The San Juan Marina on Lake Powell has reopened full operations with permission from the National Park Service, a spokesman said Friday.
Dick Neztososie, vice president of Utah Navajo Industries Inc., which contracts with the Navajo Indian Tribe to operate the marina at Paiute Farms, said all services were immediately available to visitors as of June 1.The marina has been open on a limited basis while UNI worked out labor and environmental problems.
NPS officials in Page, Ariz., suspended the concession contract for the marina on the Utah side of Lake Powell early last November. John Lancaster, superintendent of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, said at the time of closure that UNI had failed to bring the water and sewer systems up to state and federal standards and had not resolved persistent management problems at the marina.
The marina was reopened on a limited basis about ten days after closure. It had been operating since the spring of 1987 under a 20-year concession contract the NPS awarded the tribe, which in turn contracted with UNI - a tribe-owned operation based in Blanding.
Neztososie said plans for a new water-sewer treatment plant at the marina were approved by the Utah Department of Health a week ago. Plans for a new sewage lagoon were approved conditionally Friday, "with minor items to be taken care of," he said.
The NPS also reviewed the plans and on Friday afternoon permitted the marina to begin full operations with the understanding the new facilities will be closely monitored, Neztososie said.
"The cause of the hangup is resolved," he said. "We wanted the word out that San Juan Marina has reopened officially. We're 100 percent in operation. We're back in business."
The marina, approximately 67 miles south of the San Juan River confluence with Lake Powell, offers boat fueling, houseboat and small boat rentals, dry storage and rental slips, and other facilities and services.
Several more employees will be hired, bringing the number of seasonal jobs to 24 under manager Leroy Brown, Neztososie said.
"While we feel OK about getting reopened - we're really quite excited - it's been quite frustrating to deal with the number of bureaucracies we have to," he said.
"Despite the low time of year, I estimate $50,000 to $100,000 we probably lost in opportunities," he said.