Compromise on Newport Beach tidelands mooring fees stalled indefinitely by state officials

A compromise that would have more than quadrupled the cost of mooring a boat at Newport Beach’s harbor tidelands while grandfathering in longtime permit holders fell through after state authorities issued a letter last month questioning its legality.

The monthly cost the city charges for a mooring permit is based on the length of the vessel it covers. Boat owners had been paying $1.67 per foot for onshore moorings and $3.35 per foot for offshore moorings, and those rates had remained unchanged since 2016. Some who live on their vessels said a 300% price increase proposed in April would practically evict them from the tidelands.

“The moorings are the last place in Newport, people like me, like retirees and veterans, nurses and lifeguards can afford to keep a boat,” Anne Stenton, teacher and president of the Newport Mooring Assn., told the Daily Pilot via text Thursday.

Resident Mike Gauthier goes ashore in his small motor boat in Newport Harbor. She and her husband Mike live in their live-aboard vessel in Newport Harbor in Newport Beach.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

On July 9 the City Council voted 6-1 to approve a plan that would have hiked the cost of new permits to $7.71 per foot for onshore moorings and between $7.77 and $17.78 per foot for offshore, depending on mooring length. However, people with existing permits would be grandfathered in at their old rates, with fee increases based off of the consumer price index capped at 2% annually.

Mayor Pro Tem Joe Stapleton called the compromise a “win-win,” and members of the public expressed cautious optimism during public comments. But on July 22, the California State Lands Commission (CSLC) issued a letter to Newport Beach officials instructing them to hold off on a second reading and adoption of the plan so they can review it to address potential “violations of the trust grant,” giving the city the right to manage the state-owned tidelands.

In particular, the commission took issue with the potential inequity between new and grandfathered mooring rates. They also highlighted residential pier rates, which are the fees homeowners pay associated with having a dock on their property. A cursory examination of data from the city shows those rates ranging between $240 to $850.

The latter were not addressed in the city’s compromise ordinance.

In their letter, the CSLC described them as “substantially below fair market value,” and a possible “unconstitutional gift of public funds. While the Commission staff recognize the city’s efforts to align mooring rates with fair market value, the recent decision to grandfather existing rates, coupled with the failure to reassess residential pier rates, underscores the need for a comprehensive evaluation.”

One provision in the mooring ordinance the commission seemed to support was an end to the private transfer of legacy, low-cost mooring permits when a boat is sold. The plan would have phased out the practice by 2028.

City officials have been in communication with the CSLC, and they are in the early stages of reviewing the mooring fee ordinance. It’s unclear how they might reassess fees for mooring permits and residential pier leases or how long that process may take. But given the commission’s expressed interest in achieving fair market rates, there is a possibility that legacy-permit holders will wind up paying more than what was envisioned in the city’s compromise plan.

Stenton hopes state and local officials will take the concerns of existing permit-holders, some of whom have called the moorings at the tidelands home for years, and come up with a way forward that allows them to stay in Newport Beach. She would like to see to the system that existed before.

“The current mooring permit system, in which permittees pay for and maintain their own tackle, has served the harbor well for decades, going back nearly 100 years,” she said. “We hope the city, CSLC, CCC [California Coastal Commission] and stakeholders can collaborate to ensure equity in tidelands use, rates and access in the harbor for current boaters as well as future generations.”