Fairfax Marina Gets Reprieve 

By TRIGIE EALEY 

Journal staff writer 2/6/2002 

Belle Haven Marina Inc. has received a one-year contract to continue operating the Fairfax County area marina while the National Park Service performs an environmental assessment of the land. The federal agency had sought to close the Potomac River marina site it owns at the end of 2001, citing a 1998 federal law prohibiting automatic contract extensions for park concessionaires in favor of competitive bidding. The agency also sought redevelopment of the site because of major erosion and infrastructure problems. 

Jacqueline Lavelle, Park Service concession specialist, said the marina was given neither an extension to its original 1992 contract nor a new contract. "It's a temporary contract containing the same terms and conditions of the previous contract," Lavelle said Tuesday. The deal will keep Belle Haven Marina in business at least through the end of the year. The concession contract includes an option for the Park Service to renew the contract for two additional years. Business owner George Stevens said he was pleased to keep the 50-year-old marina operational. 

"It all looks good for the marina," Stevens said. Located on the George Washington Memorial Parkway in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, the marina includes dry and wet slips for boat storage. It also offers boat rentals and a sailing school for children and adults. 

The Park Service last summer announced plans to close the marina, following years of debate over erosion of the Potomac River shoreline and the need for repairs, along with the seemingly contrary needs of the busy marina and nearby tranquil and environmentally sensitive Dyke Marsh. The Park Service and Stevens clashed for years about the extent of repairs and maintenance needed at the marina and who should pay for the work. Without the temporary contract, the marina would have closed Dec. 31, 2001. The environmental assessment study is needed to determine if construction or other changes at the marina - possible with a new concessions contract - will harm the environment and specifically Dyke Marsh. A group called the Friends of Dyke Marsh has said it supports the marina as it is, but opposes expansion. 

Lavelle said the Park Service hopes to have the environmental study completed by mid-2003, to allow another 18 months needed to seek new concessionaire bids. With the extensions, Stevens' contract would keep the marina operating through the entire process. A new contract would be awarded by the end of 2004.

In seeking to close the marina, Park Service officials cited a 1995 Park Service feasibility study that concluded "it is financially infeasible for any potential concessionaire to redevelop Belle Haven without the NPS contributing at least $1.5 million toward rehabilitation." The agency, officials said, simply does not have the money for the marina, when national parks, such as Yellowstone in Wyoming, also are competing for limited funds. Stevens said he cannot afford the costly repairs either. 

Supporters rallied behind the only Washington, D.C., area marina that combines sailing, power boating, canoeing and kayaking with the largest full-time sailing school and boat rental operation in the mid-Atlantic region. 

Local officials, including Alexandria Mayor Kerry J. Donley, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Katherine K. Hanley, D-at large, and U.S. Rep. James P. Moran, D-8th District, have written numerous letters of support for the marina to federal officials. On Nov. 19, the Fairfax County Board passed a resolution calling calling the marina a "significant resource for residents of the Mount Vernon District and Fairfax County as well as our neighbors.