PORT ANGELES — About a half-dozen tenants in the Port Angeles Boat Haven have urged the three Port of Port Angeles commissioners to reconsider raising moorage rates,
The tenants spoke during the public comment period at a special board of commissioners meeting Friday.
On Aug. 13, the board voted 2-1, with Commissioner Paul McHugh opposed, to increase rates by about 8 percent at the 471-slip Boat Haven for boats 20 feet and shorter to boats 60 feet and longer.
Once the new rates take effect in January 2013, the monthly cost for a 40-foot boat will go from $239.20 per month to $258.80 per month.
Boat owners also spoke against the port’s newly mandated $300,000 liability insurance requirement for all boat owners seeking to moor at the Boat Haven.
Phase-in period
Bill Spring, a Port Angeles boater who started an association of Boat Haven residents, said the port commissioners owe it to tenants to phase in rate increases and insurance requirement.
“Out of human consideration of the people of Clallam County, [we ask you] to offer a phase-in period of three years,” Spring told the commissioners.
Penney Sanders, another Port Angeles boat owner, said she and several other tenants want the port to commission a study of how the higher rates and insurance requirement could affect occupancy at the Boat Haven.
Sanders told commissioners she wanted to see this issue appear on the Oct. 8 meeting agenda.
“We will take your request under advisement,” Port Commission President John Calhoun told her.
“I’ll take your re-election under advisement,” an unidentified meeting attendee quipped back from his seat in the audience.
In a later interview, Calhoun said he would not be inclined to reconsider the rate increases or insurance requirements, adding that he could not, however, speak for his fellow commissioners.
Calhoun said commissioners received extensive public comment on the rate issue before the final decision was made Aug. 13.
“For my part, I think we’ve done a thorough job, and it’s a fair implementation,” Calhoun said.
Port officials have said the rate increases will mean $65,000 more for the port if tenant occupancy levels stay constant. According to port commissioners, Boat Haven annual operational expenses run at $590,000, not including an additional $407,000 annual debt payment on a $6 million investment in moorage improvements.
Sanders also supported a phase-in of the insurance requirements and wanted clearer direction from the port on what exactly is required and what happens if a tenant cannot afford the insurance.
Calhoun said he would not support a phase-in period for either the new rates or insurance requirements, though he doesn’t expect 100 percent insurance compliance by the Jan. 1 deadline.
He expects the Boat Haven harbormaster will work with boaters on an individual basis in that regard.
Calhoun reiterated that the Boat Haven was only one of three marinas in the 20-marina moorage rate survey the port conducted that did not require liability insurance from its tenants.
Effect on live-aboards
Sanders, who does not live on her boat at Boat Haven, was concerned about the effect of higher costs on people who do, saying some could lose their primary residence.
Sanders said the live-aboard tenants of the Boat Haven provide a sort of neighborhood watch for all the boat owners who don’t live on-site.
“We consider live-aboards essential to boating out here,” Sanders said.
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Contact reporter Jeremy Schwartz at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
