Newport Beach boaters are still fighting for fair rents in Newport Harbor as city officials coordinate with state agencies on the future of offshore moorings — permanent structures surrounded by water for owners to store their boats.
The California Coastal Commission and State Lands Commission have both stepped in as Newport Beach city officials attempt to make some changes regarding mooring field layout and monthly rent prices for offshore moorings.
A majority of the waterways in Newport Harbor are tidelands owned by the state but managed by Newport Beach.
Offshore moorings are spaces in Newport Harbor for community members to store their boats when they aren’t in use. The moorings are offshore because they aren’t connected to any land or dock — they are only accessible by a smaller boat like a dinghy or kayak.
Newport Harbor Offshore Mooring Rent Hikes On Pause
A previous plan to grandfather existing offshore permit rental rates is currently on pause while the state investigates.
Last year, Newport Beach officials were discussing upping monthly rates for offshore mooring permit holders. The Newport Beach Harbor Commission recommended a rent hike that would have increased boaters’ monthly bills by three or four times.
The council ended up voting to freeze rates on current mooring permit holders, grandfathering rates for existing mooring permits and moving to transition all future moorings to licenses subject to the fee increase.
Current mooring permit holders pay about $3.34 per linear foot of their vessel per month.
For a 40-foot mooring — the most popular length in Newport Harbor — boaters are currently paying about $133 each month.
All new mooring users would be issued licenses with increased rates under the approval. That would spike the cost to about $15 per linear foot per month or $600 per month for a 40-foot mooring.
Mooring permits are held and managed by an individual, while mooring licenses and owned and managed by the city. The city is also able to revoke mooring licenses since these are month-to-month agreements, unlike mooring permits, which are more permanent.
[Read: Current Newport Harbor Mooring Holders Won’t Face Rent Hikes for Life]
But shortly after the council approved these changes in a 6-1 vote in July 2024, the State Lands Commission stepped in to pause the ordinance indefinitely, citing concerns of discrimination since similar mooring uses would feature different price tags.
“While Commission staff recognize the City’s efforts to align mooring rates with fair market value, the recent decision to grandfather existing rates, coupled with the failure to reassess residential pier rates, underscores the need for a comprehensive evaluation to ensure that all rates reflect fair market value without discrimination in how rates are applied to specific users,” reads a July 22, 2024 letter the State Lands Commission sent to Newport Beach officials.
A follow-up letter from August 12 says the commission will assess the city’s management of residential pier leases, onshore and offshore mooring permits and all other mooring licenses to ensure the programs adhere to state law.
“The goal is to ensure that all user groups are treated equitably and that all rates reflect fair rental value,” reads the letter.
Sheri Pemberton, chief of External Affairs & Legislative Director for the California State Lands Commission, confirmed that the review is still ongoing but declined to share any other details about a timeline or next steps.
Anne Stenton, president of the Newport Mooring Association, said her organization is advocating for equitable rates and treatment.
“We’re not looking for a free ride, we’re not looking to get some kind of break, we’re simply looking for some parity in the harbor because we’re all on state land,” Stenton said in a phone interview.
“We just hope that the State Lands Commission will recognize that moving forward, the permit system that’s been in place for 100 years really should be allowed to continue because it offers a lot of benefits to the public. It offers stability to mooring holders, especially lower-income (and) retirees.”
State Rejects City Proposal to Realign Moorings After Safety Concerns
A different state agency rejected a city plan to reorganize offshore moorings in the harbor after public outcry that the plan would cause more boat crashes and make it more dangerous to store boats on the moorings.
City officials appeared before the California Coastal Commission during a public meeting on Feb. 5 in Long Beach after applying to reconfigure one offshore mooring field to feature double rows of boats instead of single rows.
The application was to reorganize one offshore mooring field as a pilot program before potentially applying the changes to other fields across the harbor to increase access and find space to add new moorings.
But coastal commissioners rejected the application in a 9-1 vote after dozens of community members voiced concern that moving the moorings closer together would make it much more difficult to park their boats in the correct spot without risking a crash, especially during high winds and currents.
“Mooring a boat is not like parking a car — it’s more like landing an airplane, given currents and wind that need to be accounted for,” Stenton said during the meeting. “It requires a safe space on all four sides of a mooring in order to afford time to react to dynamic conditions. Ample reaction time is even more important for older boaters and those with mobility issues.”
City representatives said the new layout would make boats easier to access and increase safety.
“The motivation and objective associated with this project has everything to do with opening up access and opening up the water for more harbor users,” Harbor Master Paul Blank said during the meeting.
But coastal commissioners said they didn’t see the benefit of the changes.
“I think this is a terrible plan,” Commissioner Caryl Hart said. “I have to agree with all of the folks that testified. I just can’t fathom in a million years how the boats are going to avoid crashing into each other in these close quarters.”
Commissioner Ann Notthoff said it seemed the city didn’t work with community members closely enough when developing the proposal.
“I’m concerned about that — folks who actually have the day-to-day experience there don’t seem to have been at the table,” Notthoff said. “If they were at the table, how could you have come up with a proposal that is so unacceptable to the users?”
Commissioner Paloma Aguirre agreed, questioning why the community wasn’t engaged on this issue earlier.
“My recommendation for moving forward: engage them,” Aguirre said. “We wouldn’t be here had they been engaged earlier.”
Commissioner Mike Wilson was the only “yes” vote and expressed that the proposal seemed reasonable to test out the new layout.
Sam McDonald, a mooring permit holder and Newport Harbor liveaboard, said seeing the coastal commission’s vote brought hope that someone is finally listening to their concerns.
“We were finally able to — on our own, while we’re waiting for the State Lands Commission — prove to another commission that what Newport Beach is doing has just been outrageous,” McDonald said in a phone interview.
“The deeper that you go, the more and more it’s very clear that all these plans are to make people move out of the mooring fields (and) for the yacht clubs to have what they want.”
Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.