By Neil Farrell
As the bay flushes with the tides, in and out, in and out… it’s time once again to look at the Ins and Outs on the Morro Bay Waterfront.
In? Taylor Newton and the Guerilla Gardeners have stepped in to rescue and give new life to the wonderful garden that the late-Laurel Lyons started many years ago in the rocks north of Beach Street.
Laurel worked tirelessly, with help from her companion August Phillips, to transform a weed patch into a carefully planned out garden, growing between the rocks and planting some fabulous flowering plants. Former harbor director Rick Algert gave Laurel a certificate of appreciation and she was named the volunteer of the year, getting her award at a City Council meeting. As anyone who knew Laurel would understand, her thank you speech showed how humble and grateful she was for the acknowledgement.
Out? When the Harborwalk was put in, Laurel was pretty put out, as now she would have to hop the fence to get to her garden. But the City put in a gate and a watering system, so she wouldn’t have to lug a hose across Embarcadero. With Laurel’s death, the rock garden had fallen into disarray.
In? So in stepped the Guerilla Gardeners, a non-profit work and mentoring program Taylor runs for young adults, doing good deeds and working on recycling efforts for big events all over the County. Young backs to do backbreaking work (I admit that I asked Taylor to take this on, feeling Laurel’s efforts should not go to waste).
Out? The non-profit Morro Bay Public Art Foundation (of which I am the president), is putting a call out seeking donations to reward the Guerilla Gardeners for their hard work, and to honor Laurel with a public art installation. A local artist has agreed to paint her portrait on an electrical box near the Harborwalk entrance, telling the story of the rock garden, honoring one of our City’s most famous residents, and turning what is an ugly, faded green box into art. If readers would like to donate, send a check made out to the “MB Public Art Foundation,” 630 Quintana Road No. 167, Morro Bay, CA 93442.
In? The City got in some pretty ambitious preliminary designs from RRM Design in SLO for a boat haul-out facility and boatyard in the so-called Triangle Lot at the north end of the Front Street parking lot. The ways would be located just north of Beach Street (near Nick Howell’s stylistically trashy looking commemorative brass bench).
From there the boats would be driven (at a snail’s pace) across the parking lot, the roadway and through the Front Street lot to the new yard. Between work areas and boat storage (you gotta have storage to provide year-round income), there’s no room for anything else there. A 100-ton travel lift cradling a 120-foot boat would be a pain in the stern for traffic, but what a spectacle it would make.
In? The design calls for numerous “back-in” parking spaces to replace what would be taken out. Indeed, RRM said its redesign would actually create more parking spaces. I personally have never heard of backing into a diagonal parking space on a busy street, but apparently it’s all the rage. As one traffic expert from SLOCOG said, when you are ready to leave, it’s easier to see oncoming traffic and therefore safer to just drive out than to back out.
The City Council agreed to do a feasibility study to see if it would be successful financially.
Out? There’s already one study out, a census of the local boats and poll of owners on whether they would use the facility (BOAT stands for “Break Out Another Thousand” after all). And Lisa Wise Consulting did indeed conclude there was about $2 million a year in local demand.
In? The Central Coast Aquarium in Avila Beach is back in, having been given a year to come up with a project to replace the Morro Bay Aquarium. CCA’s director, Tara Malzone said they are wending their way through the mountain of paperwork involved in getting a federal USDA loan, but are hopeful they can get the financing.
Out? The City Council decided to toss out planning and building fees, parking requirements and parking in-lieu fees for the aquarium project, AND isn’t even going to charge them rent for the lease site!!! Of course that has Embarcadero leaseholders, some of who paid tens of thousands in parking fees and City building fees, a bit put out.
Out? Dean Tyler, the man who owned and ran the aquarium for more than 50 years, most of those with wife Bertha, died last December at age 95. The waterfront legend and man of many talents, said he went to the school of hard knocks, working in the shipyards of Bremerton, Wash., and then Pearl Harbor during WWII. He came here in 1948 worked as a commercial fisherman (on the CFV Schmoo), and bought the aquarium in 1965. He and Bertha worked the aquarium with Dean taking time off to help build Diablo Canyon Power Plant in the 1980s. Dean left behind a huge extended family — Bertha, children Albert (and wife Lydia), Jeannie, Judith (Sylvester), Joanie (Loyd), many grandchildren, great and great-great grand children, nieces and nephews.
In? Commercial crab fishermen went back to work last week after the State Department of Fish and Wildlife and State Health Department lifted the months-long ban on Dungeness and red rock crab due to domoic acid being found in a small number of tested animals.
The crabbers lost months of their season, even though no paralytic shellfish poisoning, which is what domoic acid does to people and marine mammals, were reported, which is a good thing. Some think the State is full of crabmeat, as the samples that contained the higher than allowed levels were a fraction of what was tested, and were just barely above the allowable limits.
Let’s hope it isn’t too late in the year now for the crabbers to earn enough to salvage what is otherwise a disastrous season.
In? Burt Caldwell, master leaseholder at the Libertine Pub, has put a new project in the mix. He’s apparently abandoned his former single story pub and microbrewery proposal — the fourth incarnation of a remodel for the lease site — now proposing a new 2-story project that would have 11, “boutique” (i.e. expensive) motel rooms on the top floor and a new brew pub on the bottom.
The city expected to pull $50,000-$60,000 a year through a new lease agreement (those percentages add up quickly) and a whopping $80,000-$100,000 a year in bed taxes. Wonder if they’ll let him slide on the parking in-lieu, planning and building fees, too?
In or Out? The “Off the Hook” lease site is also trying to redevelop. But the owners, B&L Flash have a potential snag — an old loan that Mr. Crabs took out years ago against the property, still looming over the property. This after Maddie Moore, a local real estate professional and developer in her own right, bought the note from the bank and put out a mid-April deadline to either pay it off, reach some kind of payment arrangement or be foreclosed on.
Out? The City staff is supposed to bring a “consent of landowner” or COL to the Council April 26, and if approved, B&L Flash could then formally submit new redevelopment plans, which are — Dun, Dun, Dunnn!!! — a 2-story building with restaurant and retail spaces on the bottom and boutique motel rooms on top.
But if the property is indeed foreclosed on, then B&L would be SOL on a COL and the lease would revert to Moore. Ahhh, don’t-cha just love the way the bay flushes…
As the Bay Flushes is a light-hearted look at the comings and goings, the happenings and the scuttlebutt and scandalous rumors on Morro Bay’s waterfront. Send story tips to: [email protected].