Marina Lease, Development Plan Approved : Deal: The county will get at least $80 million in revenue over the term of the contract. Sunset park operators, who agreed to pay back rent, have a 35-year option to manage the 94-acre facility.

Orange County supervisors Tuesday approved a $10-million development plan and a long-term lease extension for the Sunset Marina Park after marina operators agreed to pay the county $200,000 in back rent.

In return, marina operators Goldrich and Kest of Culver City have been granted an option to manage the 94-acre facility for the next 35 years. County officials said the new agreement would provide at least $80 million in revenue over the term of the new lease.

“This has been a long time in coming,” Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder said. “This will not only enhance the marina but be a forerunner for future lease negotiations at the county.”

The marina, in an unincorporated area between the cities of Huntington Beach and Seal Beach, is one of the few public boat landings in the county and the development promises both greater access to boaters and newer facilities.

According to Tuesday’s agreement, the county would pay $4.4 million on improvements to the marina, including an interpretive kiosk, landscaping and trails. Meanwhile, G&K; would spend $5.5 million to expand the number of boat slips from 276 to 341, increase dry boat storage from 97 to 241 and increase the number of parking spaces from 190 to 280.

County officials estimated that the construction could be complete by 1998.

Before endorsing the project, however, Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas F. Riley and Supervisors William G. Steiner and Gaddi H. Vasquez requested that G&K; agree to pay the county $200,000 the company owed in back rent. Terms of the initial proposal had asked the county to forgive the rental payments owed by the Culver City operators, who have managed the park since 1969.

G&K; attorney Gregory W. Sanders said the company would comply with the supervisors’ request and were pleased with the terms of the lease extension and the development plan.

Chuck West, real estate director for the county General Services Agency, said the newly approved agreement requires the company to make the renovations before G&K; can exercise its option for the additional 35-year lease.

By 1999, when the company’s current lease expires, West said the new contract would give the county an 80% share of all revenue generated by the marina.

“No other entity that I know of up and down the coast has been able to negotiate such a deal,” West said. “The county’s portion of the deal is going to be a very large number.”

The county has also required the management company to provide a $100,000 security deposit to ensure that the property is properly maintained.

If maintenance becomes a problem, the contract allows the county to buy out the lease at any time during the last 7 1/2 years. The cost of such a buyout would be based on income being generated by the marina at that time.

The new lease was approved despite a county policy that states such contracts, whenever feasible, should be allowed to expire and then be put out to competitive bid. However, the prospect of the county earning additional revenue through renegotiation of existing contracts is one exception to the re-bid policy.

An attempt to go ahead with the development plan and lease extension was mired in controversy three years ago when it was disclosed that Lee E. Wieder, son of Supervisor Wieder, whose district includes the marina, worked as a consultant for G&K.; At the same time, G&K;’s maintenance record had also been criticized.

County officials have said Wieder’s son is no longer involved with the plan and maintenance is no longer a problem.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, marina boaters were supportive of the development plan and offered compliments for G&K; recent management record.

“I don’t think you could be working with a better management company,” boat owner Richard Dorsey said. “There was a question about maintenance in the past, but all the problems I could see have been corrected.”

Some opposition, however, came from the Fountain Valley Recreational Vehicle Assn., which called on supervisors to provide campgrounds on an undeveloped 12 1/2-acre parcel of the marina that is now a wildlife habitat.

Betty Blank, association president, said the original development plan contained provisions for campgrounds.

“This is for public access and (a campground) is where the public would go,” Blank said.

Included in the Tuesday’s agreement, supervisors asked for a 12-month study of alternate recreational uses for the 12 1/2-acre parcel.

Near the end of the public hearing, a representative from the city of Huntington Beach asked that the county scale back its dry boat storage and parking space proposals to ease the development’s effect on neighboring residential communities. But supervisors turned away that recommendation, as having come too late.