First, our apologies for the tardiness of this report.
On Monday August 20, 2018, the Coalition’s Marina Committee (Committee) met with the S.R. Community Development Department (CDD) and S.R. Dept. of Public Works (DPW) for our regular monthly review of the developments at The Village at Loch Lomond Marina (aka “The Strand”). The Bay Conservation & Development Commission (BCDC) was not in attendance. [NOTE: MVA below refers to Marina Village Associates, the owner and developer of this property.]
The public is encouraged to communicate with the Marina Committee using the Contact the Marina Committee form to raise any issues or concerns so that they may be brought to the City’s attention.
As reported in a previous post, the grading permit for the movement of the surcharge dirt (now piled in two places on the property) to the area of the old Andy’s Market and parking lot was extended and the work was to begin on August 20, 2018. [NOTE: This work was begun and surcharge movement is in progress.] For those new to this project, “surcharging” refers to the installation of drainage wicks and the placement of a deep layer of dirt over those wicks. The purpose is to force the drainage of underlying water and mud to compress the soil in order for it to support the weight of construction. The surcharge process can take several months until the soil is sufficiently compressed. At that time, the excess soil is removed and construction can commence.
Aside from this surcharge work, construction progress continues to be stalled with essentially no work taking place for many months. This is of concern to the CDD, DPW, BCDC and our community as represented by this Committee. CDD and DPW issued a joint letter to Mr. Rosenfeld, CEO of Woodridge Capital, the owner and developer of The Village at Loch Lomond Marina property. In that letter they asked for a meeting to discuss Woodridge Capital’s intent and plans for the completion of this project. The letter request that this meeting be held by August 20, 2018. As of that deadline, MVA (the subsidiary of Woodridge Capital that is directly responsible for this development) stated that they are working on identifying a date for such a meeting. [NOTE: To date, no meeting has been held.]
The discussion then focused on issues between MVA and BCDC. A conference call between representatives of BCDC, CDD and this Committee was held on July 30, 2018 to discuss these issues. There are currently two applications from MVA to BCDC for permit amendments to the existing permits issued by BCDC regarding this development.
BCDC Permit Amendment #5 deals with the issue of flooding on the eastern jetty (containing the playground) and the connector between the eastern edge of the property and the breakwater surrounding the marina. Plans have been submitted by MVA to raise the rim at the eastern jetty and to raise the ends of the connector with a raised walkway between those two ends. This also requires some adjustments to the location and design of the planned kayak launch ramp at the parking lot end of the connector. The latest revisions by MVA to this permit amendment have been reviewed by BCDC and some change requests made by BCDC to MVA in March 2018. BCDC is still awaiting a response from MVA.
BCDC Permit Amendment #6 was submitted by MVA on June 4, 2018 and deals solely with a request for a time extension from the current permits regarding three items: construction of the Harbormaster’s Office, replacement of the existing boat repair facility, and public access improvements. The latter deals with the public path from the existing boardwalk east of the yacht club to the junction with The Cove property to the west and passes between the proposed Harbormaster’s Office building and Andy’s Market. The current BCDC permit’s completion deadline for the Harbormaster’s Office is October 18, 2018, which clearly cannot be met. BCDC asked for more information from MVA as to why the extension is necessary. The implication is that there could be penalties imposed on MVA for this delay and subsequent extension if the causes were not beyond MVA’s control. BCDC is awaiting a response from MVA.
In addition to the previous issues, the following items were discussed:.
- No mention is made in current MVA permit amendment requests to BCDC regarding the fuel dock. While CDD insists that a fuel dock is required in the language of existing permits, MVA must submit a permit amendment to BCDC as well as building permit requests to CDD, which it has not done. The same situation applies to the exterior amenities proposed for the south side of Andy’s Market (facing the Yacht Club). These include tables, a fire pit and bike racks.
- In addition to the BCDC issues, the CDD permits for the construction of the Harbormaster’s Office between Andy’s Market and the Loch Lomond Yacht Club have lapsed and MVA has not submitted new permit applications at this time.
- The CDD permit for the refacing of the yacht club building expired August 15, 2018. MVA has submitted an application to revise the original, approved building design, and CDD has stated that they will oppose such a revision should it go before the Design Review Board. In either case, MVA will have to submit a new permit request.
- Revised plans have been submitted by MVA for the mixed-use building (replacing the building where the dry cleaner and other offices are now). Plan check review by relevant City agencies is in progress.
- In addition to the BCDC issues on the boat repair facility, City agencies had completed plan check review of MVA’s submitted plans and CDD is still awaiting MVA’s submission of revised plans based on those agency responses.