Redwood City on Docktown and Inner Harbor

In response to a recent Patch letter to the editor concerning the City's management of Docktown, I’d like to offer some information and clarification which will help everyone to better understand the City’s efforts.

First, it’s important to know that Redwood City is working on both short- and long-term approaches to Docktown, and to the entire Inner Harbor area (the area on the bay side of Highway 101 from Docktown to the Malibu Grand Prix Raceway, and north-east to the edge of the existing businesses in the Seaport Centre area).

As part of our short term efforts, the City (like any landlord) first needed to get an accurate, up-to-date record of the current boat slip tenants at Docktown. We also focused initial efforts on developing agreements with them to replace the previous month-to-month leases, to provide a greater level of certainty for all parties.

Over the course of the last few months, the City has had an interactive and productive dialogue with the boat slip tenants concerning the terms of the new agreements, and we continue to modify those terms - balancing the interests of both the boat slip tenants and the City. Many of the draft terms mentioned in the letter to the editor were for initial discussion, and which the City has since modified to best meet the interests of everyone involved. For example, the draft language that there is a limit of two persons per vessel has been removed.

To address immediate needs for the facilities, the City has made numerous improvements to the marina: improving security, removing abandoned vehicles, improving lighting and electrical services, repairing docks, and paving the marina entry, among other physical efforts. We also hired a marina manager to maintain the day-to-day operations, maintained boat slip tenant access, and provided a dependable source of services from the City's Public Works Division.

The City will continue to work with the boat slip tenants on certain terms and conditions of the one-year agreements with the ongoing goal of providing the safety, security and well-being of the marina, and the entire community.

Looking to the long term, the Inner Harbor area as a whole offers a unique opportunity to enhance our community, both locally to that area and for greater Redwood City, and to do so we’re embarking on a community-based “visioning” process for the Inner Harbor area, including Docktown. The end result will be the creation of an Inner Harbor Specific Plan, laying out the scope and general guidelines for what the City and the community envision for the area. Such a long-term “blueprint for the future” is important to help guide our activities there over the course of the next decades in a smart, thoughtful manner. We anticipate a Plan will be created in about a year, and Docktown boat slip tenants have an important voice in that process.

The City continues to work with the boat slip tenants in good faith and with the best intentions, has taken into consideration and implemented many of their ideas for the agreements, and is providing for improved and safer facilities. And, in the true Redwood City tradition, we have initiated a process with our community for envisioning the future of the Inner Harbor area for the benefit of all of Redwood City.

Robert B. Bell
City Manager