City seeks business to run Casino Fuel Dock

File photo

The city will issue a request for proposals to have a business operate the Casino Fuel Dock.

This matter was on the Consent Calendar. Items on the Consent Calendar are voted on collectively, without discussion, unless pulled for separate consideration. The council unanimously approved the Consent Calendar, pulling two other items for separate consideration.

In a phone interview, Mayor Anni Marshall told The Islander that the fuel dock isn’t a money maker at all for the city. She said it mainly serves locals with smaller boats.

Marshall hopes in the future that the city will be able to revisit the possibility of a restaurant on the Casino dock.

“The Fuel Dock operates year-round and serves the approximate 20,000 transient boaters that visit Avalon Harbor annually,” according to the staff report by City Manager Denise Radde. 

“However, the Fuel Dock facility, under city stewardship, is not currently sustainable and operates at a net loss of approximately $200,000 annually,” Radde wrote.

“Due to safety issues exasperated by a storm in December 2014, the city of Avalon Fuel Dock was demolished in January 2015,” Radde wrote. 

“The property was renovated and enhanced funded by a grant from the state of California’s Department Parks and Recreation, Division of Boating and Waterways. The facility reopened in 2017,” Radde wrote.

“The grant agreement allows the city to enter into a ‘concessions agreement,’ with a third party. This agreement is not a lease and only a reasonable administrative fee can be charged,” Radde wrote.

• That same night, the council also unanimously authorized staff to request bids to repair the Pebbly Beach Road revetment damaged in 2014 storm events. 

The council also approved the construction plans.