Mariner's Landing: Rocks & Shoals

This is a complicated and long-winded issue which began long before I came on board and just won't die a quiet death. It should have been a straightforward and easy matter, but has turned out to be anything but.

I will eventually have a full briefing on how we got here and where we are going on my website, but for those of you who are watching this comedy of errors from the edge of your seats - here is the latest.

At our last council meeting I asked our incredible new Assistant City Manager, Kirsten Wheat, what was the status of the AKRR/Mariner's Landing issue. She was unaware and suggested she would get back with me.

After the meeting I was approached by Deb Altermath, co-owner of Mariner's Landing, who suggested that they were willing parties but were having a difficult time getting a meeting with the city manager.

I recently received this e-mail from her partner, Paul Carter, which offers the same complaint.

Mariner’s Landing, LLC
PO Box 3125, Seward, Alaska 99664
(907) 224-2206
paulcarter@hoteledgewater.com

July 27, 2005

City of Seward
Mayor and City Council Members
Po Box 167
Seward, Alaska 99664

RE: Mariner’s Landing, LLC

Dear Mayor and City Council Members:

At this time, we have been unable to get Mr. Clark Corbridge to sit down and negotiate a buy out with our city lease.

As a result and due to the time sensitive makeup of our city lease, we have had to submit a replat to the Seward Community Development Department and the Seward Planning & Zoning Commission for their action on our replat and requested they approve it so we can move forward and construct our Mariner’s Landing, LLC building on our lot.

We have discussed with the city manager the time sensitive issues with him several times and with no formal resolutions coming from him on them, we felt we had no choice but to move this forward as was originally approved by the former city manager and city council.

Specifically for your information, our lease specifically affirms in Article 6- Construction by Lessee (a) which states “LESSEE shall cause to be constructed and operated on the Leased Land a boat brokerage and related services building by September 30, 2005.”

We interpret “cause to be constructed” in this section of the lease to mean we have made significant progress towards construction of a building by at least filing a replat with the Seward Planning Department to move a building project forward. It does not mean we even have to have the building finished, a building permit in place, or even a final re-plat approved by that date. Mr. Phil Shealy and I negotiated this clause and wanted this issue to be clear between the parties that we were going to build a building but did not have to have it constructed by any specific date.

Mr. Corbridge has been unable to agree with me on what the “cause to be constructed” languages means and as I advised him on several occasions, we have a deadline to at least do something by September 30, 2005. Finally, under advise from counsel as well as all the delays from the city manager, we decide we could not wait until September to do something and we had to act now.

I can just imagine the parties against us never ever wanting us to build a building do a total turn around and demand the City of Seward terminate our lease because we did not build a building. What an oxymoron that would be, but I could see some people taking that position. As I have stated, I know what Phil Shealy thought it meant when I discussed it with him when we executed the lease.

We certainly hope the Seward Community Development Department will not impede our progress and act with the spirit and good will with which our lease intended in regards to making the building a reality.

We had hoped it would not come to this, but we really had no choice. If you have any question, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Paul Carter
Mariner’s Landing LLC

Filed in: Alaska politics news culture Seward