Those leasing water lots along the Fraser River say Port Metro Vancouver is making things too expensive.
A meeting organized by MLA Vicki Huntington in Ladner last Thursday saw float home owners and businesses along the river in Ladner discuss concerns about the rate increases, in addition to costly new insurance requirements.
The frustrated water lot lease holders complained about a lack of consultation as well as letters they received informing them to either agree or remove their float homes and moorings.
"There was no consultation, just this letter I got signed May 11, 2012 saying sign by June 11th or be out by July 11th," said Don Flucker, a float home owner who's part of a five-home strata along River Road.
Flucker told the Optimist he had no prior notification the port was looking at rate or insurance hikes and survey requirements.
He said he had no choice but to sign under duress. He noted all the additional cost for his strata, which has to be divided among the float home owners, adds up to around $5,000 a year.
The water lots along the river are owned by the Crown and managed by Port Metro Vancouver, which leases the foreshore zones from the province.
Port Metro Vancouver introduced new rates for 2012 to bring water lot rents up to what it considers market value.
Flucker said the new lease expires in 2014, leaving very little certainty for leaseholders what charges they face in the future.
Saying he's angered about the lack of transparency and consultation, Mike Owen, owner of Mike's Marina on River Road West, said the formula of calculating the water lot values by tying them to their uplands valuation makes little sense. He said he has yet to receive a letter but expects one a month before his current lease expires at the end of December.
Port chief financial officer Allan Baydala, who attended Thursday's meeting, acknowledged things could have been done differently, including explanations given individually, when it came to how the water lot users were notified.
As far as the lease rate calculation, Baydala said the formula isn't a new one and rent renewals take place every three to five years,
but it's only recently that those on the river have seen sharper increases.
Baydala explained the port is required by the province to charge "fair market value for the water lots," but the challenge had been determining such a value.
Baydala said in 2005, the water lot rate was set at eight per cent of the upland value, but because industrial land values have been climbing sharply, the port dropped that percentage to six per cent in 2008. For the 2012 calculation, the percentage was dropped to four per cent, and all the increases are phased in.
Baydala said he looked into the increases and total rents, and was surprised what they meant in dollar terms.
"That surprised me a little bit. The dollars they're being charged for the water lots don't seem that bad.
The average for the 100 or so water lots that we're talking about is just over $800 per year. That's the new rate we're going to phase in to 2014. That's not the average increase, that's the total per year," he said.
Huntington said it was agreed last Thursday that a group would be formed that could meet regularly and work toward negotiating as a whole to ensure fairness and equity among the users.
