City taking bite out of liveaboards

BY STEVE ESTES - Island News Staff Writer
 

Slip rental rates at Garrison Bight will jump for many of the residents there, but by how much and when is yet to be determined.
The Key West City Commission Tuesday night approved first reading of an ordinance raising rental fees at the City Marina. The rental rates at the Bight haven't been increased in six years, according to City Manager Julio Avael.
The new rates are primarily directed at the larger boats that take up more than one slip in width. Some boats are as wide as 40 feet and take up most of what Assistant City Manager John Jones calls three standard slips. But those larger liveaboards are paying the same rental fees as a 40-foot sailboat that only takes up the width of one standard slip. Jones calls a standard slip 15 feet wide by 40 feet deep.
Jones told commissioners there are 68 liveaboard units at Garrison Bight. Due to their size, however, those 68 vessels account for 87 standard slips.
The new formula would charge owners a premium fee for the width they occupy over the 15-foot standard. There is no current rent at  City Marina over $449 a month. The new formula, if adopted, could in some cases double and triple the rental fees paid by the larger liveaboard units.
Jones has been working with the Key West Port Advisory Board, which has oversight authority for the bight,  on a fair rental scheme.
"We have to remember that this marina was originally built to accommodate residents' boats who had no place to park them, or wished to keep them in the water. It was never designed to be a community of liveaboard houseboats," said Jones. "But that is what we have now."
John Williams, a member of the Port Advisory Board, told the Commission, "There is no equality right now in the prices charged by the marina. A 10-foot by 30-foot boat pays the same rental price as a 20-foot by 30-foot boat. 
"We (Port Advisory Board) felt it isn't fair to many with slender boats to pay the same rental as a large houseboat. It's not fair to the city to use up the footage available at the piers without due compensation. And it's not fair to the residents of the city to provide services while losing the income that could be realized."
Michael Sulin, a Bight resident, told commissioners that the problem "is affordable housing in Key West. This (marina) is affordable housing. You will take that away from this community with the rate increases."
"I am concerned by the amount of the big increases in rent in some of these cases," said Commissioner Merili McCoy. "I just don't think it's fair to double and triple the rents on these people."
Avael told the Commission that the ordinance could include language that would phase in the rent increases for the larger boats over a two- or three-year period to lessen the immediate impact.
The Bight is in new Commissioner Tom Oosterhoudt's district. "I think we need to listen to these people. On the one hand we say we're looking for affordable housing, and on the other we're doubling and tripling their rent. I think we're not doing right by these hard-working people."
Jones said he compared the proposed rates with commercial marinas in the area, as well as the rates charged by local public housing complexes, and the proposed structure is cheaper than both.
Nancy Butler-Ross, a resident of Marlin Pier in the bight, said that comparison is not entirely accurate.
"We all own our own vessels, so not only are we responsible for the purchase costs, but for the maintenance and insurance as well."
The Commission approved first reading with many reservations, asking Jones to double-check the accuracy of the vessel measurements in the rental tables. He was also directed to check with other public marinas around the state for price comparisons with this proposal.
Mayor Jimmy Weekley also directed the staff to look at the possibility of a one-time annual fee imposed by the city in lieu of the ad valorem taxes paid by property owners.
Because it is a public marina, no ad valorem taxes are collected from the Bight. In all other rental situations where private landlords are involved, the property owner is still responsible for ad valorem taxes to the city. Those taxes fund police, fire and emergency services, as well as water and waste systems, streets and sidewalks.
"There is no doubt the city provides services to the Bight," said Weekley.
Residents at the City Marina are responsible to pay their own electric, water and pump-out charges. The city furnishes a bath house and garbage pick-up, as well as maintenance of the piers.
Garrison Bight Marina will get larger in the next few months as the city builds an additional 26 slips to accommodate the displaced residents of Houseboat Row.
"We probably won't get more than 14 or 15 boats from Houseboat Row," said McCoy. "And we'll be able to use the extra slips to take care of people that may be waiting for slips for their boats."
The commission will hear a second reading of the ordinance at its regular Dec. 7 meeting.