A Groundbreaking Years in the Making

August 15, 2026 was an important day for Channel Islands Harbor.

Today, members of the Harbor & Beach Community Alliance joined neighbors, community leaders, County and City representatives, and the Karls team at the groundbreaking for the redevelopment of Fisherman’s Wharf.

For many people attending, it was a celebration of a new project.

For HBCA and the many community members who have participated over the years, it was something more: the culmination of more than a decade of community involvement to protect Channel Islands Harbor as a place that remains accessible, recreational and visitor-serving for the public.

How We Got Here

The story goes back to at least 2014–2015, when a redevelopment proposal for the aging Fisherman’s Wharf property contemplated replacing much of the site with a predominantly residential project containing approximately 400 market-rate apartments.

The issue was never simply whether Fisherman’s Wharf needed redevelopment. Everyone could see that this once-popular waterfront destination was deteriorating and needed investment.

The fundamental question was what kind of development belonged on this publicly owned waterfront land.

HBCA was formed around the principle that Channel Islands Harbor should remain true to its public and coastal purposes — boating, fishing, recreation, public access and visitor-serving uses — rather than allowing one of the Harbor’s most important waterfront parcels to become primarily a private residential development.

What followed was years of community involvement.

Residents attended Ventura County Board of Supervisors meetings, Oxnard City Council meetings and California Coastal Commission proceedings. They wrote letters and emails, circulated and signed petitions, researched planning documents, spoke during public comment and repeatedly asked government officials to preserve public access and the visitor-serving character of Fisherman’s Wharf.

Those efforts mattered.

In 2019, after years of debate over the proposed residential project, the Oxnard City Council declined to approve the Local Coastal Plan amendment necessary for that proposal to proceed.

That same year, something very different appeared: an unsolicited proposal from Karls for a family-oriented, visitor-serving destination at Fisherman’s Wharf.

It demonstrated something HBCA had long argued — redevelopment of Fisherman’s Wharf did not have to depend upon hundreds of private apartments.

Community Advocacy Helped Change the Process

The community’s involvement ultimately influenced more than a single development proposal.

Residents had been asking for a better way to plan the future of Channel Islands Harbor: establish a public vision first, listen to the community, understand the applicable coastal and land-use requirements, and then seek developers whose proposals fit that vision.

That concept became part of the Channel Islands Harbor Visioning Process.

In 2022, Ventura County issued a formal Request for Proposals for Fisherman’s Wharf. Four proposals were reviewed, three were presented publicly, and the community was given an opportunity to see and comment on the alternatives.

Karls emerged as the preferred proposal.

HBCA supported Karls because its fundamental use of the property was consistent with what we had spent years fighting to preserve: a waterfront destination open to the public, with dining, recreation, entertainment, public access and activities for families and visitors.

But Supporting Karls Didn’t Mean the Work Was Finished

Community participation continued.

In 2023, twelve community workshops were held as the project moved forward. In 2024, ten additional workshops gave residents another opportunity to review a revised project and provide feedback.

People asked questions about traffic, parking, noise, public access, waterfront walkways, boating, commercial fishing, architecture and how the project would interact with the surrounding neighborhoods and Harbor.

The process was not always easy, and community members did not agree on every detail.

But there was an important difference from the process that had caused so much frustration years earlier: the community was participating while the project was being shaped, rather than simply being presented with a finished project and asked to accept it.

In May 2024, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the lease option agreement and lease for Karls.

The project then moved through the Coastal Commission process.

On August 14, 2025, the California Coastal Commission approved the Karls project, allowing redevelopment of the approximately 11-acre Fisherman’s Wharf site as a visitor-serving destination with retail, dining, recreation and improved public waterfront access.

And exactly one year and one day later — August 15, 2026 — we stood together at Fisherman’s Wharf for the groundbreaking.

This Groundbreaking Belongs to the Community Too

Buildings will eventually rise where the old Fisherman’s Wharf now stands. Karls is currently expected to open in Spring 2028.

But before construction begins, it is worth remembering what made this day possible.

It was the people who showed up.

The people who wrote letters when very few people were paying attention.

The people who stood at grocery stores, neighborhood meetings and community events circulating petitions.

The people who signed those petitions.

The people who spent evenings sitting through long government meetings for two or three minutes at a microphone.

The people who read hundreds of pages of planning documents, Coastal Commission reports and government agendas.

The people who attended workshop after workshop and continued asking questions.

The people who supported a project when they believed it was finally the right project for this location.

And today, it was once again volunteers and community members — staffing the check-in tables, welcoming guests and simply showing up to witness a moment that was many years in the making.

To all of you, HBCA says thank you.

Today’s groundbreaking doesn’t mean every issue facing Channel Islands Harbor has been solved. It doesn’t mean everyone will agree about every aspect of Karls as the project moves from plans to construction and ultimately operation.

What it does demonstrate is something important:

Community involvement can make a difference.

More than a decade ago, residents were fighting to prevent one of the Harbor’s most important visitor-serving waterfront properties from becoming predominantly private residential development.

Today, we stood on that same property to celebrate the beginning of construction of a destination intended to bring families and visitors back to the waterfront.

That is a remarkable change.

And it didn’t happen by accident.

Thank you to every person who wrote a letter, signed or circulated a petition, attended a meeting, spoke at a hearing, asked a difficult question, volunteered, donated, encouraged a neighbor to become involved — or simply refused to give up on the belief that Channel Islands Harbor is a public coastal resource worth protecting.

Today was a groundbreaking for Karls.

For the Harbor community, it was also a milestone in a much longer effort to Keep the Harbor Visitor Serving.