City may modify permits

Alicia Robinson

Some Newport Beach charter boat operators are worried that city

leaders want them to pull up their anchors and sail away.

Their fears were prompted by a proposed new system of giving

permits to charter boat businesses. The city’s harbor commission is

considering doing away with the two types of permits now issued to

charter boat operators and creating a new permit system. Now,

operators who meet certain criteria have permits that are good

forever, but most businesses must apply for a separate permit and pay

a fee for each chartered boat trip.

Under the proposed new rules, boat operators would apply for

either a 30-day permit or a one-year permit. The hitch for most

operators is the amount of customer parking they need to provide to

qualify for the permits.

To get single-trip permits now, boat operators need only show they

can provide parking for passengers for four hours -- about as long as

the boat trip lasts.

With parking scarce all over the city, many charter businesses

don’t have their own lots, and some worry they won’t be able to

secure parking for a one-month or one-year term.

“The city has written something that is not very clear to us as to

how it is going to work,” said Andrea Waite, a partner at American

Yacht Charters. “We don’t want them to limit what we can do.”

The company runs about 250 events a year, but it rents boats from

different sources. Also the cruises start in different places, and

they have to use parking in a variety of lots, including at Newport

Beach City Hall.

City staff members say they’re trying to explain to businesses how

the new permit plan will help boat operators and the city, which now

issues about 13,000 single-trip charter permits a year.

The longer-term permits could cut down on fees for boat operators

and the city’s man hours to verify permits, and they will lessen the

paperwork for everyone, city Revenue Manager Glenn Everroad said.

He agreed that parking is “the single toughest issue for the

industry” in Newport Beach, but he said some of the concerns about

the new system are unfounded.

“If you’ve been able to satisfy the parking requirements

historically, you’ll still be able to satisfy the parking

requirements under the new permit,” Everroad said.

But some business owners aren’t reassured. They see the permit

changes as an attempt to oust the charter operators from the harbor.

Electra Cruises owner Randy Goodman said he’s tried for four years

to get one of the current perpetual permits, and he’s already been

told by the city that his business as he now runs it won’t qualify

for the new permits.

“I think it’s basically politically motivated to try and get rid

of the charter boats,” Goodman said. The perception by those who

would sink the charter business in Newport is that “we disturb the

peace and tranquillity on the bay,” he said.

Not everyone in the charter boat business is talking about the

proposal, but that’s another problem in itself. Mark Silvey, who

chairs the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce’s harbor committee, said

he sent letters to boat business operators asking for their input and

only got two responses.

Many businesses will be affected by the proposal, Goodman said,

but “they’re not going to know it until it’s too late.”

A subcommittee of the city’s harbor commission has worked on the

new permit system for the last year and a half, and it’s expected to

come before the full commission in May. The City Council will also

need to approve the plan.