CYC Home
July, 2010
The members of the committee were Wayne Balsiger, Sandy Pratt, Harry Dursch, John Fry, Ken Johnson, John Rahn and Remmert Wolters.
Commodore John Rahn charged this committee to investigate the options/opportunities of replacing the Leschi based club house that we had to abandon for financial reasons in late 2008. Recognizing that a successful program consists of multiple components, including a facility for members to socialize after our on the water activity, we were told to be bold and look at a wide range of options, including the potential of moving the racing venue to other locations where a clubhouse facility already exists or might be more readily available.
We met about half a dozen times. After every meeting, the individual members were asked to investigate certain aspects of the search to enhance the discussion at the next meeting. None of us expected to find an easy solution and we obviously did not. We however have a conclusion that will provide us with a starting point for the next stage of finding a opportunity for a Leschi based clubhouse. For the time being, we just have to make the best of our existing options at BluWater and Ruby Asian Dining.
Two options were quickly rejected: moving the dinghy and keelboat fleets to Shilshole as well as moving the dinghy fleet to Sandpoint and the keelboats to Shilshole. These two options were fairly quickly dismissed as too drastic and disruptive. The Shilshole option briefly resurfaced, when it appeared that Shilshole Marina would welcome such a move and be willing to make concessions to make that happen. When this turned out to be more rumor than reality, this option was quickly shelved again. The fact remains that many of us like sailing on the Lake and, especially for those who live on the Eastside, Leschi is much easier to get to than Shilshole. For weekends, Shilshole is fine but on weeknights, that location is so hard to get to in a reasonable amount of time.
Because a clubhouse would require a liquor license, we essentially have to restrict ourselves to commercially zoned properties. We looked at all of the commercially zoned Leschi based properties for a space to either lease, buy or share but the options are very limited and were unable to identify any candidates. We talked to the current occupant of our old clubhouse, but their use of the space pretty much eliminates us from using it on a limited basis. The other issue is that we cannot get a liquor license for a facility where we are not the primary tenant.
In proximity of the marina, there are a number of private residences available that could, in theory, be converted for clubhouse use. In order to get a liquor license, the property would need to be rezoned commercial. We met with some real estate attorneys and asked for advice on a particular property directly across the street of the north marina. They rated our chances of rezoning a residentially zoned property in the 1%-2% range. For the property across the street of the marina, our chances were even lower than that because lake zoning restrictions would also apply. This does not even take into account the likely objections that the neighbors would likely lodge with the city. Based on their advice, we chose to abandon that direction as a likely solution to our clubhouse dilemma.
The last option was to buy or build a property in an already commercially zoned area. We all know that the Leschi commercial building is destined for re-development and we talked to the property manager Leavitt. We reasoned that, in the development plans, they could potentially incorporate a yacht club. Unfortunately, all re-development plans are on hold for economic reasons. In the estimation of Leavitt, nothing is going to happen for at least 5-10 years. With that level of uncertainty, in terms of time and definable options, this direction does not appear to be viable short-term.
Across the street is Leschi Market. The idea was floated that a second story could be built where a clubhouse could be located. We did talk to the owner/operator of the store and he confirmed that the property was already zoned for multiple stories and he mentioned that his current plans are to operate the store for another ten years or so, and what happens next is undetermined. He might sell, or other opportunities might come along. As unlikely a solution as this may be, it is the opinion of the LRPC that this is potentially the most viable location and option for a clubhouse.
To determine the viability of the option, an engineering study would have to be made to find out whether the existing structure could support a second story. If it does, would we need to buy the building, lease the store space back to the current owners and then build the clubhouse on top, or make some arrangement with the owner and build a second story and own it like a condo? Are there other scenarios that would allow us to build without having to buy the building outright? Last but not least, we would have to figure out how we would fund such a project, which could easily run into the millions. We would probably want to plan for a multi-use facility in order to realize rental income from the property to offset running costs. This might put us into the real estate business.
It is somewhat discouraging that we have been unable to identify a short-term option, but not totally unexpected. We believe that our investigation has been productive to the point where we have identified a direction that we would need to focus on, when we decide that a Leschi clubhouse is at the top of the priority list.
The next step is to determine how far we want to take this and what funds we want to commit for viability study and plan. We plan to continue to put away $20,000 each year in a Leschi Fund, as we planned to do this year. We are in the process of re-evaluating the needs of our membership so that we can better provide the club and sailing experience that you are looking for. We can then determine where the Leschi clubhouse fits on the priority list and proceed from there.
CYC will hold a special Town Meeting on September 11th, at which we can discuss a number of major initiatives and issues facing the club. Meanwhile, we plan to do some polling on this and other issues.