Tuesday, November 28, 2000 Port committee approves lease for Queen Mary site   By Keith Higginbotham, Staff writer LONG BEACH The Port of Long Beach on Monday gave committee approval to lease 11.4 acres of water next to the Queen Mary to Carnival Cruise terminal project developers while environmental groups continue with preparations to challenge the proposed construction in court. The $35 million passenger terminal would sit next to the Queen Mary on property leased from the city by Queen's Seaport Development Inc., or QSDI, and would include a 1,000-foot wharf, a parking structure able to accommodate more than 1,200 vehicles, an embarkation facility aboard the Queen Mary and a debarkation area in part of what was the Spruce Goose dome. The port turned over the Queen Mary area to the city in 1992, and in 1995, the city leased 43.4 acres of land and 9.3 acres of water around the Queen Mary to QSDI. The water rights in the area of the new wharf were not included, and the company had to negotiate with the port for the 11.4-acre area. The terms of the 25-year lease require QSDI to pay the port $100,000 yearly and include provisions for the water area and any facilities to revert to the port if the terminal fails financially and the company cannot find a new tenant within 90 days. At the same time, the Surfriders Foundation has retained a law firm to proceed with a suit over the terminal's environmental impact report, approved by the Harbor Commission on Nov. 13. The environmental group said a suit to contest the report will be filed by Dec. 13. Surfriders said it wants to reduce port sprawl and restore the city beaches to 9 miles in length.