New wave of progress for marine complex

Paul Clinton

UPPER NEWPORT BAY -- Plans for a new marine research center on

Shellmaker Island have come into sharper focus as officials prepare to

begin the project in the coming weeks.

In August, the Newport Beach City Council is expected to begin

environmental review of the installation of trailers to house Orange

County’s water-quality lab until more permanent buildings are built.

The marine complex -- which would include water-quality testing, an

education center, a working science lab and a new rowing center -- would

help answer nagging questions about the impaired Back Bay, center

director John Scholl said.

Testing efforts are continuing at a 2-year-old temporary trailer on

Shellmaker. But samples must now be taken to the county’s Santa Ana lab

to be analyzed.

“They’re trying to discover the mystery of pollution and to bring the

watershed to an improved condition,” Scholl said about testing efforts.

“It’s paying attention to what marine life still nests here.”

Shellmaker, a 1.5-mile-long island at the edge of the bay, is a

natural place to test and analyze water in the estuary, Scholl said.

The new lab will be built in two stages. By Oct. 1, county officials

hope to install a second trailer to house the lab, which will then be

relocated from Santa Ana. Stage two is expected to begin in summer of

2002, when the permanent structures are built. They should be completed

in mid-2004.

The project has also brought together a blend of five agencies and

groups. Because Shellmaker is owned by the California Department of Fish

and Game, the state will manage the center. In addition to the county,

the city, UC Irvine and the California Coastal Commission are also

involved.

Those involved in the project must still raise the bulk of the money

needed to pay for the center.

The county is kicking in $1.23 million from the tobacco settlement for

the project. Newport Beach and Fish and Game have agreed to donate their

shares -- $500,000 and $250,000, respectively -- from the attorney

general’s settlement with Pacific Trader, which stems from an oil spill

off the Huntington Beach coastline in the early 1990s.

UC Irvine has also agreed to give $500,000 to the project.

The project has additional benefits to Newport Beach. It would shift

educational efforts away from the heavily trafficked tide pools of Little

Corona.

“We’re trying to create the equal experience of Little Corona at the

marine studies center,” said Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff. “We want

to enhance the experience by showing the kids an operational lab.”