Panel Backs Huntington Marina Lease : Recreation: When pact was proposed 3 years ago, criticisms arose over maintenance, company’s ties to supervisor’s son.

The operator of the Sunset Marine Park in Huntington Harbour tentatively won a new 35-year lease extension Wednesday without competitive bidding and the controversy that occurred when the extension was proposed three years ago.

The county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks Commission voted 3 to 2 to offer the new contract to Goldrich and Kest Inc., the Culver City firm that has operated the marina since 1969.

That offer still faces approval by the County Board of Supervisors, which is expected to vote in about two weeks.

Three years ago, G & K’s bid for a lease extension died when marina tenants organized to complain that maintenance there was abysmal. But the proposal this time has brought little objection.

“In the past we had problems with maintenance,” Commissioner Ed Conway said Wednesday. “But I’m really glad to hear from the public that they’re happier with them. We had a full house on this issue last time.”

The commission’s meeting was sparsely attended, mostly by supporters of G & K.

Boat owner Sam Gladney said that G & K had done such a good job maintaining the marina that their boat owner meetings had become social events because there was nothing to complain about.

Under the new contract, G & K must put up a $100,000 security deposit that would be tapped if the company’s maintenance were found lacking.

But two of the commissioners still disapproved of the contract.

“I just don’t trust them,” Commissioner Sally White said. Outside the meeting, Commissioner Larry Luera expressed similar reservations, saying the company has “a history of poor maintenance.”

Under the terms of the contract, which would replace the current lease set to expire in 1999, the county would spend $4.4 million on improvements to the marina, including an interpretive kiosk, landscaping and trails. It also would forgive $200,000 owed by the management company in back rent. In exchange, G & K would spend $5.5 million of its own money to, among other things, expand the number of boat slips from 276 to 341, increase dry boat storage from 97 to 241 spaces and increase the number of parking spaces from 190 to 280.

The proposed new lease comes despite a county policy stating that, whenever feasible, such contracts should be allowed to expire and then be put out for competitive bids. Bob Fisher, director of the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department, said Wednesday that several factors make this an acceptable exception to the rule.

First, he said, a larger slice of income to the county provided by the lease would more than double the annual revenue from the marina over the next several decades. The county will get a flat rent of $375,000 per year plus 25% to 35% of gross receipts, compared to 20% to 25% of gross receipts now received.

And second, he said, the early renegotiation of the lease will allow the county to take advantage of a low-interest state loan (4.3% to 4.5%) with which to pay for the needed improvements.

Chuck West, director of real estate for Orange County, said given the sizable investment byG & K, it was unlikely that many other companies would have bid for the project.

“It’s just not something where you’d have 100 bidding, even if you had opened up the bidding,” he said.

Three years ago, when an attempt to extend G & K’s lease was shelved, the objections involved two major issues. First, critics were angered by the fact that the son of County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, whose district includes the marina, had worked as a lobbyist for G & K. In addition, critics also said G & K’s maintenance record was abysmal.

According to Fisher, those problems have now been solved. The supervisor’s son, Lee E. Wieder, is no longer involved, he said. And routine maintenance of the boat facility has improved.

“We’ve worked hard and feel that the problems have been solved,” Fisher said before Wednesday’s meeting.

This time, Fisher said, the commission received only two letters about the proposed lease extension, and both were supportive. In one, a boat owner said that G & K “has made a real commitment in the last six years to improve the Marina in every way. . . . The maintenance has improved steadily and the restrooms are spotless.”

Not everyone, however, has withdrawn their opposition to the lease.

Betty Blank, president of a Fountain Valley recreational vehicle association who has for many years lobbied for more public access to regional parks, described the proposed lease as a bad deal for everyone concerned.

“It’s a giveaway,” she said, adding that the county could get a better deal financially by putting the contract out to bid.