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Possible closure of Mariners Point fuel dock worries boaters

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The planned closure of Huntington Beach’s only boat fueling dock would force about 6,000 boat owners to fuel up elsewhere, which the plan’s opponents fear could pose problems for boaters and safety personnel.

The owners of the Mariners Point fuel dock at 15922 Pacific Coast Hwy. have expressed interest in closing the facility by Oct. 1.

“[The dock owners] aren’t really interested in having a fuel dock and just want to have it go away,” Huntington Harbour resident Bill Larkin said. “There’s not another location for a fueling dock.”

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Attempts to reach dock co-owners Alison Miller and Don Nuss have been unsuccessful. Michael Leifer, an attorney representing the owners, also could not be reached for comment.

Larkin said he has seen many boaters misgauge the amount of fuel in their boats and have to be towed to the dock. Should that happen when the fueling station is no longer there, more people would be stranded in the harbor or ocean, he said.

“If this dock goes away, there will be no other options for them to get recovery on the water,” he said.

Huntington Beach City Manager Fred Wilson said he and other city staff members met with the property owners last week in an attempt to “see if there’s any options to keep the dock operating.”

“The take away that I had was that the dock will close in October,” Wilson said. “We tried to see if there’s anything we could help do in terms of bringing someone to the table to keep the dock open. I don’t think they’re opposed to it, but they want something done between now and October. There’s not much we can do right now.”

Wilson added that keeping the fuel dock will be an “uphill challenge” because of the difficulty of finding another group interested in taking over the operation in a short amount of time.

Should the Mariners Point fuel dock fold, the closest fueling station would be in Long Beach at the Alamitos Bay Marine Fuel Dock, at 227 N. Marina Drive. Matt Bruemmer, a fuel station attendant there, said the dock probably would see an increase in boats if the Huntington Harbour dock closes, but he added that it can serve more vessels than Mariners Point.

“We can handle about five boats at a time,” Bruemmer said. “We’re used to nonstop boats coming to the dock during the summer.”

Depending on the size of the vessels, Mariners Point can handle about two boats at a time.

Huntington Harbour resident Scot Campbell said going to Alamitos Bay would be too far for local boaters. He added that the trip could be dangerous for those with smaller boats, such as the outboard-powered 12-foot skiff that his 13-year-old son uses to go fishing.

“Bright and early in the morning, a 15-foot boat could make its way over [to Alamitos Bay], but for smaller boats, it’s totally an unsafe boating situation,” Campbell said. “It doesn’t take a lot of wind in the afternoon to create an unsafe boating situation for a skiff. I wouldn’t let my son go out there.”

Scott Lindenblatt, manager of Mariners Point, said the dock also is used by city and state lifeguards for marine emergencies.

Huntington Beach Marine Safety Lt. Claude Panis said the dock is the most convenient point for safety personnel to enter from Pacific Coast Highway.

“It’s the first area where boats can pull in after going under the bridge, and it’s adjacent to the highway by the Simple Green building,” he said. “It has an area where paramedics and an ambulance can pull in. It’s a quick, convenient place for them to access a patient if they were bringing them in.”

Panis said other points around the harbor also could be used to tend to patients, such as the Sunset Aquatic Marina and Peter’s Landing. But he said it would take paramedics in an ambulance much longer to reach Sunset Aquatic Marina and would take more time to get a boat to Peter’s Landing.

“The only other option would be going through somebody’s house, but I don’t see the Fire Department accessing victims through people’s houses,” Panis said. “They want to find some commercial area where they can transfer the victim to an ambulance.”

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