SCAPPOOSE, Starting Nov. 1, the slips and boathouses at Scappoose Bay Marina will be run by a private operator for the first time, under a three-year lease the Port of Columbia County Commission approved Oct. 14. The Port says it has been losing about $550,000 a year running the marina itself.
Peter and Jessica Ettro, who own Fred’s Marina on the Multnomah Channel in Portland, will take over slip assignments, billing, maintenance and customer service and will operate under the name Scappoose Bay Marina, according to a Port announcement. They will hold a public open house at the marina from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, with Port staff on hand.
The Port keeps the land, the docks, the public boat ramp, the parking lots, the RV park, the floating walkway and the paddle launch. Pay stations and launch fees stay as they are. The Paddle Shack is unchanged.
What the Lease Says
The agreement, included in the Oct. 14 commission packet, runs three years from Nov. 1 with up to three more three-year extensions by mutual agreement. The Ettros pay the Port $3,000 a month in the first year, $3,250 in the second and $3,500 in the third, or $36,000 to $42,000 a year. In any extension term, rent rises with the consumer price index and the Port also collects 10 percent of annual moorage revenue above $300,000.
The operator “may establish rates, deposits, annual payment requirements” and other terms for moorage customers, subject to limits in the lease, according to Section 4.4. Existing moorage agreements carry over, and no new agreement may run past the lease without Port approval. The Ettros must keep a 24-hour contact number and on-site office hours, and they buy the Port’s work boat and two barges for $4,000, with the Port keeping a right to use them and to buy them back when the lease ends.
For 2027, moorage customers get annual parking and launch passes at no separate charge; from 2028, the operator pays the Port for those passes. The lease includes a formal review after the first year, after which either side can walk away on 120 days’ notice.
How It Got Here
Port General Counsel Bob Salisbury told commissioners Sept. 30 that the process began almost two years ago with a marina study that found the roughly $550,000 annual loss, according to the minutes of that meeting. A public Marina Planning Committee reviewed options and landed on an owner-operator model. The commission approved a transition plan Sept. 30 and the lease itself Oct. 14.
At the Sept. 30 meeting, Commission President Nancy Ward questioned a proposed 3 percent cap on rent increases given uncertainty about inflation, the minutes say; the final lease ties extension-term rent to CPI with no cap and says rent cannot go down. Commissioner Robert Keyser suggested a six-month informal check-in ahead of the first-year review. One member of the public, Scott Jacobson, urged the Port “to use caution” in entering the agreement, according to the minutes.
The Port will collect November payments and pass the operator’s share along; from Dec. 1 the Ettros bill customers directly. Slip and boathouse inquiries go to scappoosebaymarina.com. The Port’s Marina Advisory Committee meets Nov. 3 at 5:30 p.m.
The Oct. 14 vote count was not in the Port’s announcement; minutes of that meeting had not been posted as of Thursday.