Disrepair and deficits: A tale of two marinas
For decades, Berkeley and Emeryville struggled to keep their marinas financially afloat while painfully watching them fall into disrepair.
Not much has changed for the Berkeley Marina, which despite getting some needed repairs and shoring up its banks, is still staring at budget deficits. At $6.98 million, operating expenses are running a good $700,000 higher than the revenue coming in.
The Emeryville Marina is a different story these days, however. After its boat slips and facilities got a big makeover in recent years, the smaller marina has turned into a profit maker, pulling in a tidy $508,100, which far exceeds operating costs of $340,777.
What happened? How did the Emeryville Marina manage to turn the financial corner while the much larger Berkeley Marina — located less than 5 miles away — continues to list in a sea of red? There's no simple answer, but to some the difference boils down to private versus public management. Emeryville took the private route, while Berkeley stuck to public stewardship.
Faced with too many vacant boat slips, past debts and a backlog of overdue capital improvements such as dredging channels and repairing docks, the Emeryville City Council in 1998 commissioned Westrec Marina Management to embark on a long-term plan to revitalize the marina. Emeryville Marina LLC would later come in to continue the work, followed in 2015 by Safe Harbor Marinas.
They all made the business decisions of what improvements to invest in and how to pay for operational costs. During that stretch, dilapidated docks were overhauled, restrooms fixed and landscaping planted.
Meanwhile, in Berkeley, the city's Marina Fund for financing capital improvements still can't rely on a steady revenue source.
Budget updates and fee reports from 1999 reflect deficit after deficit that threatened to drain the fund's reserves. Yet the city of Berkeley has continued to run the marina instead of bringing in a private management company.
Berkeley senior management analyst Roger Miller said the city has occasionally considered contracting a company to run the marina but never took the plunge.
One reason is that privately managed marinas typically aren't eligible for grants and loans from the California Division of Boating and Waterways, Miller said. The city heavily relies on state grants to fund the work needed to renovate its marina.
But Maurice Kaufman, who served for 28 years as Emeryville's director of public works and city engineer, says he thinks the Berkeley Marina wouldn't need the state grants if it were properly managed by a company that knew how to make profits.
After the Emeryville Marina hired a management company, Kaufman said, capital improvements followed.
Emeryville's main responsibility was to replace the fishing pier, build a public restroom and dredge the entrance channel. By redoing the boat slips, Safe Harbor and its predecessors drew tenants and used the much needed rent to help cover expenses and even maintain a city park at the marina.
Since private marina management companies are familiar with the boater market, Kaufman said, they know how to reorient and rearrange the slips based on size to achieve a high occupancy rate.
“They maximize what they thought would be best for the community,” he said. “They were always leased out.”
And for all the work done at the Emeryville Marina, its boat slip fees are comparable to the Berkeley Marina's. In 2018, boaters paid $9.76 to $15.19 in Berkeley and $11.20 to $14 in Emeryville.
Scott Grindy, harbormaster and founder of the Bay Area Marina Operators, said private marinas have the advantage of fast-tracking needed improvements. Public marinas like Berkeley's, on the other hand, need to navigate red tape and subject themselves to public scrutiny and input before embarking on any projects.
Size is another issue. The 1,000-slip Berkeley Marina also features more than 100 acres of park space with seven miles of trails, picnic areas and various amenities for everyone, not just boaters. The Emeryville Marina only has 409 slips and isn't part of an extensive public recreation area.
“I know (Berkeley) is a larger marina than the city of Emeryville's, but there are many similarities in it,” Kaufman said. “I couldn't just say it (private management) would be great without somebody doing an analysis.”
And profits can come at the expense of breaking up boating communities, according to several former live-aboards at the Emeryville Marina.
They say the marina no longer has the “familyfriendly,” local-boat-owner vibe it once did and contend many have been evicted with little or no reason and feel the marina has become gentrified.
“I think the reason I'm so upset is because we did have a good time, and we did have a sense of family,”said Cindy Warner, a former liveaboard at Emeryville Marina who left there recently after seven years.
Berkeley Parks and Waterfront commissioner Jim McGrath said that because the Berkeley Marina offers a space for many free activities from windsurfing to biking, the city needs to provide facilities for the broadest array of users, not just those who can afford to pay.
“It certainly saves money, but there are skills that are needed to manage a marina,” he said.
McGrath also noted the possibility that jobs might be lost or salaries reduced in the transition to private management. “Berkeley is also a strong union town, and it just won't happen, in my opinion,” he said.