Keep Focus on the Harbor

It’s high time for a stem-to-stern overhaul of Channel Islands Harbor. Once lively, appealing and profitable, in recent years the harbor has grown boring and shabby.

A policy of using some of the harbor’s profits to support the rest of the county’s parks contributed to the decline. That policy has been ended, which is bad for the parks but potentially good for the harbor.

We salute the county’s plan to whip it back into ship shape. But we caution the redesigners to stay focused on the elements that make Channel Islands Harbor a special place: the boats, the ocean and the islands themselves. To turn this unique location into a generic shopping-center-by-the-sea would be to waste a priceless asset--and to aggravate the county’s already spirited mall wars.

In addition, we urge the county, the city of Oxnard, the Channel Islands Beach Community Services District and other entities that share jurisdiction over parts of the harbor to work together and keep their eyes on the prize of a vibrant, pleasant, profitable destination for local residents and visitors alike.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors last month gave conceptual approval to a master plan intended to bring people back to the shops and restaurants that surround the county-owned waterway by adding more pedestrian-friendly development.

Under the master plan, the county Harbor Department will pursue two development projects to jump-start the waterway, one on the east side and the other on the west. The project on the east side would be similar to the Promenade at Westlake and is expected to open by 2004, and the other project is scheduled to open between 2006 and 2008.

The most encouraging thing about the plan is that there is a plan at all. Over the years the harbor area has sprawled into a disorganized mishmash of shops, restaurants, offices, a marina, hotels and a strip of apartment buildings. It looks as accidental as it was. County officials hope to bring some order to the mix.

We like the elements of the plan that complement the natural appeal of the harbor. A marine education center, water taxis to connect various points of interest, a community center that teaches sailing and kayaking and hosts special events would all add to the salty atmosphere.

But we would hate to see redesigners lose sight of the ocean in their lust for the sort of tourist traffic enjoyed by Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade or Pasadena’s Old Town. There may be a place here for a bookstore, a Starbucks and maybe even a movie theater, but Ventura County does not need another unfocused mall to further complicate the current hot competition.