There’s an affordable way to live and enjoy Newport Beach that some residents are worried could disappear forever.

A community of boat owners with mooring permits in the city is sounding alarm bells over proposed rate increases that would quadruple — or in some cases, quintuple — their monthly payments.

The Newport Beach Harbor Commission is set to discuss monthly rate increases for offshore mooring holders at a special meeting tonight starting at 5 p.m.

There won’t be a final vote at tonight’s meeting. Instead, the commission will take public comment and provide feedback and direction to the Harbor Commission subcommittee for further discussion.

“I would just be outraged to see this happen,” said Dale Winson, who’s had a mooring permit in Newport Harbor since 2009. “It’s crushing.”

A mooring is a permanent structure for owners to store their boats when they aren’t in use. Offshore moorings are placed away from land-connecting docks, forcing boaters to use a kayak or dinghy to get to their boat from dry land.

Mooring permit holders pay a monthly rental fee for their boat storage. The amount depends on the size of the mooring. Bigger mooring spots usually cost more money to accommodate a larger vessel.

But new proposed mooring rent increases outline changes that many people say they won’t be able to afford.

The current rate is $3.35 per linear foot per month. That means a 40-foot mooring would cost about $133 each month. 

Under the proposed increases, a 40-foot mooring would cost $16 per linear foot per month. That’s $640 every month — almost a 500% increase.

The proposed changes — outlined in a city staff report — are different for various boat sizes. A 15-foot mooring would cost $10.50 per foot per month, while moorings 70 feet and above would cost $23.25 per foot per month.

The staff report also describes that rent increases could occur in phases instead of all at once. That’s only if the Harbor Commission recommends a phased approach to the city council.

But mooring rate increases would especially affect liveaboards — people who live either full- or part-time on their boat. 

Winson, 64, has lived on his boat for the past four years with his wife. He occasionally returns back to another residence on dry land, but he said boating is his lifestyle and he spends most of his time and investments in his home on the sea.

But he explained that the proposed rates would increase his monthly payment from $200 to $1000, an unaffordable change that would force him to move his boat or sell it.

“It’s so unfathomable to me,” Winson said. “Look at all that we’re spending on homelessness in this community and trying to get affordable housing. Why would you do this to people?”

He described how some of his fellow liveaboards — neighbors and community members who have learned to rely on each other — might lose their homes for good.

“A lot of these people will wind up probably homeless or having to move their boats,” Winson said. “It’s like having your rent quadruple. People can’t sustain that.”

City staff notes that the proposed rate hikes are the result of new appraisals commissioned by the city and completed in December. The staff report notes that the appraisal determined the “fair market value” for the offshore moorings located in city-managed tidelands throughout Newport Harbor.

The rent for moorings was last increased in 2016 and has inched upwards at a small percentage throughout the years to reflect the cost of living.

Chris Benzen, a mooring holder since 2021, said he and his pregnant wife are currently saving for a house and would have to sell their boat if their rent increases. 

Benzen, who’s put in a thousand hours working on his boat over the past few years, said it simply wouldn’t be affordable for him to keep his boat and continue his passion for boating on Newport Harbor.

“I’ll have to sell the boat that I spent three years restoring,” Benzen said. “I’ll lose a ton of money on that. When you sell a boat you don’t make money. No one ever makes money selling boats.”

Anne Stenton, a mooring permit holder for 15 years and Newport Mooring Association (NMA) member, said the increase would mostly affect older retirees.

“We’re talking about people who are like my parents and have been out there for 50 years,” Stenton said. “They’re flat out going to push people out.”

George Hylkema, a Newport Beach resident and NMA board member, said he hopes the city will work with this organization and permit holders to find common ground.

“We’re asking the city to put a hold on this and have additional stakeholder meetings with the NMA and all the people who have moorings so that we can maybe work something out,” Hylkema said, “because this will be completely destructive to moorings in Newport Beach.”

The Harbor Commission will meet at 5 p.m. at the Civic Center Community Room, 100 Civic Center Drive.

Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.