Rocking the Boats : State Calls for Drastic Cutbacks in Number of Live-Aboards at Marinas

Russ Brown has lived on a boat off and on for more than 15 years. He raised his 17-year-old daughter, Sherry, on a 36-foot powerboat and claims that the sea breezes and sunshine make them both happier and healthier than most landlubbers.

Brown, a cabinetmaker, and Sherry usually eat at restaurants because it is too difficult to cook in their tiny kitchen. They must also use the bathroom facilities provided at the King Harbor marina, where their boat is docked.

Regardless of the inconveniences, Brown said, life as a “live-aboard” is the only life for him.

“It’s hard to explain why to someone who doesn’t live on a boat,” said Brown, 41, who added that when he spends extended periods of time on land, he gets homesick for his boat. “I guess it’s the life style.”

Obstacles Increasing

But Brown and several others who live at the four marinas at King Harbor say it has been hard to maintain that life style because of ever-increasing slip fees, taxes and the cost of boat upkeep. Long waiting lists for slips make finding a home for their boats difficult.

Now, live-aboards in Redondo Beach have been dealt a serious blow by the State Lands Commission, which in a report has called for the city to reduce the number of live-aboard boats at the marina to 4% from 20%, decreasing the number to 64 from 320.

The commission, basing its findings on a yearlong investigation, said that residential use of tidelands--the state-owned portion of the ocean out to the 3-mile limit, which includes the harbor and its four marinas--is tantamount to private use of public lands. The commission said it would allow 4% of the boats to be used as residences as a means of security for other boats in the harbor.

Some live-aboards question the 4% figure. They argue that more live-aboards would mean better security at the harbor.

But City Manager Tim Casey said the tidelands were granted to the city on the condition that they be accessible to everyone. Allowing too many boat slips to be used as residences reduces public access to the marina, he said.

Commission spokeswoman Diane Jones said the commission supports reducing the number of live-aboard boats by attrition. The commission wants the number reduced, she said in an interview, “but we are not asking that they do it overnight.”

City and commission officials spoke by phone for more than an hour last week and plan to discuss the matter further. The issue also will be discussed by the City Council on Tuesday night.

“The message is: Do not panic,” Casey said. “We don’t have any reason to believe that there will be any evictions.”

He said that there is still the possibility that under certain conditions, which will be discussed at the meeting Tuesday, the state may allow up to 10% of the boats to be used as live-aboards. “They have given us the maximum amount of local discretion,” Casey said. “They are not going to be hovering over us like a policing agency.”

Regardless, many live-aboards interviewed last week said they are worried.

“I think my life style is in trouble,” said Pat Keener, 65, who lives on a boat in the Redondo Beach Marina. “If I could afford it, I would go down to Mexico.”

Some live-aboards say the concern has divided the once-cohesive live-aboard community in King Harbor. Some, like Brown, question the commission’s action and intend to fight it, while others contend that such a reaction will just cause more problems for live-aboards.

“I think those people are a bunch of troublemakers,” said one boat-dweller, referring to those who intend to fight the commission. “They’ll cause more problems.”

Three days after the report was made public, live-aboards at King Harbor Marina received a letter from their marina operator, asking them to look for new homes for their boats. After criticism from city officials who said the action was premature, the marina operator retracted the request.

Ironically, the state investigation was prompted by a letter written by a live-aboard, Michael Ford, who has resided on his 40-foot boat in King Harbor for eight years. The letter, sent a year ago, was signed by 33 other boaters and alleged that slip rental fees and other harbor revenue had been used more for the promotion of adjacent businesses than for boating activities, in violation of the city’s agreement with the state.

Unapologetic Boater

In his defense, Ford said: “I am not apologizing to anyone for fighting for my home.” He maintains that the investigation was incomplete.

The state agency, however, said the city’s handling of harbor revenue was sound.

King Harbor is not the only place where the state agency has expressed concern about too many live-aboard boaters on public land.

Mark Richter, assistant director of property management at the Port of Los Angeles, said the agency informally told port officials of its position recently. In response, the port sent a letter to the 18 operators of private marinas at the port urging them to reduce the number of live-aboards by attrition.

Worth Defending

There are 4,275 slips for pleasure boats at the port, 1,180 of them at the port-operated Cabrillo Marina. The percentage of live-aboards at Cabrillo is 5%, Richter said. The port does not keep statistics on the number of live-aboards at the private marinas, but Richter said the percentage is typically more than 5%.

Boaters say the live-aboard life style is worth defending.

“It’s a very peaceful life style,” said Michel Seigneur, who lives with his wife on a 38-foot boat in King Harbor’s Port Royal Marina. “It’s quiet, serene, relaxing and close to nature.”

Seigneur said he pays $420 a month in fees, plus utilities. Bathroom facilities next to the dock are maintained by the marina operator, he said. Most boats have their own toilet facilities, but it is forbidden to use them in the harbor.

He said many people who live on boats go to work each day like other people and could afford to live in an apartment or a house but could not afford to have a boat too. So they choose to live on a boat.

“A boat is warm. It has a heart,” Seigneur said as he looked out on his blue and white sailboat. “It’s a romantic setting, too.”

Sherry Brown said she enjoys living on the sea. “It’s kind of fun. When I tell my friends, they think it’s different,” she said, although having friends stay over in the small 2-cabin boat can be a problem.

Some live-aboards, like Jane O’Neill, who has lived on her power catamaran in King Harbor Marina for six months, said it is difficult to explain what attracts people to the life style.

“It’s a feeling you can’t explain,” she said. “It’s just so quiet, and in the morning when you wake up it is so beautiful. . . . It’s almost magical. It’s better than any drug.”

But there are some drawbacks. For example, during two storms in January, several boats broke free of the harbor and many were damaged.

The sea “is a beautiful lady, but she is very unforgiving,” said Keener, who has lived on a boat for 10 years. “You have to be careful.”

Darryl Whitten 23, who has lived with his mother on a boat in the Redondo Beach Marina for two years, compared living in a cramped boat to camping.

“It’s not for everybody,” he said.

But pointing to the condominiums next to the harbor, Whitten added: “These people pay about $1,800 to live here, but we have the ocean as our back yard.”