Marina del Rey : Fuel-Dock Lease Extension

Union Oil would receive a 15-year extension of its exclusive lease to operate the boat fuel dock in Marina del Rey under terms of a deal endorsed Wednesday by Los Angeles County’s Small Craft Harbor Commission.

The fuel dock, like all businesses in the publicly owned marina, operates on a long-term lease with the county. Union Oil’s current 30-year lease will expire this month unless it is extended by the County Board of Supervisors.

Officials of the county Department of Beaches and Harbors told the commission at its monthly meeting that they have negotiated a five-year extension with two five-year options so that the fuel-dock lease would run until May, 2006.

Union Oil will pay the county a $272,222 fee for the valuable lease extension, which maintains the oil company’s monopoly on boat fuel sales in the harbor.

The county will receive 6% of all fuel sales and 30% of the rent collected from six boat slips next to the fuel dock.

Union Oil will make $250,000 in improvements to the property by installing new high-speed fuel pumps and storage tanks. While the improvements are in progress, the company will continue to operate a second fuel dock on the opposite side of the marina.

The company also agreed to fully comply with state and federal environmental laws aimed at preventing water pollution and cleaning up hazardous wastes.