The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioner unanimously approved the Waterfront Project Tuesday (Sept. 29), attaching two key provisions to answer community complaints about the staff alternative. The commissioners ordered the staff to give priority to downtown projects and require that an initial Outer Harbor cruise expansion go in the East Channel not adjacent to Cabrillo Beach and the marinas, as staff had proposed.

The conditions matched the sentiment of speakers, who all pushed for Downtown First, with the majority calling on cruise ship expansion to be targeted to the East Channel. Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council had opposed any cruise ships in the Outer Harbor, but also suggested that if expansion went ahead, damage could be mitigated by placing the terminal facing the East Channel.

The East Channel condition, which was moved by Commissioner López Mendoza, requires KaiserPoint East to be done before Kaiser Point West. There was extensive discussion, before Commissioner Kim approved the motion. Testimony had discussed the potential for a west-facing berth to limit access to the  West Channel marinas, interfere with waterborne recreation and change forever the Outer Harbor and Cabrillo Beach.

The second condition was moved by Commissioner Miscikowski and provides that staff produce in 30 days a project implementation plan that shows how phasing of the waterfront project will do Downtown First. This is to assure that downtown is done first. The commissioners ordered staff to include the community in the discussions and create a mechanism for future monitoring, transparency and benchmarks to assure that the phasing is followed.

Commissioner López Mendoza argued in terms of protecting aesthetics and the value of good public relations with the community. López Mendoza said, "I'd like to tell the community that you did not sit here for several hours in vain. I'd like to take action on this tonight, since I don't know how long I'll be able to be on this commission."

Commissioner Miscikowski expressed concerns over cost. Staff had indicated that the extra $14 million to do Kaiser East first might affect the ability to implement the promenade. Commissioner Kim responded that this was not an appropriate trade off, since downtown would be done first, and the extra money needed for Kaiser would therefore not come from the downtown budget, but could be worked out later, if there was business for Kaiser.  At one point, Commissioner Krause seemed to skeptical about funding Kaiser at all.

The staff to draft an implementation plan to be brought before the board in a meeting in about 30 days. The meeting ended at 1:30 AM Wednesday and there was no discussion at htat point of how to involve the community and business leaders in developing a phase-in plan.