Boynton ups rent for businesses docked at marina
It cites upgrades, new amenities for increasing monthly slip lease rate $1 per linear vessel foot.
Prices are increasing for business owners renting boat slips to offer water sports from the Boynton Harbor Marina.
The Community Redevelopment Agency owns the marina, and last week the city commissioners sitting as the CRA board decided to raise the monthly slip lease from $18 per linear vessel foot to $19 for this year and next year.
For Kevin Metz, who owns the 35-foot Explorer scuba-diving boat, rent will increase from $630 per month to $665.
He figures that’s an increase of $420 per year for him.
And for Brad Terry, who owns the 40-foot A Great Day fishing charter, the monthly rate will be $760 instead of $720.
That’s about $480 more per year.
Terry said if his cost increases, he’ll likely have to pass that on to his customers.
With the new rate, the CRA’s yearly marina revenue will increase from $106,164 to $111,127, according to CRA documents.
The marina, on Casa Loma Boulevard off Ocean Avenue, offers fishing and scuba-diving charters, sightseeing cruises, and boat and personal watercraft rentals.
Vice Mayor Justin Katz was the only CRA board member to vote against the increase.
He said he wanted to wait a year because the business owners were recently affected by construction at the marina on the boardwalk.
But Commissioner Joe Casello said the CRA gave the businesses a rent-free month and all the aesthetic improvements are cause for an increase.
“We’ve just spent millions of dollars into our marina aesthetically,” he said. “We just built a new promenade down there, a lot of new amenities. We’ve given these boat owners more exposure with this new boardwalk that we put in down there.”
Also, he said the additional revenue could help chip away at the cost for repairing about $30,000 in damage to new landscaping at the marina from Hurricane Irma.
Last year the CRA increased the monthly rent from $16 per linear vessel foot to $18.
That was the first increase since 2012.
The new $19 rate is less than both Riviera Beach Municipal Marina’s and Lake Park Marina’s $22 per foot per month but more than Fort Pierce City Marina’s $11.50 and Palm Beach Yacht Center’s $17, according to documents.