NEWPORT BEACH

The opening of the new headquarters for the Orange County Harbor Patrol will be delayed until the spring because of changes in the construction schedule, according to officials at the county’s Public Facilities and Resources Department. The headquarters, on Bayside Drive, was originally scheduled to open in December.

Harbor patrol officers have been working out of trailers in the parking lot since early 1998, when their old headquarters was torn down. They can’t wait to get into their new digs, said Lt. Dottie Ronan of the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol.

County officials had contemplated building a new headquarters for years, knowing that the old, eroding facility would not last much longer. The $2.3-million project became a reality when construction broke ground in March 1998.