Balboa boat continues to run afoul of the city

Mathis Winkler

BALBOA ISLAND -- City officials still aren’t convinced that a South

Bay Front property owner can park his 55-foot boat off of his pier.

After two failed attempts to dock the yacht parallel to the beach,

Lodwrick M. Cook and his family members instead decided late last month

to try berthing the boat at a perpendicular angle.

Councilman Steve Bromberg, who represents Balboa Island and attended

the boat’s trial docking, at the time said Cook’s proposal seemed to

conform with city policies and could probably stay there. Cook has docked

the yacht at his dock since last Friday.

But on Tuesday, Bromberg said Cook might still need city permission to

leave the boat at his pier.

Here’s the reason why: While Cook owns adjacent properties at 1106 and

1108 South Bay Front, the boat’s width crosses over the property line

between the two lots and that’s not allowed.

“From what I understand, they can’t do it,” Bromberg said, adding that

he planned to meet with City Atty. Bob Burnham today or Friday about the

matter. Burnham was on vacation until today and could not be reached for

comment.

In order to move the boat away from the property line, Cook would

probably have to trim back his pier. And that requires a city permit to

remodel.

“I want to look at it closer,” Bromberg said, adding that Cook would

get the same opportunity as any other pier owner to submit his

application.

But “anything that’s going to interfere with the beach or swimming use

or navigation, I’m opposed to it,” he said.

Nearby residents, who have come to the beach to get an idea of how the

parked boat would fit in, also continue to oppose Cook’s proposal, saying

it interferes with beach use and that the boat probably would run aground

at low tide.

Cook’s lawyer, John Van Vlear, said the property line no longer seemed

an issue.

A May covenant signed by Cook and his wife, Carole, binds the two lots

“as a single parcel and building site.” City officials required the

covenant because the Cooks plan to tear down the house at 1108 South Bay

Front and expand the one next door.

“What’s been floating around is that somehow these parcels are two

separate parcels,” Van Vlear said. “That’s not our reading . . .

According to our research, [the covenant] should solve the issue.”

Not quite, said Assistant City Manager Sharon Wood.

While the document requires the couple to hold the two lots in joint

ownership as long as a building crosses the property line, it does not

represent a so-called lot line adjustment, or merger. Only such a change

would affect the situation out in the water, she said.

City Manager Homer Bludau said he didn’t want to discuss the issue

until he had talked with Burnham later this week.

Following up on a request by Bromberg, City Council members will take

a look at the city’s pier policy at their study session next Tuesday.

Although council members won’t take any action during that meeting,

Bludau said a moratorium on permits could result from it.

City officials might also look at designating locations for piers for

larger boats around the harbor, similar to the zoning regulations for

building heights that are currently in place, Bludau said.

“It may be radical,” he said. “But it seems like something that we

might want to consider.”