The Great Lakes water levels have been hitting record lows. Some boaters had to haul their boats early for the winter, and others just got stuck in the mud. My yacht club is now having to dredge every two years because of the high amount of silt and the water levels being low.
Dredging isn't cheap. It costs thousands of dollars just getting the equipment to your docks. You have to have all of your paperwork in order, then decide how deep to dig and how long will it last. The final bill can be quite high if you dig down two or three feet.
Boating is becoming a truly expensive hobby. New boats are very expensive, fuel keeps going up, and your yacht club or marina has to dredge more often. Your boat dock now cost much more if you plan on dredging again in a couple years.
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2 comments:
Submitted by e-mail from Susan Peterson Gateley:
Despite our lack luster economy the "gentrification" problem is striking here too. On Fair Haven Bay we almost lost two marinas to residential development one of them the ONLY deep water full service facility on the bay. We dodged that bullet this time but it was close with new ownership of both in 07. We may still end up losing these commercial waterfront facilities if the new owners are unable to operate profitably under heavy tax burdens. It appears a third Fair Haven marina, (the one I operated Silver Waters Sailing out of for 8 years) is in considerable danger of going "residential".Its assessed value is now so high it can't continue as a small 30 dock marina except as a hobby business owned by a rich person who likes boats. It seems likely that it will go private when it's sold.
We live in a state noted for high property taxes. At a recent series of local meetings in August 07 that was supposed to create a master plan for my town's lake shore a repeated theme for small seasonal business in this area was the high property tax problem. And I have been receiving corespondance from Canada ( Toronto area) that suggests they too are running into this problem with the result of less acess to the water for boaters.
We have been given perhaps a BRIEF breathing space by the so called mortgage crisis, but make no mistake. This problem isn't going away and it will catch up with us on Lake Ontario, especially those of us who own deeper draft sail boats that can't be trailered.
Please make this a prominant issue for your readers to respond to. The congressman in my district ( Walsh) has an interest in Lake Ontario and in recreation. He is quite possibly in sympathy with this but let him know we need diverse usage of our waterfronts!
boat us note below.
Updated October 24, 2007
Spiraling land values for waterfront property in the last few years have created a crisis for recreational boating. Traditional marinas with public slips are giving way to residential development, working boatyards are being taxed at “highest and best use” rates that deflate the bottom line, permitting issues are driving up costs and delaying any new marina or dry-stack facility construction, and public launching ramps are in short supply and often outmoded (see Boaters Get Bumped - BoatU.S. Magazine, March 2006).
While access issues are complex and usually very local problems that deal with private property, there is at least one potential solution at the federal level, The Keep Our Waterfronts Working Act introduced in Congress, July 2007. This bill (H.R. 3223) sponsored by Maine Rep. Thomas Allen, is aimed at preserving sites for “waterfront dependent commercial activities”.
H.R. 3223 would establish a grant program to be administered by state agencies to protect and promote access. Language in the bill incorporates key elements from strategy to preserve access developed by participants at Working Waterways and Waterfronts, a national symposium conceived by BoatU.S. and cosponsored by 23 other organizations last May (see “Access Summit Shares Solutions,” BoatU.S. Magazine, July 2007). Rep. Allen's bill is particularly timely in that it would amend the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, now up for Congressional reauthorization.
Boaters should write to their own members of Congress and ask them to cosponsor H.R. 3223.
Please ask your elected federal representatives to co-sponsor H.R., 3223. It is common-sense legislation.
You only need to look to Florida to see what has happened to the "boating life". Condos everywhere. While in Clearwater, I was amazed at how long we drove in between glimpses of the gulf. I could never afford a slip in that area, and if you could, you would not be allowed to liveaboard. Most sailors there belong to small boat clubs, or timeshares. As our winters get milder, and the south runs out of water, you will see more property go residential. Our marina in south Sodus Bay was recently sold, and so far will remain a marina. It makes me a bit nervous watching all the homesteads going up all around us though. I've got 5 yrs to go before I sail away, and I hope I can keep my slip until then. The high fuel prices my have people re-thinking how far they live from work, and this may give us some breathing room also. I thank Susan for the info, and will contact Mr. Walsh regarding the tax situation.
Paul
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