Thumbnail photo by Gavin Van Alstine
Among the items discussed at Wednesday’s Crescent City Harbor meeting:
RV Park negotiations: Harbormaster Mike Rademaker will be traveling to Los Angeles this weekend to meet with Orange County developers seeking to lease Bayside and Redwood Harbor Village RV parks. Rademaker said he will be working through the weekend to get a final agreement before the Board of Commissioners and the public.
“I know everyone is so anxious like we all are to close this deal,” he said following a closed session meeting. “Keep in mind it’s potentially a 25-year deal. We are extremely close, we’re working on the finer points of the contract.”
Rademaker has been in negotiation with developers Sean McGraw, Scott Lawhon and Daniel Dahan over their plans to redevelop both RV parks.
Lawhon and McGraw met CCHD commissioners in June 2025, telling them they plan to invest more than $1.2 million in the RV parks, hoping to attract visitors with large motorhomes while reserving a percentage of the sites for current tenants.
Community System Solutions & Grants Update: Commissioners approved a three-month extension to the Harbor District’s contract with Community System Solutions, which oversees its grant-funded programs. According to the Harbor District’s staff report, CSS’s contract was set to end on April 1. The amount of the contract was for $45,000, but so far CSS has billed the district a total of $28,625.
The day after he led a workshop focusing on the U.S. Maritime Administration-grant-funded seawall and Citizens Dock reconstruction projects, consultant Mike Bahr gave a rundown of the other funding pots the Harbor District is pursuing.
This includes the Harbor District’s participation in an effort to seek $24 million in California Region Investment Initiative dollars. According to Bahr, CCHD is one of 12 commercial fishing ports statewide seeking $24 million. If the Harbor is successful, those dollars would pay study to determine if dredging has a beneficial reuse purpose locally. There are also dollars for a travel lift, expanded fish fillet station and cold storage, he said.
CCHD is also seeking $5 million in Congressional appropriations from U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and Congressman Jared Huffman. According to Bahr, those dollars will go toward the Citizens Dock and sea wall projects as well as dredging.
CCHD is also in the process of applying for a California Coastal Conservancy construction grant, which, if awarded, will go toward the Harbor’s required contribution for the Citizens Dock and sea wall projects.
Family Run: Commissioners gave Kim Cisneros the green light to host a 5k and 10k family run in the Harbor on May 30. Cisneros, who has been coaching long-distance running since 2015, said she started a distance running club at Crescent Elk Middle School. Her vision is to take the students to beautiful places while increasing their health, resilience and confidence. Their training will culminate in the 10k that will be held at the harbor, she said.
“The harbor is the perfect place because it keeps the kids safe,” she said. “There are no open roads and it’s a place where they’re mostly confined.”
There are 24 kids in the distance run club and 10 permission slips have been turned in already, Cisneros said. The fun run will be from Whaler Island to the Point of Honor Memorial and back, she said.
