Boating officials seeking reduced Ala Wai fee hike

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer

WAILUKU, Maui — The state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation is proposing a substantial reduction in the size of its planned slip fee increase for boaters at Ala Wai Yacht Harbor.

A new proposal calls for a 100 percent increase rather than the 185 percent increase that was blasted by boaters during public hearings in October.

The Ala Wai fee increase — along with dozens of others — were presented to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources for adoption yesterday, but the panel deferred the item until next month because of the lack of a quorum.

Commercial boaters also urged a deferral because of last-minute deletions of two sections of the rules that offer protections for commercial permit-holders.

Boating officials said the deletions were temporary, the result of legal technicalities. They said the sections would be reworked without substantial change for presentation to the land board next month.

In October the across-the-board fee increases drew opposition from several hundred boaters who attended hearings statewide. The largest crowd of more than 200 people attended a hearing at Jefferson Elementary School, many of them Ala Wai Yacht Harbor boat owners facing annual slip-fee increases that would nearly triple, the largest such hike in the state.

Dave Parsons, boating division special projects director, said yesterday that the Ala Wai fee increase met with universal opposition, and a decision was made to reduce the increase to match what several private O'ahu marinas are charging. Under the new proposal, Ala Wai boaters would be charged $8.20 a foot, an increase from the current $4.10 a foot, he said.

Boating officials also decided to reduce the proposed annual ramp fee from $120 to $35 the first year and $60 the second. The current fee is $25 a year.

Most of the fee increases were not changed. Fees at Lahaina Harbor would still double, while fees at the other recreational harbors would jump 35 percent. Lesser fee increases are proposed over five subsequent years.

The fee increases are part of a comprehensive rule change proposal that aims, among other things, to collect a $3 million a year for improvements and maintenance of public boating facilities. The state's marinas are said to need more than $130 million in repairs.

Boating administrator Mason Young said the proposed fee reductions would still provide enough income to finance plenty of projects to improve the harbors.