Costs pile up to fund PR, legal battle over marina
Scott Wong
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 27, 2007 12:00 AM
The battle over a proposed 240-acre marina at Lake Pleasant is being waged in the courts and media.
Those who hope to build the $20 million project and those who want to sink it each has forked over tens of thousands of dollars to some of the Valley's most-prominent law and public-relations firms.
And costs will only rise as the fight continues.
The cash pouring into this waterfront war illustrates how much is at stake for investors and opponents of Scorpion Bay Marina & Yacht Harbor, which is planned for the western shore of the lake in north Peoria.
Within a month of securing a building permit, investors have agreed to put $11 million into escrow to guarantee that the marina's first phase gets built. And Wisconsin-based Skipper Marine Development, which plans to build and operate the marina, has spent at least $1 million for design and other preliminary work, an executive said.
At the heart of the opposition to the project is Paradise Valley businessman David Maule-Ffinch and his Pensus Group, which owns the lake's only marina, Pleasant Harbor Marina.
Both sides are angling for a victory.
Mike Pretasky Sr., chairman and CEO of Skipper Marine, said his company has paid six figures in attorney fees to Phoenix-based Snell & Wilmer, one of the largest law firms in the western United States, with more than 400 lawyers and offices in four states.
The firm was retained to help negotiate a contract with Maricopa County, which operates the parkland where the marina would be built.
Snell & Wilmer stayed on to fight a pair of Pensus lawsuits.
Earlier this month, Skipper Marine hired Phoenix public-relations firm Hamilton, Gullett, Davis & Roman, whose clients include the Arizona Cardinals, Salt River Project and the Translational Genomics Research Institute.
"For a year and a half, we invested our time, energy and money in this project, and all of a sudden a challenge comes," Pretasky said. "We have no choice (but to fight back) because we have so much money invested."
To help block the marina project, Maule-Ffinch hired Phoenix law firm Fennemore Craig, which has more than 160 attorneys and offices in Denver, Las Vegas and throughout Arizona. The firm has represented the Phoenix Suns, Phelps Dodge Corp. and Southwest Airlines.
On behalf of Pensus, Fennemore Craig filed a suit last year challenging the way the county awarded a construction and management contract for the privately financed marina. The case has been appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court.
The law firm filed a similar suit against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation after the agency determined the new marina would have no significant impact on the environment.
In addition, Rose & Allyn Public Relations, the Scottsdale firm notable for its work on the "Pink Taco Stadium" naming-rights proposal, has signed on with Pensus.
Maule-Ffinch said he is helping to finance the Protect Lake Pleasant Coalition, which calls itself a grass-roots organization of boaters, anglers and environmentalists who oppose the marina project.
The coalition agreed to pay Phoenix-based Goodman Schwartz Public Affairs and its subconsultants $12,000 for the first month of work and $9,000 each month thereafter, according to court records.
Meanwhile, employees from Kyle, Moyer & Co., a Scottsdale public-affairs firm that helps organize grass-roots groups, were paid to staff a Protect Lake Pleasant booth, hand out literature and speak with attendees at a Phoenix boat show in January, court records show.
Scorpion Bay investors say they want to create a family friendly, affordable alternative to Pleasant Harbor Marina.
But Maule-Ffinch and others say a second marina would overcrowd the lake, create environmental and safety hazards and cause the county to lose money in the long term.
"Just because there is a demand for thousands and thousands of slips on a lake, do you build them?" Maule-Ffinch said.
'The position of a lot of people is you shouldn't."
