No solution yet to dinghy storage issue
February 13, 2013 at 5:03 am in Hudson Star-Observer
A solution to the issue of dinghy storage for sailboat owners is still to be found after the Hudson City Council on Monday night rejected a plan recommended by the Park Board. Continue Reading
Here are my solutions. As far as the dinghys go if there are 49 mooring spots have the mooring people organize into a club of sorts and use just 15 dinghys. That should be enough for the 49 boats. They can choose which 15 they want from their member ranks and buy them as a club. That should be enough to service all 49 which only 10 or so are out at a given time. The city can scrape out a spot for the 15 in the middle of the dike. If the mooring people want stairs, give them a conditional use permit to build some at their own expense. Even though I am sure it is part of the allure there will never be room for 49 individual dingys, so get over that. The club can develop a contignecy plan with a ferry system if it gets tight with the 15 on occasion. It won’t be perfect but if you want lobster go the marina. If you think it’s too far too walk, go to the marina. Let them come up with their own soulutions after the city lays down the parameters.
The city needs to bring all mooring fees up to market price. Stop tip-toeing around the price issue. These are $50,000 boats in some cases. The city should not be giving space away for any reason. The price for the mooring buoys should be at least $1200 or more. There will be no shortage of people wanting buoys at $1200. If they don’t like that they can go to the marina and spend $175 per foot for a slip. That comes to $6300 for a 36 foot slip. The Cruise ship dock should be at least $10,000. I believe the city charges the cruise ship people $1,000. That dock should be open to competitive bidding for a 3 year period to keep things on the up and up. $1,000 might as well be free. $1,000 for something that could be contrused as negative as it takes parking spots from local business. Make part of the cruise ship dock a spot and destination for boaters to come and park to shop and eat. They will pay to dock as they do in Stillwater and Afton.
The river is a wonderful resource. We have a very unique situation being poised on one of the most beautiful rivers in the world. The city has a responsibility to the citizenry to make it count by preserving the resource but also maximizing it financially for the benefit of all, boaters and non-boaters. Just as the city spent money back in 2007 to an outside consultants to shape the downtowns future look perhaps we need to do the same with our river front. It would be money well spent, have the publics blessing with their input and pay for itself many times over. They can come up with a master waterfront plan that will be a wonderful place for all. Something for everybody. Bikers ,boaters, walkers. Lets get going on it! theres no time to waste!
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