An important infrastructure project on the Channel Islands Harbor’s peninsula is underway that will open the door for a waterfront hotel construction project.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved a $2.3 million project with Long Beach-based Larison Contracting Corp. (Larison) in October 2022 to repair and replace 1,540 linear feet of revetment around the Harbor peninsula. The project includes removal of existing rock, improving the revetment’s slope, installation of filter cloth to assist in stabilizing of the slope, and placement of new rock over the reshaped and covered slope.

Since the contract was awarded, Larison has cleared the parcel of debris and removed additional landscape to the project area, among other items. This week, trucks have hauled in approximately 1,500 tons of the 6,000 tons of rocks needed to complete the project. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of Spring 2023, weather permitting.

 

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Ventura County Harbor Department Director Michael Tripp said the Harbor’s peninsula was built in the 1960s and due to wave and tidal action, erosion and sloughing of the revetment has occurred.

“This infrastructure project is important because it restores and improves the slope, strengthens the revetment, and protects from any further damage to the existing water and storm lines,” Director Tripp said. “In addition, this new rock revetment will be beneficial to the adjacent marina operator and the new hotel.”

Director Tripp said once the infrastructure project is complete, construction can begin on the planned 210-room Hyatt House Hotel and a restaurant of up to 5,000 square feet. The new hotel and restaurant will replace the Casa Sirena Hotel and Lobster Trap Restaurant – constructed in 1972 and demolished in 2022.

Editor’s note: this story was published on Jan. 26, 2023.