°13′30″W
Details
Opened1960 (1960)
Owned byCounty of Ventura[1]
Type of harbourArtificial
Size of harbour166 acres (67 ha)
Land area126 acres (51 ha)
No. of berths2,150
Statistics
Website
channelislandsharbor.org

The horseshoe shaped harbor contains 166 acres (0.67 km2) of water surrounded by 126 acres (0.51 km2) of land[5] and supports more than 2,500 vessels,[6] four yacht clubs, and nine full-service marinas.[7] 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.[8] Every three years the harbor is host to the Channel Islands Tall Ships Festival[9] which includes between two and five large sailing vessels and draws thousands of visitors.[6]

History

The US Army Corps of Engineers formed the harbor in 1960 by scooping out sand dunes and wetlands and depositing the surplus sand at the nearby beaches of Port Hueneme.[6] 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] Ventura County Harbor Department patrols the main harbor which is south of the Channel Islands Boulevard bridge. The city of Oxnard maintains the northern neighborhood waterways.[16]

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. addition developments expanded the Harbor in the 2000's [17] The development consists of single-family homes and townhouses with reinforced concrete bulkheads lining a series of short navigable canal-like waterways.[18] Between 1950 and 1981 Mandalay Bay was a permitted oil field waste disposal site which caused the release of numerous hazardous chemicals.[19] 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.[20]

The Channel Islands Boating Center opened in 2013.[21][22] Great blue herons and white egrets nest in trees around the harbor.[23]

Channel Islands Harbor from west side looking east in the late afternoon towards peninsula in center of harbor
Channel Islands Harbor from west side looking east in the late afternoon towards peninsula in center of harbor.

References
  1. Channel Islands Harbor Website "About Us/Harbor Information" Accessed 24 Dec 2013
  2. United States Army Corps of Engineers, South Pacific Division (1973). Water resources development by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in California. University of California Libraries. p. 89. ISBN 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. Travis, William, ed. (2006). Fodor's Southern California (Second ed.). New York: Random House. p. 385. ISBN 978-1-4000-1603-7.
  5. Smith, Patricia (1998). "Channel Islands Harbor Master Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 3, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  6. McKinney, John (2005). California's coastal parks: a day hiker's guide (1st ed.). Berkeley, CA: Wilderness press. p. 78. ISBN 0-89997-388-4.
  7. Harris, Elanor; Lichtig, Claudia Harris (2006). Quick escapes Los Angeles: 20 weekend getaways from the metro area (7th ed.). Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press. pp. 124. ISBN 978-0-7627-4219-6.
  8. Marcum, Diana (July 4, 1999). "Water Taxi! Water Taxi!". Los Angeles Times.
  9. "Tall Ships Relocate to Channel Islands Harbor Through Feb. 15th". Ventura Harbor Village. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  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. Wilson, Kathleen (February 17, 2019). "County stuck with $500K maintenance bill at Channel Islands Harbor". Ventura County Star. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  13. "County of Ventura and City of Oxnard Reach Cooperation Agreement for Channel Islands Harbor" (Press release). Channel Islands Harbor. May 19, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  14. Wilson, Kathleen (March 3, 2019). "New Oxnard city manager Alex Nguyen says county's comments on harbor wrong-headed". Ventura County Star. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  15. Leung, Wendy (February 29, 2020). "With budget slashed, Channel Islands Harbor Fourth of July fireworks show in danger". Ventura County Star. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  16. Varela, Brian J. (January 12, 2023). "Rain brings tricky trash problem to Channel Islands Harbor". Ventura County Star. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  17. Boyd-Barrett, Claudia (Jun 27, 2014) "Oxnard harbor-area residents push for central authority" Ventura County Star
  18. "Oxnard Condo Development to Get Start". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. March 29, 1987. p. Section 8 p.14.
  19. Public Meeting Fact Sheet (October 2005) "Cleanup Proposal for North Shore at Mandalay Bay Site—Oxnard, California" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine State of California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Retrieved 2 August 2014
  20. McCartney, Patrick (November 10, 1991). "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.
  21. Biasotti, Tony (Apr 3, 2013) "Much-delayed Channel Islands Boating Center opens in Oxnard" Ventura County Star
  22. Wilson, Kathleen (July 21, 2016). "County balks at agreement for boating center, saying university operator has fallen short". Ventura County Star. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  23. Rivers, Kimberly (March 18, 2021). "Residents Protect Nesting Birds | Channel Islands Harbor gathering saves tree used by herons, egrets". VC Reporter. Times Media Group. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
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