Op-ed: California needs to Fix Its Yachting Problem

From the Inbox:

The state budget recently put forward by newly elected Governor Gavin Newson is strangely lacking in acknowledging the divisive and unsupportable gap between rich and poor in the critically important area of yachting. Yes, he proposes money for building affordable housing, but where is the money for affordable yachting? What can justify this shortcoming?



Let’s look at the figures that define the dimensions of this problem. San Diego and Chula Vista combined have a mere 22 marinas between them. And these marinas have room for only 5530 yachts—5500 in San Diego, according to sources at the Port, and 30 in Oceanside. Compare this to the population of San Diego county of 3.3 million people. Even if you assume 5 persons per yacht, this is a mere 27,650 persons with yachting access. And that is a mere eight tenths of one percent of all San Diegans!

Gov. Newsom proposed $300 million for low income affordable housing in his budget. If this were all dedicated to construction of new multi-family units at $350,000 per unit, this would yield fewer than a thousand new housing units—a drop in the bucket. That’s a problem all right, but it pales in comparison with the lack of ANY appropriation for affordable yachting. That’s right, nothing. Unbelievable.

There is an alternative. Follow the highly successful model of the state’s Housing and Community Development (HCD) department. There, after years of regulation, plans, reviews, and not a small amount of litigation, at least 5% of the mandated units have actually been constructed! It could not be easier—

1. Start with setting affordable yachting targets throughout the state. And “affordable yachting” means that the rent for yachting slips should not exceed 24% of a family’s gross income—same as the Federal government’s standard on housing. Targets should be set by experts in Sacramento, regardless of the actual circumstances of the jurisdiction. No city should be exempt, nor allowed to “buy out” of their fair share.

2. Require each city or county to submit a “Yachting Element” as a part of its General Plan, which indicates where and how the marina slips allocated to them will be built.

3. Create a Department of Internal Marine and Water Transportation (“DIMWT”) to set goals, review plans, and administer the program. Transfer staff from HCD where there should be excess personnel due to the success of their efforts in getting affordable housing constructed.

4.For those cities who don’t submit a viable plan, ban them from receiving any state grants for water sports including surfing. Yes, surfing, it’s time to show everyone how serious this crisis is.

Critics may argue that some of the smaller cities do not have access to the ocean and thus cannot be tasked to build yachting marinas. This is just as bogus as those cities who plead that their real estate is “too expensive” to support affordable housing. What about lakes? What about rivers? What about the reservoirs behind California’s 1292 dams? After all, only 8% of these have seismic or other deficiencies.

These so-called “water restricted” cities can simply excavate large vacant lots, fill them with water, and then construct one or two marinas with 30 slips per acre. And what about putting granny slips in backyard swimming pools—a simple fix. The more creative locales will find ways to double and triple tier their marinas—if you can’t go out, go up!

The argument that income challenged people can’t afford slips, let alone yachts, is also without merit. Poor families will be allowed to rent their slips to those more fortunate. In fact, there is already a Silicon Valley funded start-up called Seabnb for just such situations.

It is only this top down, tough nosed approach that will end the affordable yachting shortage that is such an embarrassment to our cities and towns, and make us all proud to live here again. It is high time for our state to become a leader for the nation in addressing this endemic crisis, as it already is in housing.