02-02-1994 Planning Work Session

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MLXLTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING CO^D^SSION WORK SESSION UKDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1994 as an alternative to winter boat storage on the site which could then be eliminated. Steve Brown suggested that some sites, such as Lakeside Marina, could curtail a portion of their winter storage but still retain a good share of it. Schroeder suggested the City needs to consider what degree of activity generally is appropriate for marinas in the winter noting that he visited Rockvam's Boat Yard in Spring Park and Tonka Bay Marina and w'as generally impressed by the neat orderly appearance of both mat inas as compared to those in Orono. and noted they both seemed to have viable operations year-round without resorting to restaurants, snowmobiles or other unrelated uses. Richie Anderson noted that Rockvam has a busy ser\ ice business in the winter, and that the use of single color winter boat covers would in itself add to a sense of orderliness not achieved by using many colors of covers. Schroeder questioned whether the lack of space and large buildings for serv ice and winter boat storage were reasons why Orono marinas seem to rely on outside boat storage as a significant source of income, in contrast to, for instance, Rockvam’s in Spring Park and Tonka Bay marina, both of which seem to have significant winter activity but mostly contained indoors. Richie Anderson agreed, noting that Tonka Bay Marina has a large amount of off-site storage. It was also noted that Rockvam and Tonka Bay both have e.xtremely large buildings, which don ’t exist at the Orono marinas. Nolan questioned what is the marina operator ’s financial incentive to provide inside storage space. Rowlette noted that with the high cost of boats, the added protection of inside storage is well worth the extra expense in protecting your investment in the boat. She also noted that with your boat stored in a nice building such as Tonka Bay’s, as opposed to sitting in an old leaky bam somewhere, you get back a clean boat in the spring that hasn’t had any water damage, etc. Schroeder suggested that inside storage may be the wave of the future, and that what we have in Orono is catering to the lower end of the scale. Steve Brown commented that it seems that some of the marinas have derelict boats that never seem to move. Rowlene suggested that the City should be more active in forcing marinas to get rid of such boats, perhaps by limiting the amount of time they can sit there. Schroeder questioned whether dive shops are of concern to anyone. They weren’t. Schroeder indicated that he was unsure what the next entry, clubhouse, referred to. Smith questioned the difference between a "clubhouse ” and a "boat club". Gaffron indicated that a clubhouse is an area where slip customers might get a cup of coffee, stay sheltered from the elements, use a phone or the bathroom, etc. It was noted that the Sailors World building is a clubhouse, but not all of Orono ’s marinas provide this amenity. Gaffron continued that a boat club is not related to a strucmre, but is a membership organization for use of a boat or boats, and have no specific tie to the clubhouse concept. Rowlette likened them to a timeshare organization.