_{Thumbnail photo courtesy of Andrew Goff}

Federal officials are urging the Crescent City Harbor District to pursue the grant dollars needed to finish the Citizens Dock reconstruction.

The U.S. Maritime Administration is offering about $11.25 million in 2026 Port Infrastructure Development Program dollars, Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr told harbor commissioners on Wednesday. Bahr, who manages the Harbor District’s grants, said he and Harbormaster Mike Rademaker are nearly finished with the new application and will have to go before commissioners before submitting it.

If the Harbor District is successful, that money would pay for the second dock the Citizens Dock reconstruction project calls for, Bahr said.

“The administration right now is saying they are port- and harbor-friendly and so they’ve made more money available for small ports,” he said.

Before Bahr’s presentation, commissioners approved the agreement needed for MARAD to release the $8 million in PIDP dollars that is paying for the first phase of the Citizens Dock rebuild.

The Crescent City Harbor District is using more than $15 million in PIDP funding awarded in 2022 and 2024 for that project as well as the reconstruction of a seawall that Board Chairman Rick Shepherd says is condemned. Construction on both endeavors is expected to start in May.

Commissioners selected a two-pronged approach to rebuilding the 70-plus year-old wharf after viewing six different design options in 2024. The project’s first phase was to build a new dock to house the infrastructure that serves the current fishing fleet. 

The second phase involves reconstructing the current pier so it’s 60 feet wide instead of 40 feet, Moffatt & Nichol representative Rob Sloop told commissioners at a March 2024 meeting. The additional space would allow seafood buyers, large trucks and hoists to do business while maintaining navigation space between the two piers to avoid a bottleneck of boats, Sloop said.

On Wednesday, Bahr said he and his staff are still working on an application for a $5 million grant from the California Coastal Conservancy. This grant is due to changes in the state seismic code that nearly doubled construction costs for the Citizens Dock project, he said in his staff report.

“About 30% of each of the PIDP grant budget were allocated for additional items outside of construction,” Bahr wrote. “This includes redoing the parking lot and improvements atop Citizens Dock.”

CCHD used $925,000 in Coastal Conservancy planning grant dollars for the environmental assessment and the design and permitting portion of the Citizens Dock and seawall projects.

Meanwhile, now that the Harbor District can draw down 2022 and 2024 PIDP dollars, the construction permit application is being reviewed by government agencies for potential comment, Bahr said. 

Moffatt & Nichol will also hold an “agency day” so they can go through the construction permit application, though a date hasn’t been set yet, Bahr said. Harbormaster Mike Rademaker will be part of that discussion, Bahr said and he encouraged the Board to have a representative there as well.

The overall project will be under review by the Board at a future meeting, Bahr said.

“Our goal for you is we’re going to have a project element review at your next meeting,” he said. “But maybe we (should) really think about taking a special session for three hours in a month and go through all of the things that are going to have to happen in the next two years to make this project happen.”

During his presentation on the Harbor District’s grant projects, Bahr said the developer of a fish fillet station is working on “redoing their construction permit application” to address concerns the California Coastal Commission raised.

Though Board Chairman Rick Shepherd noted that  it likely wouldn’t be available until August, Bahr said the fish fillet station could be ready for fishermen before then.

“The construction team is hired, they’re under contract,” he said. “They’re pouring pads, hooking up utilities and one building is already here, two buildings are in storage and the buildings have been paid for.”

Shepherd said he hopes the fish fillet station is ready for albacore season this summer.