Boaters may soon be able to work on their vessels in Morro Bay where, for about 20 years, there has been no large boatyard to facilitate major repairs.
Rory Kremer, who has used his skiff to fish black cod from the Central Coast waters for about 10 years, said he’s been forced to improvise each time his boat has needed fixing up.
“One option is to pull up on the sand spit, something that’s called careening,” Kremer said. “Or we go to Avila if they have time and space to pull us out or we go to all the way down to Ventura.”
Morro Bay Harbor Director Eric Endersby said the inconvenience is felt often.
“Like your vehicle, your boat needs periodic repair and you’ve got to pull it out of the water every once in a while and do work on propellers, machinery, and that can’t be done in the water,” Endersby said.
An effort 20 years in the making would transform this parking lot south of the power plant into a boat yard.
“If we had a yard here and everyone’s doing their own work, they’d be buying parts here locally, buying fuel here locally and staying here and living here and potentially people coming from the outside and now you’ve got hotel room stays and hopefully that all adds up,” Endersby said.
Not everyone is looking forward to a potential boatyard.
Some tourists and residents of Morro Bay said parking is already difficult enough by the water’s edge and argued that transforming the triangle parking lot by the power plant into a boatyard would further complicate things.
“I see a lot of people who want to park at the door of the store they want to go to but I’m sorry, get out and get exercise is what Morro Bay should be,” Kremer said.
The impacts to parking and the city’s pocketbook will be determined in a feasibility study.
Endersby said the city plans to seek grants for the boatyard project.
