By Margie Plunkett
Boaters once clamored for a spot in Delray Beach’s marina, but the ebbing economy has left nearly half its slips vacant and forced the city to drop rates to entice new business.
Acknowledging increasing competition among area marinas, Delray Beach commissioners cut annual rates to $16 per foot per month from $21 in September, even as live-aboard residents of the marina argued that more drastic action was necessary to revitalize their waterfront neighborhood.
“We don’t have a waiting line any more, we have a leaving line,” said Vice Mayor Gary Eliopoulos. “I want to see boats there.”
The lawmakers dropped the rate even lower than the $18 recommended by Linda Karch, director of Parks and Recreation, during the commissioners’ Sept. 22 meeting. “I could support $16 without a problem,” said Karch when commissioners solicited her opinion. “I think at that price we’d be able to fill it.”
While no public hearing was scheduled, commissioners allowed some residents who live aboard boats at the marina to speak. “You ought to consider charging less. At this rate, you’re going to lose more boats,” said Bob Rilling, a former manager of a New Hampshire marina.
He pointed to the 198-slip Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart, developed by H. Wayne Huizenga, which is charging $9 per foot per month and had more amenities.
Speakers also said Boynton Beach’s rates were low, about $14. Delray Beach staff pointed out, however, that the Boynton marina doesn’t accommodate live-aboards.
Eleven of the Delray Beach city marina’s 24 slips are currently open, with eight of them giving notice in the last two months, according to a memo from Karch. Vacant marina slips — whether for permanent or transient boaters — mean less revenue for Delray Beach. Marina residents likened it to living in a neighborhood where half the houses were empty, adding that it invites crime and the homeless.
“We’ve lost a lot of people recently,” said George Aspland, a live-aboard boater. “This is my neighborhood. I’ve lived there for 15 years. That neighborhood has been abandoned.”
Rilling noted a rash of attempts to break into the marina facilities. “An empty marina is a dangerous marina,” he said. Meanwhile, vacancies encourage boaters to sneak slip usage, tying up their boats at night and leaving before being noticed — and charged — in the morning, he said.
In an e-mail, Aspland told the city that the proposed rate reduction still wasn’t competitive, because marinas use their posted rates as a starting point that can be negotiated down. Delray Beach doesn’t have that luxury.
“For the 20 years prior to the rate increase in 2007, the marina was 100 percent occupied and had a waiting list of upwards of 100 people. After the 2007 increase in rates, many long-term marina residents departed and the city called the 100 people on the waiting list, and still, we have occupancy of only 50 percent,” Aspland wrote. “It is pretty obvious that the Delray Beach Marina has missed the market by quite a bit.”
Delray raised rates to $21 (70 cents per foot per day from 45 cents previously) for live-aboards in August 2007 and applied it uniformly to transients as well in September 2008. Three slips were empty at the time. At the current rate of $21 per foot per month, Delray Beach revenues are $138,600 and would be $235,620 if the marina were full. At $16.50 (55-cent daily rate), current revenues would be $108,900, or $185,130 if the marina were full, according to staff calculations.
In addition to lower annual rates, Karch recommended offering one-month rent free for boaters who paid their annual fee upfront. The current fee for daily boaters is $60 a day or $1,800 a month. Karch recommended offering a $200 discount for a monthly rental and a $1,500 discount on a six-month rental, discounted at the end of the agreement.
Karch said she hoped the lower rate will attract more boaters, including the transient boaters who add more to the coffers while staying a shorter time. Currently, there are very few of them, she said.
Earlier in the meeting, commissioners voted not to charge boats under 35 feet the 35-foot rate to moor, but left for its Oct. 6 meeting action on what minimum size boat should be allowed. Residents argued the marina isn’t made to safely accommodate smaller boats.
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