DANA POINT—New parking kiosks and gates at the five boater parking lots in Dana Point Harbor have been activated, bringing new processes for slip tenants. Parking remains free for boaters and guests remain unlimited, but non-boaters and businesses located in the lots will have to pay if they want to park.
New control gates for the lots were officially lowered on Nov. 2 and attendants were on hand the first week to help boaters adjust to the new system. The gates were originally slated to go live in April, with an event planned to help boaters get set up, but the event was canceled and the roll-out was delayed due to Covid-19. Longtime Dana Point Harbor boater Hunter Brown said the delay left the parking lots unsecured for the past seven months, raising some security concerns for his boat.
“It’s been a little bit of a bumpy start to the whole thing,” Brown said.
Instead of flashing a key fob to get into the lot, slip tenants now use a windshield sticker or a mobile phone app to lift the arm of the gate. There is also a new process for getting a guest pass, instead of going to the marina office to get a paper to display on the guest’s car dashboard, tenants must make reservations for their guests through the Park Mobile website. Tenants will then be able to email or text a pass to their guest for them to flash at the entry kiosk.
The parking gate replacement was one of the first revitalization efforts made by Dana Point Harbor Partners, the collaboration created to operate and redevelop the harbor.
“We had a gate system that was about 20 years old and worked about half the time at best,” said Ralph Grippo, Principal at Bellwether Financial Group, which is part of Dana Point Harbor Partners and in charge of guiding marina operations.
While parking remains free for boaters, tenants who share the parking lot, such as Dana West Yacht Club, several yacht brokers, Aventura Sailing Association and a few other businesses, will now have to pay a monthly fee if they want parking inside those lots.
About one-fourth of the members of Dana West Yacht Club don’t own boats but use the parking lot for various club events.
“We’ve implemented a $25 fee for those that may, those tenants that may require, request – and it’s on a limited basis – parking for their employees and themselves,” Grippo said.
Grippo said the fee is aimed at protecting boater parking, going on to say he felt the fee would deter people from using the lot that have been but shouldn’t have been.
“Since the new parking management system was announced earlier this year, your DPBA board has spent many hours analyzing the plan and surveying our boaters,” Dana Point Boaters Association said in an Oct. 29 eNewsletter. “We have been generally supportive of the plan as a means to protect dedicated boater parking from unauthorized and excessive shared use by non-boaters.”
A non-boater harbor stakeholder who wanted to remain anonymous, said he felt the fee was lousy and was more about money than protecting boater parking.
“It’s a change and any change is difficult,” said Grippo.
Brown felt there seemed to be a lot of issues associated with the change. He said a second entry and exit was removed from the east basin lot on Dana Island, leaving just one way in and out. The lot is shared with Aventura Sailing, which hosts weddings, parities and other events. He said was worried about traffic and more people using the lots especially during the holidays and boat parade.
“You could have 100 cars coming in at the end of the party all those cars have to go back through the parking gate, one parking gate,” Brown said.
