The Cee Ray, along with the other Berth 55 businesses, have been allowed to stay until an Environmental Impact Report can be completed on the new fire station that will be put in their place. Photo by Sarah Bennett.
After weeks of community forums and public outcry, the Port of Long Beach announced yesterday that the Board of Harbor Commissioners were setting aside the 180-day Notice to Vacate it issued to the businesses at Berth 55 earlier this year so that an Environmental Impact Report can be completed on the proposed fire station that is to be put in their place.
The notice, which would have required longtime tenants—such as Berth 55 Fish Market and Seafood Deli, Queen’s Wharf Restaurant, Long Beach Sportfishing and more than a dozen charter boats—to leave by October 16, 2012 was rescinded after a closed session Monday afternoon during which Westside Project Area Council members asked that the businesses remain open for at least another year or at least until the end of the EIR process, whichever is longer.
“We will do an environmental analysis of the proposal for a new fire and security center at the Berth 55 site,” said Susan E. Anderson Wise, President of the Board of Harbor Commissioners in a statement. “In the meantime, the 180-day notice has been rescinded and the restaurant and sport-fishing vessels can stay.”
Last Monday, September 10, WPAC chairpersons—along with Berth 55 business owners and vocal advocates from many other area groups—packed the Harbor Commissioner’s public meeting asking for more transparency in this process and reiterating that the Port should look into other possible locations for the fire station, one that does not eliminate the last public commercial access to the Port.
Though yesterday’s meeting was a closed session, sources say that WPAC Chairman Tony Rivera and Vice-Chair Jane Kelleher spoke under public comment reiterating the three things asked for at the September 10 meeting: That the businesses remain open for a year or to the conclusion of the EIR process (whichever is longer), the Port find another place for the fire station and that the month-to-month lease be lowered to make it the same as other Port properties in the area.
The Port’s Executive Director Chris Lytle said in the September 10 meeting that he was planning a “get together” with Larry Maehara—owner of Berth 55 Fish Market and the only one named on the land’s lease with the Port—to discuss the possibilities further.
“The board does appreciate the community coming out and we do hear you. The Port is going to do everything they can to accommodate this,” said Commissioner Rich Dines after the public comment ended at the September 10 meeting. “As a former longshoreman, I’ve eaten at Berth 55 many times…The board hears you and we’re going to do everything we can to find a solution for everyone.”
Rescinding the notice to vacate, however, is only a temporary solution and does not mean that the businesses will be able to stay at Berth 55 forever. In its announcement of the decision, the Port again stressed that it has intended for some time to consider other uses for the property and that its proposal to relocate Long Beach Fire Department’s Fire Station 20 to the site—it is currently in the path of the $1 billion replacement Gerald Desmond Bridge—remains on the table.