Up front, this topic, with examples, is a hot potato and no one in their right mind tosses it out. So here goes: We have few appropriately zoned and advantageously located working waterfront properties left along our coast (and inland waters) and we need to understand and appreciate that the political and economic pressures to change the use options for these properties are huge. County Commissioners, Planning Boards, City Council Members, and Zoning Boards constantly receive requests by property owners (or upset neighbors) to make changes that reduce the likelihood that a water dependant boatyard, boat builder, marina, or drystack boat storage will stay or be constructed on the property. And it is understandably difficult for these elected and appointed citizen volunteers to deny these requests because of the intense pressures exerted and the well orchestrated appeals by attorneys and family advocates for the changes requested.There are examples across the state, but the Wilmington area has some of the most active and illustrative. Until the last few years, the Cape Fear River region was home port for a number of boat and shipyards that thrived and covered the sides of this deep water resource. Environmental and regulatory mistakes often were the drivers that took down these companies and left the sites unused or underutilized.
Things are different now. These sites are of interest to yacht and megayacht companies as well as other water dependant businesses, but the “highest and best” potential use with the most financial gain is obviously high density residential with non-working waterfront components. Today’s boating and yachting business have come a long and positive way both environmentally and from a regulatory and employee safety standpoint. Most importantly, they often act as the “anchor” tenant because they draw dozens of smaller support companies in the region. But they have to cash flow the startup and operations and make a profit. Most often they cannot do this with property costs based on densely populated residential property values. But, when you look at the economic impact of all of the follow-on businesses that result from these “anchors,” the picture changes positively. These are tough zoning decisions.
Drystack Boat Storage Debate
Another problem in the Wilmington area, also reflective across the state, is the painful demands on planning boards and zoning boards as they consider requests for dry stack facilities for boats. As we populate the waterfront with residences, the demand for boats by these residents goes up along with the demand for a dock and slip in front of every house and unit. Environmental degradation and water quality goes down from the shear demand of linear shading and bottom disruption, and this drives the regulators to try to figure how to put the brakes on.
As witnessed recently in a planning board hearing in Wilmington, there are many misunderstandings about dry stack facilities and most tend to lean away from the positive and stress the negative.
(1) Surrounding property values drop: unless your property is contiguous, your property value goes up in most cases. Every property owner living on the water, or back off the water but near the facility, has an advantage because it is perceived that the owner can be close to their boat and have access to hassle free boating.
(2) Environmental degradation: This is a hornet’s nest, but in many locations where dry stack are proposed, every housing unit owner on the water wants a dock and slip that allow them boating access. Each dock is also perceived to have some negative impact on water quality and collectively they would have major negative impact. If these property owners could rent or own a drystack slot nearby, they would likely forgo the truly big costs and permit hassles associated with keeping a boat in front of their property. Under these conditions, the single dry stack location should be given a big smile by the CAMA regulators because it arguably would reduce environmental impact for that area.
(3) Negative noise: it is true that boat lifts make noise, but unlike the air handler and mechanical noise of 24/7 residences and building operations, the drystack operations are daytime only and usually only have impact on Saturdays and Sundays. Noise is greatly reduced by appropriate tires, good mufflers systems, shielding vegetation, and the fact that most is confined to inside the building.
(4) Drystack slots are sold at high dollar and not rented, cutting out the average boater: this is in part true and also misleading. The reality is that these properties are so high priced that they will either be high density residences with slips which definitely inhibits ownership, or a drystack marina that allows the facility owner to sell some (or all) slots/slips and run a cash positive business with employees, environmental compliance, fueling, supplies, etc. The advantage here is that the private ownership of these slots or slips is often bundled in with home ownership mortgages and paid over a 20-year mortgage period, making the purchase of the slot about equivalent to the rent that would have to be charged for the drystack slip over the same period. And it allows the homeowner the opportunity to sell that slip with the house and gain a major selling advantage.
(6) Drystack buildings are ugly and degrade the neighborhood: correct yesterday and reasonably wrong today. When high dollar resorts like Port Sanibel, Naples, Ft. Lauderdale, and dozens of other locations with bulldog zoning and planning boards can approve these with citizen support, our NC counterparts should ease up and give the benefit of the doubt. These are not yesterday’s metal buildings. They have style and looks and function to alleviate the concerns of all but a few.
(5) Contiguous property owners are hurt financially: true and usually unavoidable and the reason why most site owners try to buy adversely impacted adjacent property. But in many cases, true in the Wilmington case where an adjacent property owner’s house is threatened with loss of view and exposure to noise, the property owner will likely still face similar fate as the property will likely now be sold for high density residential and the view will be the back of a condo unit with 24/7 air conditioning systems’ noise. Better maybe, but certainly not status quo with today’s conditions.
Summary
We need to start looking at these sites for the promise they offer all citizens, especially waterfront communities and transient boating communities where boaters need services. The resulting benefits spread deep into the fabric of the community and into the tax coffers from resulting new and expanding businesses and from the spending of their employees. When the economic impact of these spending dollars is recognized, it will likely outweigh the bottom line benefits extracted by a property use change that inhibits or restricts working waterfronts – including drystack boat storage.
Our state is lucky to have the fastest growing boating industry in the country where 20 to 30 thousand of our residents work in the 3,000 plus companies making up this industry. All of these companies are completely dependant on boats in the water being used. When they can’t be used, repaired, stored, or built, the industry fails. The North Carolina boating industry is one of our state’s last heritage industries and one not likely to go overseas. But the effect is the same if we kill it off by our own lack of planning and unwillingness to take strong stands in zoning and planning board meetings. Mike Bradley - editor.
Back to Marine TradeWinds Newsletter Home