Long Beach seeks OK to replace closed Alamitos Bay docks and open piers to public

The City of Long Beach is asking the California Coastal Commission to approve replacing two wooden docks at Alamitos Bay Marina that have been closed since 2018 with a single concrete floating dock, and to open the piers that lead to them as public observation decks. Commission staff recommend approval with conditions at the commission's Thursday, Oct. 8, hearing on application No. 5-25-0649.

The project at 205 North Marina Drive, near the marina entrance channel and Alamitos Bay Landing, would demolish the 1,215-square-foot Berth 1 and 1,035-square-foot Berth 2 wood floating docks, two concrete access platforms and two gangways. In their place the city would build one 2,250-square-foot concrete floating dock, a small concrete landing and a 480-square-foot aluminum gangway with a grated deck, according to a Sept. 24 staff report.

The berths, owned by the city's Marine Bureau, were closed in 2018 "due to the disrepair of the current dock system and gangway," the report says. They were previously rented month to month for "commercial recreational" uses such as a seasonal Christmas cruise boat. The new dock would serve recreational boats on a first-come, first-served reservation basis through the Marina Operations office, with stays limited to 15 days per calendar month.

The general public was not previously allowed on Berths 1 and 2. Dock access would still be limited to lessees, but each pier would get a new entrance gate and open as an observation platform during daylight hours, with the Marine Bureau locking the gates outside those hours.

The project was postponed from the commission's September hearing after the city clarified that some work would take place during bird nesting season. The revised report keeps a condition requiring breeding and nesting bird surveys during construction, now applying to active nests of any bird, and another requiring that the proposed plexiglass guardrails be replaced with a bird-safe material. Staff also confirmed with the city that polystyrene in the floating dock will be encased.

The new dock would not extend farther into Alamitos Bay than the existing docks, and overwater coverage would shrink by 62 square feet, the report says.

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