By Ian Holmes

Port Authority boss promises consultation & fairness in marina lease deals

Dec 23, 2016 | 11:56 AM

NANAIMO — The president of the Nanaimo Port Authority (NPA) is confident that lease rates for local marinas will be set at a level that everybody will be able to live with.

Bernie Dumas’ comments come as the NPA responds to mounting concerns about rates that rapidly rose during the last evaluation in 2012.

“We’ve got an appraiser that’s doing a review and we’re going to look at it and see if the current system is going to work,” said Dumas. “If it’s going to show some serious changes, well then we’re going to have to sit down and talk to the various lessees and see what we can do to make it work,” he said.

Concerns from the Nanaimo Marina Association (NMA) about the cost of renting water are growing louder, with rates to be re-established next year. Dumas says they are mandated by Transport Canada to establish foreshore lease rates every five years. He notes that lease rates are then locked in for marina operators.

Dumas says the NPA will consult with their marinas before the 2017 lease rate structure is implemented.

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He concedes that the level of increases in the 2012 evaluation for Newcastle Channel marinas surprised him. He says those rates, on average, increased by 60 per cent. The Marina Association, most notably spokesman Odai Sirri, has been vocal about the rise in rates and the mechanism by which they are determined.

Sirri, who operates the Waterfront Suites and Marina on Stewart Avenue, says some rates shot up previously by as much as 125 per cent in 2012. The Association has called for the NPA to dissolve, which Dumas says “isn’t going to happen.”

The NMA claims it now includes 10 marinas, representing 1,500 people following the recent addition of the Nanaimo Yacht Club to their campaign.

Dumas is confident that their appraiser’s report for next year’s rates should be much more moderate.

“It should not be drastic in any way, and it could well be a reduction in some aspect.”

Dumas stresses that the Port is committed to changing how foreshore lease rates are implemented, if another substantial increase is presented by their appraiser. He says marinas will be consulted before lease rates are set.

“We’re concerned and we’ve been listening and we’ll find some solutions going forward.”

A Transport Canada official has confirmed with NanaimoNewsNOW that the NPA has the flexibility to determine how marina lease rates are implemented locally.