As you probably know, for most of the CYC’s 67-year history has taken place on the beautiful waters of Lake Washington. And you likely also know that there are serious problems with the Leschi marinas owned by the Seattle Parks Department and at which most of our lake sailors moor their boats. The situation is so bad that the outer docks are unusable and have been abandoned. The marina itself has been operated via a concessionaire agreement for the past 28 years, but revenue from the marina, like other city parks concessionaire revenues, is returned to the parks department funding, per the city charter.

As a consequence of this poor condition the Seattle Parks Department issued a Request For Proposal (RFP) in March of this year. The RFP proposal phase has completed with two respondents. There has been considerable concern both by the Lakewood marina tenants and CYC members in regards to the process and the status of the proposals.  On Thursday, Aug 1^st, I had the privilege to attend a meeting at the Seattle Parks Department, hosted by acting parks superintendent Charles Williams. Also in attendance was CYC former treasurer and J24 sailor  Remmert Wolters , Jeannie O’Brien, the Lakewood Community Club president, and Tom Acker, and representatives from the Seattle City Council and the city parks department – Jesse Gilliam, Paula Hoff, Charles Ng, and Dewey Potter.  This was a good opportunity to have a frank discussion with regards to the RFP process, the current situation in regards to the two RFP respondents, the current dire needs of the South Leschi marina for improvements, the situation with the Lakewood Marina, and, of course, the funding situation at the parks department.

The meeting was a good opportunity for us to share our values with the parks staff and superintendent and our concerns with the need to maintain affordable small sailboat moorage facilities at Lake Washington. We shared some of the history of sailboat racing on Lake Washington and some facts regarding our program and how through sailboat racing we provide a conduit for the community to get out sailing, as crew, at no cost. The most important thing about our racing program isn’t the caliber of our racing or the champions that we’ve produced (both of which are worthy achievements), but rather, that it’s simply there –  and that means, when the clock rolls around to 4:15, I leave work and go sailing! Just having that structure gets people – all kinds of people – out on the water.  That’s what makes most organized team sports – sports that use Parks Department facilities – work.

I also tried to make the point that city apartment dwellers are at a real disadvantage with respect to their rural or surburban counterparts in terms of access to boating in that as city developments encourage higher urban densities, city dwellers are far more reliant on marinas for boat storage than their suburban counterparts who are far more likely to be able to trailer.

The bottom line, as usual, is the bottom line – the city is facing a backlog of about 260 million dollars in deferred parks maintenance, and marina improvement is far down on the list.  A multi-million dollar investment is required to renovate the marinas, and all parties are aware that there will have to be adjustments to the current moorage fee structure.  The city’s plan is for the new concessionaire to finance the development, but superintendent Williams did not rule out the possibility of some sort of combined public / private financing. One of the key concerns is that the funding gap is so large that the successful concessionaire will have to “gentrify” the marinas by adding other revenue-generating assets, and these may conflict with the needs of the existing tenants.

As a club, we’ve been following this process with interest, but we are not a tenant nor do we have any formal relationship with the parks department.  There will be tenant participation in the RFP evaluation phase, and the board has provided the parks dept. manager with a short list of some tenant CYC members who are highly qualified and have indicated their willingness to serve on this evaluation team.  At the request of the board I have also written to express our concern with any significant delay of the RFP process due to the risk that the Leschi south marina boats would have no home for an extended period.

The next steps are for the RFPs to be evaluated the winner selected. That process will include the tenant members in the evaluation process, and the city may reject all the proposals as unacceptable.  There will be a public meeting on August 14^th at 7pm  at the Mt. Baker Rowing Center regarding the project status.  In the mean time, CYC members are working directly with the Parks Department on emergency stabilization of the south Leschi docks.

You can find additional information on the RFP and the process here.

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/partnerships/rfp.htm

Prior to the Aug. 14^th meeting and prior to the next board meeting I would like to invite all interested CYC members to meet at 8pm at Shilshole, downstairs, Aug 9^th.  The club will be open for Take your Time Fridays also. My agenda for this meeting is simply to share the information we have now and get the club member’s inputs prior to the Aug. 14^th meeting.

Bruce Van Deventer
Commodore
Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle