U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers in 1949. This report proposed an 8,000-slip complex at a 

 total estimated cost of $23,600,000. The report was taken under consideration and in 1953 

 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors sponsored State legislation that eventually 

 granted the county a $2 million loan from State tidelands oil revenues to assist in the 

 purchase of the present harbor site (Fig. 161). 



The following year, Pubhc Law 780 was signed, making the Marina Del Rey harbor an 

 authorized Federal project, which committed the Federal government to a 50-50 sharing 

 with Los Angeles County for costs of all the main navigational features of the development. 

 Construction began in 1957 and the entrance channel and jetties were completed in 1958. 

 The county's share of the costs and the remainder of the project was financed through 

 revenue bond issues. 



Construction delays plagued the early development and when the harbor finally opened 

 for operation it suffered storm damage so severe that an emergency program was initiated to 

 provide greatly increased protection from wave action. Fortunately, based on early 

 indications of excessive vulnerability of the harbor to wave action, a model study was 

 already underway at the U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station at 

 Vicksburg, Mississippi, when the first physical damage occurred in the winter of 1962-63. 

 With cooperation of the Federal Gavernment the study program was expedited on a crash 

 basis and the model was used for a feasible interim solution. The county proceeded 

 immediately to construct temporary protective sheet-pile baffles in the turning basin of the 

 main channel to give vital protection for continued development and operation pending the 

 completion of permanent protective work by the Corps of Engineers. 



Meanwhile, the results of the model study indicated a requirement for an offshore 

 breakwater, and construction began in 1963 and was completed in 1965 at a cost of $4.2 

 million. Although 4 years behind the original development schedule, Marina Del Rey 

 successfully surmounted major development problems and formal dedication was held on 10 

 April 1965. As indicated in Table 5, over 5,500 boats are presently berthed in the various 

 marinas at the complex; hundreds of additional boats in dry storage also claim Marina Del 

 Rey as their home port. The launching facilities have also made the complex a harbor of 

 opportunity for many of the 100,000 trailered boats located in the Southern California 

 area. 



Occupancy of the existing apartment units is at 97 percent of capacity (1973) in a new 

 community having a projected permanent population over 10,000 and a seasonal peak day 

 population of 30,000. Construction of additional ancillary facilities is following a sound 

 growth pattern. Private investment in facilities now exceeds $107 million, and long-range 

 plans indicate a conservative total of another $65 million. 



Accrued project income to the county from lease revenues is over $3.5 rnOlion annually 

 (1973) and steadily increasing to a projected $4 million level. The tax base of the county 

 has substantially expanded in an area where previously the tax return was insufficient to 

 cover the costs of a required mosquito -abatement program. Total investment of public funds 

 in the basic project is shown in Table 5. 



260 



