Cox asks for eel grass study funds

June Casagrande

To waterfront property owners, the term “eel grass” opens up a world

of frustration -- an intensely bureaucratic and expensive odyssey to

get a permit to dredge around their docks.

But one of their biggest frustrations is convincing their inland

neighbors that the eel grass problem isn’t limited to people who to

live on the water.

“It’s easy to dismiss this thing as a problem for waterfront

property owners,” said Dan Gilliland, a peninsula homeowner who has

to dredge his dock every two to four years. “A lot of us are not the

deep-pocket types that people think we are ... . And this really is a

problem that affects the entire economy of the harbor and the entire

community.”

Eel grass, the nickname for zostera marina, is a slimy,

seaweed-like marine plant that covers about 5% of Newport Harbor’s

underwater terrain. It enjoys extensive state and federal

protections, not because it is endangered but because it is home for

marine life.

Everyone agrees that it’s important stuff to have in the harbor,

but most locals say that the protections go too far. The owner of a

private dock who has even a small amount of eel grass growing nearby

can’t dredge around his pier unless he replants the displaced eel

grass elsewhere in the harbor. Then the homeowner must “monitor” the

replanted grass, usually by paying a contractor to keep an eye on it

for several years. These measures can turn a $2,000 to $4,000 job

into one that costs $40,000.

“That’s not right,” said Mayor Steve Bromberg, who was among a

group of local leaders who met last month with U.S. Rep. Chris Cox to

lobby for some federal relief.

Cox agreed to go to bat for the city.

“Property owners must be able to dredge beneath docks --

commercial or residential -- for the harbor’s economy to remain

prosperous,” Cox wrote to U.S. Rep. David Hobson, who heads the

congressional Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water

Development.

The comment was part of Cox’s request for $300,000 in federal

money to fund eel grass studies in Newport Harbor. Cox has also

pledged to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the California

Coastal Commission and other agencies to make the rules a little more

flexible.

Specifically, Cox is pushing for a de minimis solution, which

would allow property owners with less than 10 square feet of eel

grass near their docks to dredge without having to replace the eel

grass.

“One of the things people don’t realize is that all of our beaches

on Balboa Island are, for the most part, replenished by the bayfront

owners who have piers, who dredge,” island resident and community

leader Craig Page said. “Those beaches are being replenished for

everyone -- the people who live inland, visitors -- everyone -- not

with city or state money, but by private pier owners paying for it

themselves. Being unable to dredge affects everyone.”

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].