A Win for BOA and The Long Beach Marina Boat Owners
By Tom Mayes
Those of you who received the recent Marina Reader know that a satisfactory resolution of the conflicts surrounding the Shoreline Marina fuel dock retrofit have been resolved.
Both the Shoreline and Alamitos Bay fuel docks will be refurbished and Long Beach Marina renters will not be charged for this work.
The Shoreline fuel dock has been closed for three years as a result of a suit against the City of Long Beach for its failure to maintain forty underground
fuel docks in accordance with environmental protection laws. The City’s reason for the closure was that funds were not available to upgrade the facility.
In an attempt to shift the entire cost of fuel dock retrofits in Shoreline and Alamitos Bay to boat owners, Mark Sandoval distributed a survey in August 2010
to marina slip renters asking them to choose among combinations of slip fee increases and surcharges. One of the options was to permanently close the Shoreline
fuel dock, which would require boaters in that marina to obtain fuel in San Pedro, Alamitos Bay or other distant facilities. Sandoval did not include any other
funding options, nor did he allow for rejection of all options he proposed in the survey. Interestingly, the August 10 Marina Reader, which contained information
about the survey, is no longer available on the Long Beach Parks, Recreation, and Marine Web site.
The BOA then initiated action to stop the proposed fee increases, deeming them unfair to boat owners, who were not the only users
of the fueling services, but would be expected to pay the entire bill. The BOA position on the fuel dock retrofit or closure included these key points:
1. The survey conducted by Mr. Sandoval is not valid in that it only included options to increase slip fees/surcharges. T
hese biased responses should not be used for decision-making regarding fuel dock refurbishment.
2. The BOA supports the City’s vision of developing Shoreline and Alamitos Bay marinas into world-class facilities.
3. Operation of both fuel docks is the desired outcome and slip renters should not bear the cost of the retrofits.
4. Both fuel docks should remain in operation and the Alamitos Bay fuel dock retrofit should be coordinated with the Shoreline
fuel dock upgrade so assure continued fuel availability in the Long Beach marinas.
BOA Board President Carl Kirnbauer met with Mr. Sandoval to inform him of the willingness of the BOA to support marina development,
but not at the cost of slip renters. Other Board members initiated contacts with Long Beach yacht clubs, Shoreline and Alamitos Bay slip renters,
and the Marine Advisory Commission (MAC) to let them know about the BOA position on the retrofit of the fuel docks and to ask them for their
support and any suggestions they might have about solutions to the fuel dock problem.
The MAC met at the Long Beach Yacht Club on October to consider the fuel dock retrofits along with other agenda items.
More than 30 boat owners and other interested parties were in attendance and provided input to assist the MAC in making its recommendation about the
fuel dock retrofit and how to fund it. There was strong support for the BOA position among the parties in attendance. The MAC agreed with the BOA
position and recommended that both fuel docks be operational and that slip renters not be charged for the retrofits.
The MAC requested the City to explore other sources of funding including surplus funds now available to pay for 80% of the fuel docks retrofit.
The BOA Board would like to thank the Long Beach Marina clients who provided support in achieving a fair resolution to the issues surrounding the fuel docks retrofit.
The URL’s below provide links to articles in the Grunion Gazette and The Log that chronicle some of the events leading up to the continued
operation of the fuel docks in the Shoreline and Alamitos Bay marinas.
Grunion Gazette "Shoreline Fuel Dock Seeks Dollars"
Grunion Gazette "Votes Stacked Against Reopening Shoreline Fuel Dock"
The Log "LB Committee Recommends No Slip Fee Increases to Support Fuel Dock"
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