Newport Beach boat owners, live-aboards fearful of possible rent increase for public moorings
A possible rent increase floated by Newport Beach’s Harbor Commission may end up sinking the lifestyles of some of the city’s off-shore residents who use and live at the public moorings in Newport Harbor, according to opponents of the proposal.
The city is currently responsible for 478 on-shore moorings and 731 off-shore moorings, according to a city staff report.
Those moorings, which are permanent structures where boat owners can store their boats when not in use, are currently rented at a rate of about $1.67 per lineal foot per month for on-shore, versus $3.35 per lineal foot per month for off-shore. But, those rates have not been adjusted since 2016 to reflect current market prices, which prompted the Harbor Commission to begin seeking appraisals in 2021.
Two appraisal reports were done by Netzer & Associates, one for on-shore moorings in 2021 and one for off-shore moorings in 2023.
The report suggests that, for on-shore moorings, fees be increased to $20 per linear foot per month. For off-shore moorings, it’s suggested the rates be raised to the range of $10.50 to $23.25 per linear foot per month, dependent on the mooring length.
For people like Jessie and Mike Fleming, who live on a 50-foot boat full time, that means going from $207 a month to about $937.50 a month, though that doesn’t include the costs of their permits — something they, as retirees, say they can’t afford.
“My husband and I have lived in Newport Harbor on a boat since we were married back in 1987. I said, ‘I do and I will live on a boat and sail around the world with you’ and we worked very hard for 15 years. Saved up, paid off our boat, went cruising in the ’90s and fulfilled our dreams. We went from double income, no children to having children and no income,” Jessie Fleming said. “We loved the experience and started working again and raised our children. We had three kids and are now in our 60s, and my husband is on Social Security and we work part time captaining yachts.
“With Social Security and our few jobs captaining, we’re able to live on the boat that we own. But there’s a lot of us out here that are retired on Social Security, and we all planned for our retirement somewhere between a 10 and, at most, 20% increase [through cost of living adjustments] but nothing like this.”
The Flemings said they knew they and the other live-aboards were not the majority of the boats in Newport Harbor — only about 51 permits have been issued, according to the Harbor Department — but they felt that the city was given responsibility for the tidelands and isn’t supposed to be making money off of it as a public good.
Another live-aboard, Marlene Webster, agreed with the Flemings. She said the price increase would mean she’d have to leave California altogether and away from her grandkids. Webster said she’s lived on her boat for the last 12 years, after buying a boat and selling her condo upon her retirement. She said it was possible for her to still live on the water on her Social Security payments, but she couldn’t even afford a room on land.
“It’s ridiculous. The city’s supposed to be stewards of the tidelands and the tidelands are supposed to be for the everyday person,” Webster said. “For me, I knew I wanted to be able to live off retirement, and I couldn’t live in my condo and maintain those expenses and have any form of life outside of paying bills.”
Webster and other live-aboards also voiced their concerns about a loss of equity in their moorings if they’re unable to stay. She said she felt she and the others living on board their boats would likely be homeless if the rent increases did go through.
Part-time boat owner Chris Benzen said he is worried he might have to give up what he’d hoped would be something he experience with family throughout the coming years.
Benzen owns a fishing boat that is on a mooring in Newport Harbor and, in order to secure the mooring he has now, had to take out a loan. Between his loan payment for the mooring, his boat payments, mooring rent insurance and a possible increase, it’s not possible for him and his young family to keep living there.
“We have a baby on the way and we’re trying to save for a house, so I bought a mooring that was 40 feet, even though my fishing boat’s only 20 feet because the investment was that I wanted to live here forever. I always want to live in Newport Beach and put a boat in there someday and that’d be my retirement vessel,” Benzen said. “I wanted my newborn to go with me.
“But all that kind of goes down the drain if this occurs.”
Opponents of the plan attended a special meeting Thursday night held by the city’s Harbor Commission to voice their fears and concerns, and many came away feeling as disheartened as they’d been before they attended.
While residents say the rent hike would unfairly impact them, Harbor Commission chair Stephen Scully says this is part of the city’s responsibility because of a 2007 Orange County Grand Jury report that found Newport Beach was undercharging boat owners for mooring permits.
Though the city’s response to the grand jury report was not immediate, eventually there was an increase, phased over five years, to about 14% of the slip rates at the Balboa Yacht Basin marina. On-shore moorings went up 50%. But a more recent City Council repealed that action and lowered rates to where they are now — an on-shore rate of about 50% the off-shore rate with an applied increase based on market costs or 2%, whichever was the lower of the two.
The proposed increase, Scully says, would be a return to form, as one of the priorities of the current Harbor Commission is to conduct and review appraisals of moorings.
“Analysis of those appraisals by the Harbor Commission subcommittee responsible for this objective has resulted in a rate of onshore moorings no longer tied to the offshore rate and a stratification of rates for offshore moorings across the variety of sizes, similar to the way slip rates differ by size,” said Scully in a statement. “The review of the appraisals is ongoing as is the evaluation of the subcommittee’s proposal for rates tied to the slip rates at Balboa Yacht Basin, which is supported by the Grand Jury’s recommendations [in 2007].”
No action was taken Thursday night. The Harbor Commission is expected to meet in March to discuss whether or not to make the recommendations to the City Council, with the dais to consider them later this spring.
“We put up with a lot to live out here, but we love it. We have to row in and out. We have to heat our water for a shower. We have to make our own water, make our own electricity. We’re off the grid, and we have no services,” Fleming said. “We’re not trying to cause trouble. We’ve always stayed low. We’ve helped this community ... and we’re good citizens. We’re here to help. We want to work with [the city]. We’re not against anyone. We just want to be able to live here at a fair rate.”
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